College is such a rewarding season of life as you get to learn more about yourself and the world! Since the time is limited and it runs quickly it is vital that you use it well and have the richest college experience that you can! In the following guide, we are going to look at a bucket list of college experiences that you will not forget about if you experience them before your graduate! These experiences will benefit you for the rest of your life as you will be able to refine your skills more, meet new people, and mainly have tons of unforgettable fun!
18. Go on Dates with Interesting People
One of the most fun things you can do while in college is to go on dates with interesting guys and find out more about what you like in a guy and what you don’t! At the same time, you will be able to discover your preferences and non-negotiables which is super useful as you get older, and will have a more solid idea of what you are looking for in your life partner! As always we recommend meeting in public spaces where you can have a conversation- watch out if somebody tries to isolate you from such spaces early on as you are getting to know them. You definitely want to be safe, especially with guys that you’re not friends with beforehand.
17. Regularly Attend an Extracurricular Activity You Might Not Have Normally Considered
While this might seem a bit counterintuitive, it will be probably one of the most rewarding things you can do while at college! If you regularly attend an activity that you might have normally not considered the chances are that you will develop a lot of new interesting people that have different perspectives on things than you which is an amazing life-shaping experience to go through! Through it, you will be able to learn more about yourself and your worldview and also see that you can be friends with people with a variety of interests and backgrounds!
16. Go on a Mission Trip
There are many mission trip agencies out there that provide all kinds of mission trips from medical to humanitarian aid assistance. The trips usually range from one to two weeks and this type of experience would be one of the most formative that you can experience while at college. Many people have met the ‘one’ while on the trip so you never know what could happen when you go! Regardless, it is super formative to serve in areas of great need and come back home in light of that experience!
15. Play an Intramural Sport for a Semester
Playing an intramural sport is one of the most fun things you can do in any of your semesters! You get to meet a lot of new people and will make great new friends while supporting each other in achieving your team’s goals! It is also super helpful in terms of staying in shape and healthy as the intramurals are regular and you can plan them in your schedule quite a bit ahead of time.
14. Become a Part of an Amateur Choir
Can’t sing that well? No worries! There are many amateur choirs out there that you can join where you can easily learn some basics. Again, it’s about people you meet and the fun you will have together not just only singing but during the times after the singing while hanging out in a coffee shop or when having a picnic on campus.
13. Spend a Semester or a Year Abroad
The chances are that your college has partnerships across the world with other universities for study abroad! Try to find out about this early on and see what are the requirements to be able to go through this program! The memories that you can make along with terrific new friends from all around the world will stay with you for the rest of your life. This is also a great opportunity to sharpen your foreign languages which can be super rewarding in your career after college!
12. Learn a Foreign Language
The study abroad bucket list experience brings us to this one! Learn a foreign language while at college! Now is the time before all the mortgages, jobs, and family. Now you have the last stretch of concentrated time to be able to do this (unless, of course, you’re planning on traveling the world after your college experience)! If there are any exchange students from the country that you’d like to learn the language of, try to offer them an exchange language lessons where you’d teach them for example business English and they would teach you their language!
11. Get Involved with a Charity on a Regular Basis
Whether it’s the local pet shelter or Salvation Army office, if you volunteer just 2 hours a week you can help to make a real difference in someone’s life! As you get older and you are in a habit of offering your time to causes that you believe in, the impact that you can have can be exponential as these types of experiences also shape your leadership and compassion skills. Each community that you will be part of post-college will have its own needs and if you are in habit of stepping in and making the world a better place you can inspire others to do the same as well!
10. Make Lifelong Friends
Friendships are like trees. They take time but once they are fully grown up they bear so much good fruit! So in the midst of all the studying and activities make sure that you invest your time well into some of the key friendships with people that you can see yourself being in friendship with post-college. This is the place where you can make lifelong friends that you can always be in touch with even if you guys moved to different cities, states, or even countries afterward!
