We, as college students, have gotten to the point in all of our lives where summer is no longer a break from responsibilities, work and school. Summer can no longer be a three month vacation from life. Unfortunately, we're growing up and like our parents warned us, growing up sucks.
Summer now allows us only one option: the mandatory "do something productive with your life" option. When we come to this realization, we really only have three choices.
The most desirable option is a paid summer internship with a respectable company aligning with your chosen career path. However, although most desirable, it is also the most challenging to obtain. Paid internships require doing research months ahead of time, preparing an application and updated resume that makes you look better than hundreds of others, often times a face-to-face interview with the employer, and, not to be too cynical, but having inside connections. A family or friend that works with the company and can put a big gold star next to your name is almost a must when being awarded a competitive internship.
Your next option is a non-paid internship. This is slightly less desirable because of the obvious. But you can't put a price on experience, right? This opportunity can help you make more money in the long run with better job opportunities after college. Most of these internships can go towards college credit which still makes them highly competitive.
No internship this summer? Maybe you're too young for most internships or didn't apply for any in time. The only real options left to make sure you're being a productive human being this summer is to get a job or to take classes, and often times, both is the answer. Continuing to take classes during the summer is never a bad decision. Although summer classes are held five days a week, students usually only take about two classes, so there is plenty of time for a side job. Nine credit hours are required during the summer at UF, so might as well get them out of the way early, and hope that next year you can go with the more advantageous internship options.
You're probably thinking "Yeah but these options aren't as easy as they seem." Yes there are holes in these plans that make our "do something productive with your life" summers even more difficult to plan. Let me guess what you're dealing with:
1) Your parents don't want to pay rent in Gainesville for three additional months. If you want to take summer classes, you need to not just be making money to go to the bars and go shopping, but enough money to completely support yourself in an apartment, for your classes and textbooks, and for every single meal, since your sorority or fraternity house is closed. I get it! Your only solace is that there is more time to work when you are taking only two classes.
2) If you stay at home with your parents during the summer to work, you're back to living with your parents for three months. Trust me, I know that after moving away living with your parents again can be brutal. Your only solace is to think of the day when you can spend all that work money on nights out with your friends in 'Gainesvegas'.
3) You won't know if you got your internship until late April, and by then, you are too late to register for classes or find an apartment. My advice: Summer B starts later and the demand is high for renters in the summer. Almost everyone has 12 month leases. You can find a super cheap place last minute, guaranteed.
We will all remember the days when summer was the light at the end of the tunnel, and meant nothing but beaches, sleeping in, and nights with your friends. We would never want school to start again. Now, our only solace to get us through the summer is for school to start again.
