Best Trips To Take This Summer Before Starting Grad School

By Elana Goodwin on June 28, 2016

This article is brought to you by Kaplan, the leader in test prep for over 90 standardized tests, including the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, and MCAT.

If you’re going to be starting grad school this fall, summer is your time for one last hurrah, and you should take full advantage of your free time between your undergrad and grad years. What better way to fully enjoy the summer than to take a trip?

Whether your budget is on the bigger side or you graduated a broke college student (with loans), here are some summer trips you should consider taking before starting grad school.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio
Photo Credit: Elana Goodwin

National Park adventure. No matter where you live, summertime is the time to get outside and enjoy the warm weather and sunshine. As such, a great trip to take before starting grad school is to a National Park. Many states across the U.S. boast at least one national park — so if you don’t have the time or money to travel far, you can find a park that’s located closer to you so it’s easier to get there.

From Yosemite National Park in California, to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, to Cuyahoga National Park in Ohio, to Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota, to Everglades National Park in Florida, to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina, to Acadia National Park in Maine, and more in between, there’s lots of wonderful national parks that should be accessible to you, wherever you are. Besides being beautiful, these parks offer great hiking trails and views, and often have kayaking, horseback riding, and biking, too.

City sightseeing. If you prefer being in a city, summer’s a good time to do some sightseeing there, too. If you want a hotter locale, consider New Orleans, Los Angeles, Miami, Austin, Phoenix, New York City, or Atlanta. For a more temperate city destination, you should look into Denver, Seattle, Portland (Maine or Oregon), Boston, Ann Arbor, or Chicago.

Any city will have a lot to offer, especially if you’ve never been there before, between seeing the sights, going to museums, eating at restaurants, and doing some shopping. Make sure to do more planning ahead of time so you know how far your hotel is from local attractions and where the best eats are.

If you like music, you could also see if there are any bands touring with concerts scheduled for that city and catch a live show while you’re there.

Visit family. Once you’ve started grad school, you may find yourself more pressed for time and not as able to travel, so summer may be a good opportunity to visit family who aren’t local. You’ve still got July and August free before school, so if you have a lot of family to visit and they’re more spread out, consider organizing a family reunion so you’ll be able to see them all in one place.

If you can’t visit all of your extended family, consider going to see the ones you see the least, the family with people around your age, or family who lives in a cool city. Besides catching up and hanging with your fam, there’s no reason you can’t squeeze in some day trips or sightseeing where they live.

Hit the beach. Even if you don’t live on a coast, you should find a way to hit the beach this summer. Whether that means a road trip, flying, or searching for the closest beach to you, nothing says summertime like being by or in water and walking and lying in the sand.

Oceans aren’t the only bodies of water that are beaches — many lakes and even ponds may have small beaches by them so do some searching to find the most convenient beach-like locale near you or grab your family or friends, pack up your car, and drive to a more distant beach that’s bigger.

Backpack Europe. If you’ve managed to save some money during the year or don’t have to pay off loans for a while, the summer before you start grad school may be your best chance to backpack Europe. Once you’re abroad, getting to and from cities and countries is typically fairly cheap, and you can take trains, buses, or short flights to hop around Europe.

That being said, the overall Europe trip probably won’t be so cheap, as you’ll still need to book international airfare, pay for food, lodging, and transportation costs in-country, and museums and other attractions often have entrance fees, as well.

However, if you’re got your heart set on an awesome Europe vacation and you have some money to spend, this may be an epic last hurrah to embark on before grad school — and you’ll come back more cultured, traveled, and ready to return to school in the fall.

So before you begin grad school in late August or early September, consider enjoying a trip this summer to whatever location suits your fancy and your budget — because once school starts, you”ll regret not taking a real vacation when you had the time.

Learn more about Kaplan’s test prep options and start building the confidence you need for Test Day.

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