*This post is about the best summer before college bucket list ideas*
Summer is almost here! That means it is time to start thinking about some summer before college bucket list ideas that you can do this summer before you go off to college!
Luckily for you, I have put together an epic list of summer before college ideas to make your summer super fun and meaningful.
My goal is for you to use this list and by the end of the summer be like, “Wow, summer was freakin’ amazing! It was everything that I wanted it to be. Now it’s time to crush my first semester of college!”
If you’re down with that, then keep on reading! Here are 19 Genius summer before college bucket list ideas for you to try this summer:
Disclosure: *This post contains affiliate links which means that I may receive a small commission at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through my link.
RELATED POST: 100+ Outrageously Amazing Summer Bucket List Ideas To Try This Summer
1. Land a Cool Job and Make Some Money!
First, land a cool job and make some money. It doesn’t have to be full-time. It can be a part-time job but you definitely should try to get a job this summer.
College is really expensive and unless you have some money saved up, you’ll be broke all the time, so I highly recommend this.
Don’t worry though. If you pick the right job, having one could make your summer even more fun! You can…
- Get a job at an overnight summer camp
- Work at young-adult-friendly shops like Gap and Old Navy where everyone there is your age, you get 50% off on all their clothing, and the schedules are super flexible.
- Work at your favorite fast-food restaurant
- Or find a job in your field of interest where you can start building connections right away.
Onto the next summer before college bucket list idea!
2.Meet up and Take a Bunch of Selfies with Your Friends from High School
Another genius summer before college bucket list idea that you should do is meet up and take a bunch of selfies with your friends from high school.
Unless you and your friends from high school are going to the same college, this will potentially be the last time for a really long time that you are all together.
Taking selfies together is an awesome way to create another amazing moment with them and an opportunity for you to take a piece of them with you.
After taking plenty of selfies of you and them smiling, being silly, and creating other cool shots, you can print them out and create a beautiful collage of photos that hang on your dorm room wall.
Every day you walk into your dorm room after this summer, you’ll never forget the fun you had with your friends taking these pictures!
3. Have a Zoom Date with Your New Roommates
If you learn the names, phone numbers, and/or emails of your future college roommates, hit them up and ask them if they want to meet on Zoom.
You can bet they will be super excited and grateful for the invitation. You can use your zoom date to:
- ask them a bunch of questions about their college goals
- learn their living habits,
- play games, and
- collaborate on what items you guys are bringing to the dorms so that you can share the expense of purchasing essentials for the common areas.
Onto the next summer before bucket list idea!
4. Visit all the Hot Spots in Your Hometown
This is another genius summer before college bucket list idea that you NEED to do!!
Believe it or not, your town isn’t going to look the same way it does four years from now.
Businesses will close down, new ones will pop up, construction projects will take over previously untouched land, and new crowds will move in…
If you don’t believe me, take a moment to think back at the last 18 years of your life.
Has everything stayed exactly the same these past 18 years??? Or did your favorite clothing store shut down? And aren’t you grateful that the new restaurant that you love visiting came to town??
My point exactly.
That’s why I urge you to visit all the hot spots in your hometown you enjoy visiting and live it up!! Eat, take pictures, ride the rides if it’s an amusement park!
Just do it just in case any one of them disappears before you return from college.
I can tell you from my own experience that my city in Florida does NOT look the same. It went from a boring rural area to a bustling city with TONS of traffic (good luck getting home under an hour after work) with amazing restaurants and stores galore.
However, my favorite hometown mall where I enjoyed eating Chinese food and visiting movies is a complete ghost town. I have to drive to the next city to visit the movies.
As such, take advantage of everything good in your hometown now!
RELATED POST: College Bucket List: 50+ Things For The Full College Experience
5. Work out
Now, you’ve probably already started working out to get your body ready for days at the beach but just in case you need the reminder, put this on your summer before college bucket list!
This is definitely a must because the college freshman 15 is real.
You will put on quite a bit of weight your first year of college because you will be away from home for the first time with no one to restrain or tell you what to eat.
Getting into the habit of working out, however, will combat all the junk food or less than balanced college diet that you may subscribe to your first year.
Onto the next summer bucket list idea!
6. Learn How to Cook All Your Favorite Hometown Meals
Is there a dish or set of dishes that your family member makes that is to-die-for and you have quite routinely, but you don’t know how to make?
This summer is the perfect time to learn!!!
Ask your family member or whoever makes those amazing dishes you love, to show you how to make the dish.
Then cook and cook and cook the meal until it’s just as good as theirs. That way when you go off to college, you don’t have to become homesick for your favorite dishes.
You can bring home to you and make them yourself!
