The internet is littered with advice for college students about what they should and shouldn’t do to experience a full undergrad experience. Instead of re-iterating the same old advice that everyone else gives, let’s run through some of the unconventional experiences and attitudes you need to adopt to get the most out of these incredible 4 years of your life.

1. Study abroad. Ok, you’ve probably heard this bit of advice plenty of times before, but it’s the one piece of conventional wisdom that really needs to be driven home. After all, you probably don’t need another person telling you to “do a keg stand” during your undergrad career, but you may very well need that little extra push to do something as intimidating as living in a foreign country for at least one of your 8 semesters.

Spending a semester n a foreign country will provide you with lots of cliché experiences you expect, but it will also provide you with many growth experiences you could never imagine before you decided to leave home for an extended trip abroad. Trust me- what you gain from this time away from your own school adds up to far more than you will miss leaving it for a couple months.

2. Gain a mentor. Going to college affords you many valuable opportunities, but none of them will change the course of your life more than developing a relationship with a mentor. Not only will this mentor guide your personal growth over the four years you spend at college, they will help lead you through the many uncertainties you will surely face after graduation.

You can gain a mentor at any point in your life, but your time at college will put you in contact with the sort of high-caliber individuals you just wouldn’t get a chance to meet any other way, so take full advantage of this opportunity.

3. Intern like mad. College also provides you with internship opportunities that you would need to fight tooth-and-nail to receive if you didn’t attend a well-regarded institution. Many great organizations and work environments set aside a number of choice internship experiences that college students can receive pretty easily and you’d be a fool if you didn’t take advantage of them.

Internships provide you with real-world experiences, yes, but more than anything else they provide you with the ability to develop a network of professionals who can help you in untold ways for the rest of your life. Remember- the key to staying gainfully employed has a little to do with what you have to offer and a LOT to do with your professional relationships. Internships give you the opportunity to make a bedrock of professional relationships that will keep you off the unemployment line for the rest of your life.

4. Focus on making deep friendships with your classmates. Just as you need to focus on building relationships with professional and academic mentors, you also need to spend a lot of time and attention building relationships with your peers.

Focusing on developing deep relationships with the people around you will provide you with greater personal rewards, more incredible memories, and a greater feeling of accomplishment and growth than anything else in college. And not only will you reap incredible feelings of personal well-being and happiness from the friendship you develop, the people around you will (one day) be able to provide you with the sorts of professional opportunities and connections you will need over the course of the rest of your life.

5. Give more than you get. The above three suggestions may make it sound like the whole point of college lies in taking advantage of opportunities to develop one-sided relationships that revolve around deriving the greatest personal benefit as possible without giving anything in return. This isn’t true. Developing relationships is always a two-sided experience, it’ always a give-and-take, and you should always aim to give more than you take.

While you probably have a good idea of what you have to give to your peers, you likely have less of an idea of what you could possibly provide the mentors you need to develop in your academic and professional life. You probably feel like these individuals are so far ahead of you that you couldn’t possibly do anything but leach from them.

This is, thankfully, untrue. You have a lot to give mentors. You can give them they experience of teaching a great student when you learn deeply from them, when you follow their recommendations, and when you challenge their own assumptions. You can give employers the gift of an incredible employee or intern who does they job better than anyone else, providing them with everything from bragging rights to the joys of raising you up through the ranks with their guiding hand. You may not be able to give these people a new job or any other tangible reward, but you still have plenty to offer them.

6. Prioritize the classes that matter, sideline the rest. Only a few of your classes will provide you with the information, the training and the life-expanding experiences that will truly matter in the long run. Most of your classes will be forgettable, at best. Focus your time and your attention on those classes that challenge you in all the right ways and devote the minimum necessary resources to those classes you will forget as soon as the semester wraps up.

Grades do not matter as much as you think they do. Good grades are not the point of college. You’re attending college to grow and expand as a person and to develop the relationships that will enrich your life. That is it. Even if you are planning on attending grad school I assure you wasting your time on getting an “A” in your throwaway classes won’t help you nearly as much as deeply devoting yourself to learning something that actually ignites you and creating a great relationship with a professor who will actually be able to pin your name to your face in a year.

