How to Use This Summer to Get Ahead on College Preparation

A guide for junior high students who want to start smart, not stressed.

Summer is almost here, and if you're in junior high school, college probably feels like something on the other side of a very long tunnel. Too far to worry about. But here's what most high schoolers wish someone had told them sooner: the small habits and choices you build right now, before high school even begins, are the ones that make everything easier later. The applications, the essays, the extracurriculars, all get a lot less stressful when you've had a head start.

This isn't about turning your summer into a study camp. Your break is yours, do whatever you want. But tucked inside all that free time is a real opportunity: a few intentional moves now, and in the future you will have more options, less panic, and a much stronger story to tell.

Here's where to start.

1. Figure Out What You're Actually Interested In

One of the trickiest questions on any college application isn't about grades or test scores. It's this: Who are you, and what do you care about?

Most students freeze when they hit it, not because they're boring or have nothing to offer, but because nobody ever gave them the space to figure it out. They spent years being told what to do and where to be, and somewhere along the way, the question of what they actually like got lost. Summer is the perfect time to find it.

Pay attention to what makes you lose track of time. Drawing. Coding. Cooking. Digging into history documentaries at midnight. Shooting hoops until your legs give out. None of them are too small or too ordinary. In fact, the specific, personal stuff is exactly what college essays are made of.

Try this: open a note on your phone and keep it running all summer. Every time you spend an hour on something that felt easy and alive, where you didn't check your phone or watch the clock, write it down. One line is enough. Just the activity and how it felt.

By September, you won't just have a list. You'll have a real map of who you are. And that's not just useful for college, that's the foundation every great application essay is built on.

2. Read Something

Okay, this one sounds like exactly the kind of advice you'd expect from a school pamphlet. Bear with it for a second.

Students who read regularly, not textbooks, not assigned chapters, just actual reading they chose themselves, show up to high school and college with a quiet but serious advantage. Stronger vocabulary. Better writing instincts. The ability to sit with a complex idea and actually think it through. Those aren't small things. They're the exact skills that make essays easier to write, standardized tests less intimidating, and college-level coursework feel manageable instead of overwhelming.

And here's what most people get wrong about reading: the subject almost never matters. Space exploration, true crime, fantasy novels, sports history, cookbooks, and biographies. If it holds your attention, it's doing the work. Your brain doesn't care whether you're reading literary fiction or a deep dive into how NBA dynasties are built. It's building the same muscles either way.

So don't go looking for the "right" book. Go looking for one you'll actually finish.

The goal: two or three books before summer ends. That's not even one a month. An hour here, twenty minutes there; you'll finish reading the book faster than you'd think.

3. Pick One Thing and Actually Stick with It

Here's a myth worth busting early: colleges aren't looking for students who did everything. They're looking for students who care enough about something to keep showing up. That's it. Commitment over quantity. Depth over a packed, impressive-looking list.

Which means this summer, before the pressure of high school schedules and grades kicks in, is actually the ideal time to start building that track record. Not because you need to impress anyone right now, but because two months of consistent effort has a way of turning into something real. A skill. A habit. A thing you can genuinely call yours.

It doesn't have to be grand. Volunteer somewhere that means something to you. Pick up an instrument and actually practice it three times a week. Start learning a language with an app and don't quit after day four. Build something, a website, a garden, a small business selling something you make. If a club or sport is calling your name for when school starts, use the summer to get a head start.

Tip: Pick one. Start small. Don't stop.

4. Get Organized

Nobody talks about this one enough, and it quietly derails more students than almost anything else.

High school doesn't just get harder academically. It gets harder to manage. More classes, more teachers, more deadlines, more of everything happening at once, and for the first time, a lot of it falls entirely on you. No one chases you down. No one reminds you three times. Just you and a calendar that doesn't care whether you're ready.

The students who handle that transition well aren't necessarily smarter. They just know themselves better. They figured out before the stakes got high.

So, use this summer as a low-pressure lab. Pay attention to when your brain works best. Are you sharp in the morning or do you hit your stride after lunch? Do you need silence to focus, or does a little background noise actually help? Do things slip through the cracks when you're relying on memory alone? These aren't personality quirks, they are data points, and knowing them changes how you set yourself up to succeed.

Then build a system. It doesn't need to be complicated. A notebook. A simple weekly list on your phone. Pick something and actually use it for the summer, not because you have a lot to track right now, but because the habit of having a system is what matters. By the time September hits, it'll already feel like second nature.

5. Have One Real Conversation About the Future

Just one. That's all this is asking. Not a planning session. Not a sit-down where someone lays out a five-year roadmap, and you nod along feeling vaguely stressed. Just a genuine conversation with a parent, an older sibling, a school counselor, a coach, anyone who's been through this, where you ask some honest questions and actually listen to the answers.

The Bottom Line

You have more time than you think, and less than you'll want later. This summer doesn't need to be perfect or productive every single day. But a few small, intentional moves now can set you up to enter high school with clarity, confidence, and a head start that quietly compounds over the next coming years.

And while you're planning college this summer, take ten minutes to figure out what your dream schools might actually cost your family. Our Top 5 Colleges tool lets you compare net price and scholarship estimates across multiple schools at once. No rabbit holes, no guesswork, just a clear side-by-side picture in minutes. Your future self will thank you for this.