College students are increasingly feeling pressure to have a “productive” summer.
This pressure could be attributed to various factors — earlier business recruiting cycles, miniscule graduate school admissions rates or general trends of resume stacking and honing in on particular career paths earlier. Further, LinkedIn and similar social media platforms increase connectivity amongst students over breaks. These platforms broadcast to students the opportunities that their peers are participating in, including glittering jobs, leadership trainings and research panels.
The University Career Center and other University programming initiatives aim to equip students with summer opportunities. Do students find success using these resources, and what other resources are students using to secure these temporary roles?
On the topic of work, remote positions have seen a boom since the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside an upward trend in hybrid workplaces. Are students finding themselves in these roles, and how are they faring in these online environments?
Productivity aside, students nationwide are also traveling abroad more — whether for study, internship or leisure purposes. Where did University students go this summer, and what did they get out of these experiences?
Broadly speaking, many University students immerse themselves in the work-hard-play-hard culture of the school from August through May. As part of a top-rated public institution, many aspire to receive prestigious job offers and competitive grades while upholding robust social lives and extracurricular schedules. Are students’ summer schedules more or less hectic than their academic ones, and how do their values and time commitments change during the months of May, June, July and August?
The Cavalier Daily aims to answer all of these questions and more with its poll — How did Hoos spend their summers? Only virginia.edu graduate and undergraduate University student addresses will be permitted to complete the survey, and The Cavalier Daily will not have access to the computing IDs associated with these University emails. All questions are optional, and with the anonymous responses, The Cavalier Daily will report on how University students spent their summer in the increasingly pressurized, online and global reality of summer as a university student in 2026.
The survey will remain open until 11:59 p.m. Sept. 25, and it takes about five minutes to complete. We thank you in advance for your participation.
Grace Little is a news editor for the 137th term. She is a third-year student from Dallas, Texas majoring in Neuroscience and the Interdisciplinary Major in Public Policy, Politics and Media Studies. She enjoys writing about the shifting landscape of higher education.
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