Plus, it’s so much harder learning a dish over the phone.
I tried learning how to make Jamaican cornmeal with my mom on the phone and it just wasn’t the same. So I can’t recommend this enough!
7. Learn How to Do Laundry the Right Way
Have your parents always done your laundry or do you lack the confidence to do it 100% yourself? If so, then add this to your summer before college bucket list.
You should definitely learn how to do laundry the right way so that way you avoid washing your clothes multiple times due to laundry mistakes.
And trust you won’t want to wash your clothes more than once. As a broke college student, washing clothes can get pretty expensive and it’s the reason why so many try to go as long as they can before the next wash.
Plus washing clothes can eat up a lot of your day that could be spent studying.
If you’d like to find a great video that shows you how to do laundry the right way, then I highly recommend that you watch this video by Youtube Star, Rachel Ballinger (below).
This video was created specifically for college students and it’s super entertaining and simple to watch.
Onto the next summer before college bucket list idea!
8. Read U’Chic College 101
Another summer before college bucket list idea that I highly recommend that you do is read U’Chic College 101 book.
If you are excited about going to college and want to learn everything there is to know about college and dorm life, getting A’s in school, college relationships, and staying safe on campus, this is the book for you!
This book will teach you EVERYTHING you want to know and leaves NOTHING out.
I read it the summer before my first semester of college and it was literally the best decision I ever made.
College went just as I expected thanks to that book.
I knew which college events to look forward to my first week of college thanks to that book.
I knew who to call to be safely escorted to my dorm at 10:30 at night when I was done studying at the library thanks to that book.
And I knew that joining a sorority wasn’t right for me thanks to that book. I didn’t have FOMO (the fear of missing out) because I had really good insight on what it took to join the sorority and the time commitment and costs required to maintain membership.
Even though I admired greek organizations from afar, I knew I wasn’t willing to commit because I had other goals that mattered more to me.
And that’s something that you’ll have to learn too:
- What matters most to you and
- What do you need to do in college in order to meet your goals?
This book helps you figure that out.
RELATED POST: The Ultimate College Dorm Packing List
9. Get Your Driver’s License If You Haven’t Already
Did senior year get so busy that you didn’t have time to get your driver’s license?
If so, this summer is the perfect time to get it done. Get your practices in and take the test. If you fail, no worries since you’ll have the entire summer to practice and try again.
Plus, even if you don’t have a car, it is still smart to get your driver’s license anyway:
You can whip it out if you and your friends decide to go on a road trip, if you want to rent a moving truck to move, or rent a car to get you and your belongings away from a hurricane (true story. This happened to me!)
Onto the next summer bucket list idea!
RELATED POST: 100+ Outrageously Amazing Summer Bucket List Ideas To Try This Summer
10. Open a Bank Account (Preferably with the Bank Your College has Partnered With)
The next best summer before college bucket list idea you’ll want to check off is to open a bank account.
That way when you’re broke, your parents and family members have a simple and fast way of getting the funds to you.
Plus if you get a job, you’ll want an account to put your money in so you can start saving!
One thing that I would highly recommend that you do though is open a bank account with the bank your college has partnered with.
That way, you won’t ever have to leave campus and drive across to visit your bank to withdraw money.
You can walk right up to the one on campus and meet with bank representatives in between your classes.
Onto the next summer before college bucket list idea!
11. Go to the Beach
Now, you already know that going to the beach is a must during the summer. But I’m also adding this to the list of summer before college bucket list ideas because once college starts, it’ll be super hard finding time to go to the beach.
College is a lot of work and requires a lot of hours studying in the library, especially if it’s your goal to make straight A’s in school. As such, most of your weekends will be spent studying and your free time will be made up of pretty routine activities that can be done within an hour or two.
My college was only 30 minutes from south beach and I kid you not, in four years, I visited the beach one time. So sad!
So get in as many beach days as you can. You’ll be so glad you did.
RELATED POST: College Bucket List: 50+ Things For The Full College Experience
12. Binge Watch Your Favorite Shows on Netflix and Hulu
Were you a total TV junkie in high school?? (I’m raising my hand)
If so, go crazy now and spend your summer nights binge-watching all your favorite shows because once college starts, it’ll be a wrap!
You won’t have time to watch even a quarter of what you watched before. You’ll be too busy having fun with your roommates, attending college events and parties, and studying ALL. THE. DANG. TIME.
Onto the next summer bucket list idea!
13. Attend College Orientation Early
Do you know when your college orientation is? If not, schedule it now and schedule it sooner rather than later.
During college orientation, you will get to choose your classes and you don’t want to be the last scheduled orientation class to do it.