7. Take full advantage of school resources. As much as you get sick of it, the cafeteria offers you a daily bounty of cooked foods for a reason. Going to the cafeteria to eat frees up a lot of time and attention- time and attention you would otherwise spend thinking about getting the nutrition you need every day. Time and attention you should be spending on the more important and higher-yield aspects of your life.

While the sheer number of administrative departments your school offers its students may seem absurd on the outside, you need to tap these resources early and offer. The counselors who work in these departments are the equivalent of free personal assistants, individuals who are paid by other people to help you out and meet your every need.

Many clubs and organizations within your school have large budgets devoted to funding the sorts of projects you want to get off the ground. This is free money, and let me tell you, once you enter the post-collegiate world you will have a much harder time raising funding for your personal passions.

Get the picture?

8. Stay healthy. Nothing will impact your life in a greater positive manner, both in and out of college, than taking care of your health. For many people, college represents the beginning of taking personal responsibility for themselves and their lives. Make sure you take this responsibility serious and that you make the right choices. Create positive habits and begin to develop a level of personal awareness that will help you engage with your life as deeply as possible.

Taking care of your health at all times is the most important facet of personal responsibility there is. Without your physical health you won’t be able to think clearly, to feel deeply, or to devote yourself to whatever it is you find most meaningful in your life.

Does “staying healthy” mean you can’t indulge in unhealthy behaviors from time to time? Of course not. Just know that there may be diminishing returns on the pleasures you will derive from junk food, from binge drinking and from drugs, but there is no limit to the upside provided by taking good care of your body during the day-to-day.

9. Indulge. There’s no better way to maintain good health (whether physical, mental, emotional or spiritual) than to periodically indulge in thoroughly unhealthy behavior. Not only will the occasional binge eliminate regrets and scratch your very natural itch for a little self-destruction, the aftermath of these poor decisions will remind you why, in no uncertain terms, you spend most of your time devoted to healthy habits.

10. Lead with your fears. If it scares you, do it. In fact, do whatever scares you the most. In college you will find yourself continuously confronted with a wealth of opportunities. College will provide you with more opportunities than you could ever hope to take advantage of. This leads to a situation where many college students feel overwhelmed and opt to do nothing instead of working through their discomfort to settle on a few choice activities to focus on.

Many people will tell you to “follow your bliss” or to “do what you want to do.” This is good advice, but it’s not as helpful as is initially sounds. If you’re like most people there are probably a lot of things you want to do. If you’re like most people you probably have no idea what makes you happiest or most excited. This isn’t a problem solely experienced by college students. Most of us adults have a difficult time cutting through our infinite options and the endless number of enticing opportunities we perceive to determine where our “bliss” lies or to figure out what we want to do.

But don’t worry, there’s a better way to figure out exactly what you should do next. Do what scares you the most. Tackle the largest and most intimidating challenges. Continuously baby-step your way out of your comfort zone.

Nobody ever knows what they want to do or who they want to be. But everyone knows what they fear deeply. Instead of trying to think your way through impossible-to-answer questions, let your fear guide your choices.

School’s over for the summer and it’s time to take a load off and relax for the next couple of months! If you were able to complete two straight semester of intensive studying, challenging classes and an ambitious social life then you definitely deserve to spend a little time focusing on hard-core relaxing and decompressing!

Of course, your dreams of fantasy world travel over June, July and August will likely butt up against the harsh realities of every student’s limited funds, which means if you’re going to unwind this summer you will need to do so on a shoestring.

Thankfully there are plenty of great ways to spend your summer that won’t require breaking the bank.

Finally Take That Road-Trip You’ve Been Talking About!

Is there anything more American than taking a couple months in between college semesters to hit the open road and see what the country has to offer you? The cost of a road trip will dramatically decrease with each friend that joins you and helps shoulder the burden of gas, food, accommodations and other expenses.

Even with gas prices on the rise taking an intelligently planned road trip is one of the cheapest ways you can enjoy your summer. Camp when possible, CouchSurf or stay in hostels when you stop by big cities, and revel in the many natural (re: free) wonders this country has to offer!

Visit Your College Friends in Their Hometowns!

