The dynamics of how you spend your summer really do change from the start of your college experience until you graduate. The summer after freshman year, over three quarters of us went home to the familiar embrace of mom’s cooking, not paying for laundry, and old high school friends whom none of us as juniors and seniors are friends with anymore; usually because we’ve realized they were never as cool as they made themselves out to be. Sophomores usually finish up their spring semester realizing that they should be productive over the summer if they don’t want the schedule from hell as a junior. So, they stay on campus in the 105 degree weather of Orlando, taking three or so classes to help offset the pain of 4000-level classes.
Junior year, however, is the most different of all four traditional years. This is the year where we’re allowed to do something awesome, something absolutely creative, and something that’ll get us out of our shell and make grad schools think we’re as groundbreaking and innovative as this generation has been made out to be. This is the summer when internships in Manhattan and Boston are sought out by anyone looking for a change of scenery. Typically, this is also the summer when studying abroad is most popular. Hundreds of students will spend their three months of freedom experiencing what cities like London and Florence have to offer, while others will become “coffee runners” subjected to the commands of the publicist they’re working for. Regardless, an experience is an experience. Once you’ve gotten all of that out of your system, senior summer arrives before you know it. From what I’ve been told, it usually consists of conducting research, working, and doing everything in your power to distract yourself from the fact that all those student loans you thought were years away are going to soon be a reality.
With summer being less than a month away for UCF students, the question now is, how will you spend your summer? Mind you, the aforementioned scenarios listed above are just examples of how the typical college student can spend their summer. However, students at UCF are anything but typical. We have students who are currently launching their own companies, climbing the corporate ladder at Disney, and even interning for PR firms all across New York. Who says you can’t combine work and fun? How you spend your summer may not seem like the biggest deal, but it should be put into consideration nonetheless. Do you go home, or do you stay at school? Do you get a job, keep taking classes, or, in some cases, both? Do you drop over five grand on an experience to go abroad and potentially be the happiest you’ve ever been? The overwhelming number of options are just that: Overwhelming.
Personally I’ve had that one summer where I’ve looked back and regretted the path that I had chose. So this summer I decided to weigh my options and see what I could get. With three applications put in for journalism internships in NYC, as well as the invitation to study abroad in Milan this summer, it’s looking like having to go home for over a month won’t be an issue. If you’re afraid to apply for any sort of internship for fear of rejection, apply anyway, and apply soon. You can’t sit there and wonder what twelve weeks in another city could be like if you don’t do the research. So what if you don’t get it? There’s always next summer, and as cliché as that sounds, you know it’s true. If you do get what you want, then take it. You’ll never grow as a college student if all you do is study and have minimal social contact because you’re on a pre-professional track and can’t let anything below an A onto your record. You actually have to make these four years something that you won’t look back on with regret.
In these concluding statements, I’d like to add that summer is the best time to do what you’ve been dying to do all year. Take advantage of every option that you’re eligible for, and don’t let fear stand in the way of letting a great thing change your life. Whatever you choose to do, decide soon, because with only three short weeks left of spring semester, summer is going to want an answer to your plans asap.