How to Make the Most of Winter Break in College

Make a Winter Bucket + To Do List

You guys know how much I love my lists, so I can’t resist making a winter to do one! For your winter break, create a giant winter bucket list. Include anything you want to get done on there and things you want to do. When I write down things to get done, I generally get them done. Opposed to when I just wing it, I tend to forget about what I even wanted to do! Write down places you want to go, people to visit, activities you want to do, etc.

Take a Winter Course

If you are behind in classes or need to take some extra credits, winter breaks are a perfect time to do that! Not only are they usually covered with FAFSA, they allow you to focus on just one class which can help your GPA too. Because I transferred colleges, I am a bit behind on graduating when I should be, so I’m taking a winter class to help me get caught up! If you don’t want to take one at the college you’re at, see if your local community college offers winter courses.

Work

If  you are on FAFSA and have work study, see if you are able to use that over winter break! It’s a great way to continue to earn a bit of an income over the break. If not, see if you can get a job for a few weeks wherever you’ll be staying over the break. This time of year is super busy for a lot of companies, so it’s a great time to help them out too!

Also, if you don’t maximize your work study, it doesn’t roll over into the next year, so working over winter break helps you not have too much left over when the end of the year comes along. 

Study Abroad

Many colleges offer study abroad programs over winter break, a ton for class credit too! This could be a really amazing once in a lifetime experience! If you are able to take a study abroad program, I would say go for it! Who knows the next time you’d be able to visit a new country! 

Catch Up on Personal Stuff

I know for me, when I’m on break, I tend to do a lot of things that I’ve “been meaning to do”. This could be from deep cleaning your apartment to doing those long boring errands and working on side hobbies, to taking your car into a shop to get an inspection. This is the perfect time to catch up on your own personal stuff! Have you been meaning to clean out your wardrobe or wanting to bake the perfect sugar cookie? Now’s the time to do it!

Do Something Fun

This may seem a bit generic, but it’s so true! Plan out a fun activity or a trip this winter break! Regardless of your budget, there are countless things to do over winter break. You can visit a nearby city and spend the day there, travel to a new country, go ice skating with friends, visit family and so much more! Don’t forget to have fun over winter break before you’re sucked back into college study mode! 

Revamp Your Professional Portfolio

When was the last time you updated your resume? Have you ever updated it?? Time to start updating it or perhaps even making a whole new one. Find a good template for any future cover letters that you can use. Are you in a field such as graphic design where you might need to show someone your work? Put that together in an awesome portfolio! This will help you tremendously when applying to scholarships for the upcoming school year and looking for jobs/internships for the summer.

Start Working on Spring Semester

I would say normally you won’t have access to your spring semester’s classes until the end of winter break, but take advantage of any extra days you have! This is a perfect time to get a week or two ahead that way you won’t be stressing when it starts! I do this every single semester! I’m normally pretty busy right when school starts back up again, so it’s great to not worry about a class or two right away. Here is a post all about note taking to help you get the semester started right!