Whether you just finished your first, second, third or fourth year of college there’s a good chance you’ve made plenty of new friends who are scattered around the country, so why not visit some of them? When you visit college friends and stay with their families you will receive a free place to sleep, free meals, and you will be able to explore a new town and develop a real “local’s-eye-view” of the place, all while growing closer to your new friends.

And don’t feel like you need to visit friends who live on the other side of the country to experience a true adventure! Even a trip 30 minutes away from your hometown can feel new and exotic if you approach it with the right mindset!

Backpack Through Europe

An oldie but goodie, backpacking through Europe is the most expensive option on this list but also the most memorable. If you watch the deals, keep your travel dates flexible, and use a fare aggregating website you should be able to find a round trip ticket for under $1,000, and once you’re in Europe a combination of CouchSurfing and staying in hostels will keep your expenses down.

Getting to Europe is by far the most expensive element of this trip, but once you arrive you will be able to find so many incredible free experiences that your day-to-day expenses will be minimal. In fact, most European cities will offer so many new things to see, hear and do that simply walking around for a few months is often more invigorating and exciting than a couple months of high-octane living in any American city you’re already accustomed to.

No Shame- Try a Staycation!

Let’s round out the list by following your most expensive option with your least expensive possibility- the Staycation.

What is a Staycation, exactly? It’s just like a vacation but you spend the whole time in your hometown instead of traveling to a foreign locale. There are a couple ways to make this work and to create a memorable experience without spending any more than you would in a normal couple of month’s at home.

You see, if traditional vacations are really just about opening yourself up to new experiences then there’s nothing stopping you from expanding your horizons at home. For example, you can take a few classes that expose you to new (non-academic!) life experiences. For example, taking dance or self-defense or even pottery classes for a couple months can be very relaxing. Going on a media fast where you turn off the computer, the television and your phone for a week or two where you spend most of your time in a park can feel even more foreign than traveling to another country with your digital-attachments intact. Catching back up with your friends in a constructive manner, such as making a movie together, can easily be just as memorable as going out and forming all sorts of new bonds.

As long as you approach your summer break with the mindset of creating incredible new experiences you will be able to enjoy all the benefits of a “vacation” no matter where you are or what you’re doing!

If you’re in college and you already feel overwhelmed at the thought of all of your academic and social obligations you probably feel even more put upon considering the idea of getting a job on the side. But there are plenty of reasons why getting a job is very useful and will improve your college experience and there are even a few reasons why getting a job during college might be necessary in the present employment climate. Let’s look at some of these reasons and what some of the top jobs for college students are in 2012.

Here’s why getting a job is both a good idea and a necessary course of action as a student in 2012.

1. It’s never too late to save money. You don’t know how long it’s going to take you to find employment after school and the bigger financial buffer you have protecting you the better off you’ll be. Not only will you feel less stress after college if you have lots of savings in the bank but you’ll also be able to better negotiate and hold out for the positions you actually want instead of simply settling for the first job offer you receive.

2. It looks good on your resume. When you get out of school you’re going to find yourself in one of the most competitive job markets the country has ever seen. You’ll be up against lots and lots of other people and every edge you can develop is worth showing off. In this climate who do you think will look better- the student who excelled at school and held down a job through all four years of school, or the student who opened up their free time and spent it working on their beer pong skills?

3. It could lead to a job after graduation. Many people find they’re able to transition their college jobs into employment after graduation. Sometimes this means a job they love in their field of choice, other times it simply means a decent paying gig that provides them with the freedom and flexibility to search for the job they REALLY want without worrying about paying their bills.

So what are the best jobs for college students in 2012? Here are some top picks which offer a variety of benefits.

1. Restaurant Work. This is a classic and an old standby for many college students for good reason. Waiting tables or tending bar pays surprisingly well if you’re good at acquiring tips, the hours are flexible and easily accommodate college schedules and restaurants are fun, social settings. Lots of college students simply pick up more shifts right after graduation to make sure they continue their cash flow while hunting their way through the job market.

