+ 1 for not cramming
+ 1 for not letting extra-curricular activities interfered with my grades
Note: I was a student who got involved with a volunteer organization very early on in college. However, I had not fully developed my time-management skills at the time, resulted in horrible, horrible grades. I spent way "too much" time volunteering, as rewarding as those experiences were. And then becoming a leader of the group in later years, when I still wasn't ready, only made things worse.
+1 for studying a foreign language
+1 for studying abroad
I would also add:
-not getting into a relationship, especially if that person isn't going to motivate you to work hard and is only going to be a distraction!
Note: Again, this is mostly related to my poor time management skills at the time
-learning early on how to manage my time more wisely (I'm sure this goes without saying by now).
-enrolled in a Biostatistics course (that involves working with a statistical package like STATA or SAS), preferably at a school of public health institution affiliated with your school (if possible) or with a poli sci or econ department (they are usually good with teaching students how to analyze survey data).
-getting involved in research WITH A GOOD MENTOR.
Note:
I cannot stress the quality of the mentorship enough. I started getting involved with research very early as an undergrad (first semester). In retrospect, I did not gain very much from doing that. Looking back on that experience, it is very clear how little energy the mentor I worked had invested in working with me. It seemed like the majority of the time I was there, I was used only to collect data and enter data. While that is fine and dandy, I consequently never really developed my ability to analyze the data I collected. Furthermore, I found that it was difficult finding time to work with my research mentor on the analysis. My senior year, I worked with him on my seniors honors thesis. Two weeks before the thesis was due, I sent him a draft to read over and edit, and I was told that it was good to go. However, my thesis was essentially ripped to shreds. As it turned out, my thesis was not good to go after all. In fact, it was really, really, really bad. I had made egregious errors that a researcher of his caliber would have been able to catch easily. Thus, it seemed as though my mentor never read over the draft at all before giving it the green light.
I stayed with the same professor for the duration of my undergraduate studies out of fear that I would not be able to find anyone else to work with. But now I regret it, and I was probably better off not wasting any time working with him at all. In the back of my mind, I knew that I was selling myself short. All of the signs were there: neglected e-mails, missed appointments, no follow-ups. Hell, even my mentor's program manager and graduate research assistants were unhappy! But I was too immature or shy or naive to just walk away. I naively thought that things would change. But seriously, the smarter thing to do really would have been for me to cut my losses early, and find someone else to work with, or not do research at all. All of the issues I experienced could have been easily avoided if I was more strategic in choosing the professor to conduct research with.
The take home lesson I would say is to find someone who is actually enthused about working with undergraduates, because I will admit...undergrads can be handfuls sometimes. You and your research mentor should also agree early on that you are willing to work hard. You're probably going to start with remedial tasks, but given your limited skill sets when starting...that's totally fine. However, you want to be able to make sure you develop a relationship with your mentor such that they are willing to allow you to have more responsibilities, and they are able to help you develop additional skills. Ideally, your efforts will lead to a viable publication later down the road. Articulate your interests in getting practice with analyzing the data you collect, as well as a desire to accompany them to conferences, and collaborating on publications if possible.