9. Mentor Younger Students
As you get into more senior years of college one of the most rewarding experiences is to help and mentor younger students! Even though you might not feel like you might not know what to do, just your experience is enough! All the ups and downs, mistakes that you will have made by then, and what you wish you had done differently. The chances are that you will make some really good friends out of this experience as well!
8. Find a Mentor
Finding a mentor can be one of the most impactful experiences that college will give you! It is especially beneficial if you’re able to find somebody who is in the same field that you are planning on pursuing long-term. They can give you invaluable advice on what steps to be taking forward and can support you during tougher times that you have! Just recall Rey and Princess Leia and the way Leia was able to help and encourage Rey in the most crucial moments on her path of becoming a full-on leader!
7. Start Investing Your Money
What was the best time to plant a tree? Yesterday! The sooner you start investing the more time and opportunities will have for your money to grow over time, especially with the compound interest! Just 10$ a month can make a huge difference with an annual return of 7%. Thankfully, there are many index funds and ETFs that you can invest in on regular basis and these types of financial instruments have many companies in them. Your money gets spread out across them which is a great diversification and risk management strategy! If you want to get started easily, you can open a Robinhood account and buy your first share of an ETF today. It’s super easy to set up and you can watch your progress from their phone app!
6. Narrow Down Your Style
College is also the time when you can narrow down your style a bit more. As you do that you can strategically be on the lookout for clothing that matches your niche style! Moreover, non-verbal communication does quite a bit especially when it comes to first impressions. One of the most helpful things to do is to find people who have walked this road before you and many of them are online where they share tips and tricks on how to crystalize your style!
5. Secure a Junior Year Internship
Getting a real deal Junior year internship is a major career booster! In order for you to be able to secure one that can really help you, it is vital that you start networking and leveraging your existing network early on in your college career and use your summers before junior year well. If you are in a field where it’s helpful to showcase your work such as software engineering or design, start building up your portfolio now! Having a track record of your work is super helpful because it not only displays your skills but also your dedication to the field and your passion for it!
4. Get to Know the Closest BIgger City
If your college is located in a bigger city or is close to one, it is a wonderful opportunity to get to know it better and make new friends outside of college! If you don’t know what to do or what to discover in it, there are genius sites such as trip advisor that can help you with figuring out what are the coolest things in there! As you grow your network in the city, some of those connections can, later on, result in job offers, hobby buddies, or even the Junior year internship!
3. Network with People Strategically
As we have insinuated already a couple of times, growing your network of connections with people is super vital and can help you on your career path! The chances are that there are associations of professionals nearby you and there are some regular meetings and events that they host! What a great opportunity to connect with people that are ahead of you in their career path and to get to know them better. They will be excited to hear about your journey and many of them will offer a piece of helpful advice on how to move forward. Keep in touch with these people and ask them about internship positions at their company! Apart from that, there are online portals that can help you network such as LinkedIn and MeetUp where you can find local events that are attended by professionals in your field!
2. Learn How to Wake up Early on ‘Work Days’ and Sleep in on Days off
If you can get into this habit early on in your life, it can benefit you for the rest of it! It’s difficult to do that for sure especially if you’ve not been doing it regularly but if you plan your sleep in days, you can really do it! The greatest advantage of this habit lies in that if you learn how to get a lot done in your morning the impact that you can with your days can be exponential especially later on in your career when you have much less time on your hands with various commitments that you might have like family!
1. Develop a new Long-term Hobby
College gives you a chance to try a lot of new things including hobbies! This is the best time to develop a new long-term hobby that you can share with other friends that you make in college. Regardless of whether it’s chess, soccer, swimming, playing an instrument, hiking, or singing, your new long-term hobby will give you new friends that you can encourage each other with your progress!
And there you have it! These are the 18 Must-Have College Bucket List Experiences. As you dive into them you will experience how rewarding they are especially long-term. Have fun! Feel free to check out my other guides related to college including dorm desk organization, laundry bags for college, and dorm chairs!