2. On Campus Jobs. Getting a job on campus is a good idea for a few reasons, provided you select your position wisely. If you take any job that doesn’t involve working in the cafeteria you can develop some important real-world skills (like how to work sound systems if you work for the school’s theater or editing skills if you work for your school’s writing center). These jobs often pay a decent amount of money though not as much as waiting tables at a nice restaurant. Campus jobs are usually incredibly easy to get, they usually aren’t very demanding, and most importantly if you work within your field you can develop a deeper relationship with your faculty who can be very valuable connections post graduation.

3. Off Campus Internships. If you’re thinking about the long term there are NO jobs better than off campus internships. The downside of these jobs is the fact they pay less than any other jobs, especially if you take on an unpaid internship. The good thing about these jobs is the fact there are few better ways to prove yourself in your field in the real world and they offer one of the best opportunities for making the networking connections you need to get a guaranteed job after college. Starting early, such as your freshman year, and committing yourself to your organization or field may not be the most fun or glamorous college job out there but in 2012 it’s the smartest thing you can do.

If you buy traditional, printed textbooks than you’re going to spend a significant amount of money every single semester on your required reading. Buying your textbooks online can save you money compared to giving in to the incredibly high prices of your school’s bookstore, but even when you buy online you’re going to drop at least a few hundred dollars every single semester. To add insult to injury there’s a good chance you won’t use any of these textbooks for more than one semester, and you probably won’t use many of those textbooks for more than the week or two they’re assigned in class. Thankfully it’s possible to recoup the money you spend on these tomes by selling them online.

A Quick Note on Selling Back to Bookstores and Other Options

Most students will follow the default path and simply sell their textbooks right back to the school bookstore where they bought them in the first place. School bookstores are very convenient places to sell your books back to and many students feel making ANY of their money back is worthwhile.

Selling your textbooks back to your school’s bookstore is a scam, simply put. You will get a tiny fraction of the money you spent to purchase those books. The math heavily favors your bookstore. They charge more money than anyone else when they sell you these books and then they pay you less money than anyone else when they buy them back. You can try and justify this fleecing by arguing those used textbooks will be sold to students next semester at a reduced price but everyone knows used school bookstores sell used textbooks at barely reduced prices. You aren’t doing anyone but your school’s bookstore any favors by selling them back your books.

Now, you can try and track down other students who will need your textbooks next semester and sell your books directly to them if you want but unless you already know peers looking for the books you’re selling this process often takes a long time and is very inconvenient.

There are better options…

Selling Your Textbooks Online

You’ll receive the best combination of convenience and profits by selling your textbooks online. There are a couple different avenues for selling your books on the web and all of them are superior to the traditional options listed above. Here are two of the most popular and successful methods you can employ to make as much money as possible selling your books online with the biggest convenience possible.

1. Amazon. Not only is Amazon an enormous bookseller in and of themselves they are also a huge marketplace for individual sellers and buyers of used, second-hand books. Most students know by this point they can get a very good price on their textbooks by purchasing them through Amazon but not every student takes the plunge and chooses to sell their books on the online retail giant as well.

Selling on Amazon provides a few major conveniences.

First, you can set your price. While a lot of students simply opt to purchase the cheapest copies of books they can find there are plenty of other students who are willing to pay more money for a higher quality copy of a book. If your book is in really good condition than you can sell it for more money than the bargain-basement resellers looking to unload marked up and damaged copies of their books.

Second, all you need to do is ship out the book. You don’t need to hand deliver it or anything else inconvenient. You just need to throw it in a box and send it out to your buyer. Amazon takes care of everything for you, all you need to do is actually mail the item and you’re set.

Amazon provides a really great option for selling back your book online though it isn’t the only online retailer to do so. Ebay makes another great option which many students have learned to take advantage of at the end of the semester to maximize their return on their textbooks.

2. Textbook Rental Websites. There’s an increasing number of great online textbook rental websites, like Chegg and Bookrenter, who will buy your textbooks back from you at a great price. These websites can give you a really good price for your books because they will then rent that book out for years and years. They will make more money than a normal reseller from each of the books they buy from you which is why they can often give you a better price than those other resellers. They provide optimized interfaces which aren’t any less convenient than using Amazon or other sellers and which are often more convenient.

No matter what, remember that the traditional methods of selling your textbooks are considerably worse in both the amount of money you’ll make and their convenience level then selling your books online, so always seek out these alternative avenues for unloading your textbooks at the end of the semester.