Unfortunately, as a freshman, you don’t get priority choice as the upperclassmen do, and depending on your major, you may be very limited in time options for your classes.
Popular class times between 10am and 2pm will go fast, so book your college orientation early so you can create the best schedule for you.
14. Attend College Camp
Does your college have a camp that it hosts for incoming freshman? If so, I highly recommend that you go.
Many of the students in my dormitory went and met each at “Panther Camp,” so they were already great friends when college started.
Unlike me, who knew nobody and was just grateful that my roommate invited me to tag along with her to events, she and everyone else who went to Panther Camp were meeting up at the pool, having cafe meet-ups, attending live events together, and taking several trips to the mall together.
Plus, college camp will be the one and only time in your college career where you’ll just get to genuinely hang out, have a bunch of epic activities with people your age, and NOT study.
Onto the next summer before college bucket list idea!
15. Read “Why Didn’t They Teach Me This In School”
The next best summer before college bucket list idea is to read “Why Didn’t They Teach Me This In School” by Gary Siegel.
This book is super popular amongst young adults. It’s a simple yet super helpful book with 99 money management tips for young adults going off to college.
This book will help you make all the right choices when you are forced to make super important money decisions about college loans, your living expenses, and funding your college education.
16. Visit a Farmer’s Market
Another genius summer before college bucket list idea is visiting a farmer’s market. Farmer’s Markets have some of the best foods there as many pop-ups and startup restaurants go there to showcase their food.
At the farmer’s markets, I’ve eaten fresh guacamole prepared in front of me, Indian samosas with mango chutney, freshly baked pumpkin and banana bread, ice cream, Jamaican jerk chicken, and so much more!
The food was always insanely good so I highly recommend you find one near you and make a day out of it.
Onto the next summer bucket list idea!
RELATED POST: 100+ Outrageously Amazing Summer Bucket List Ideas To Try This Summer
17. Take a Day/Weekend Trip Out or Spend a Fun Day in With Your Family
After this summer, you are going to be off to college where you will spend many many months away from your fam.
As such, make the most of your time with them now before you go by taking a day or weekend trip out or a fun day in with your family.
You can do something as epic as take a roadtrip across country and see different landmarks you haven’t seen before or do something as simple as having an amazing barbeque in your backyard together.
Whichever you choose, just make the day super intentional. Play games, cook together, create a family video…something that will keep you and your family hyper-engaged.
(Plus take a bunch of pictures!!!)
You and your family will be so thankful you took this time together when it’s time to go off to college.
18. Try a New Cuisine
Unless your family is the exploratory type that loves to travel and try new foods, chances are you may have only eaten about 4 or 5 different cuisines your entire life.
But there is SO much more amazing food out there for you to try. Invite your parents or ask a friend to create a list of 2 or 3 cuisines you want to try and give it a shot.
I promise you’ll have so much fun tasting different foods.
Fun Fact: I was 18+ when I had Japanese, Peruvian, Cuban, and Bahamian food for the first time.
Onto the next summer before college bucket list idea!
19. Apply for College Scholarships
Okay, we are down to the last one.
Remember when I said that my goal is for you to have a super fun AND meaningful summer?
Well, I also want you to walk away feeling like your summer was super productive too.
If you can apply for at least one college scholarship before the end of the summer, you’ll accomplish that!
In response to “college is expensive,” I’ve heard many college students say (including myself say), “Yeah I know. I’m gonna apply for college scholarships.”
But how many do?
I know I didn’t. And if I had to take a good guess, few college students do.
In college, it is so easy to get super busy studying for classes, staying active in college sports and clubs, studying for exams, and writing very long papers.
The last thing you’ll want to do is add another writing assignment to your plate.
As a result, very few actually get around to applying to college scholarships early.
For this reason, I highly recommend that you take some time this summer and knock out some college scholarships while you have plenty of downtime and aren’t stressed out by school.
You can choose to do it early so that way you have the rest of the summer to enjoy for yourself.
Whenever you decide to do it, just choose to do at least one.
Three months into college, you’ll be so glad you did and may become thousands of dollars richer too!
Want more Summer Bucket List Ideas??
Want more summer bucket list ideas?? If so, check out 100+ Outrageously Amazing Summer Bucket List Ideas To Try This Summer. In this list, you’ll find TONS of fun summer ideas to do with your friends, loved one, and family, extreme sports activities, baking, trust challenges, and more!
READ NEXT:
College Bucket List: 50+ Things For The Full College Experience
5 Important Books You Should Read Before Your First Year of College
The Ultimate College Dorm Packing List
*This post was about the best summer before college bucket list ideas*
Learn more about Jessica, you’re go-to-girlfriend for college advice. Feel free to email her if you have a question or just want to say hello.
