Ah, winter break. Finals are over, and we can finally celebrate the holidays over winter break. It’s time to relax, recharge, and spend time with loved ones. However, there are a few important things you can accomplish over winter break so that you’re ahead of the ball come the spring semester. You can do these tasks calmly during break, so you’ll avoid the headache of doing them on top of all your school assignments and responsibilities once the semester starts up again.
1. Update Your CV/Resume/LinkedIn
After the fall semester, you should have new opportunities and experiences you can include in your CV, resume, and LinkedIn. If you don’t have one of these, winter break is a great time to work on them! Reflecting on your experience and writing descriptions of your responsibilities will set you up nicely to apply for scholarships and summer opportunities over winter break. You can even send your CV and/or resume to a career adviser at your school to see if you need to improve anything.
2. Apply for Scholarships
I have a post written on steps to apply for college scholarships that you can find here. You should utilize your time over winter break to get organized and find scholarships that you’re qualified for. Then, use your break to draft essays and reach out to any people you may need for letters of recommendations.
3. Apply for Summer Opportunities
Start your summer search on sites affiliated with your university. That way, you know your school has likely sent students to the summer opportunity before so you’ll be more likely to find students to ask questions and be more likely to find funding sources. If you don’t find any you like through your university, then start looking at reputable websites such as LinkedIn or Indeed. There are many summer opportunities with deadlines in January-March, so be sure to write down any important dates. Be sure to get a head start on writing essays and asking for letters of recommendation during your winter break.
4. Apply for Financial Aid
For most schools, the financial aid isn’t due until March or April. But that doesn’t mean you have to wait until the last minute. If you’re home for winter break, you’ll be able to ask your parents information on their taxes from the previous year to get your financial aid application out of the way before school starts up again.
5. Set Plans Over Winter Break to Help You Achieve Your New Year’s Resolutions
I wrote an entire post on “10 Tasks You Need to do Before the Semester Starts.” It’s mainly written to help set yourself up for success academically. Aside from your courses for the spring semester, you should also spend some time thinking about how you can achieve your non-academic goals once the semester starts. Do you want to try out yoga? Look up a few classes you might be interested in and email the instructors. Have you had your eye on a club? Email the president to see if you can join!
