I have two somewhat contradictory suggestions that I've learned from experience:
1. Take classes during the summer. This will help make both the semesters lighter (you won't have to take as many hours) and it'll help you get ahead in your degree (even if just by a little bit).
2. Make time for yourself. I always tell myself that if I sit around and do nothing all summer, I'll get bored and start slipping into a depression. This is true, if I don't do anything for a number of days in a row (as in, lounging around at home; this doesn't apply for vacationing), I do get depressed. However, I think I would have been perfectly fine had I not taken the two summer classes I'm taking right now (on a personal stand-point, of course. Not on an educational one. I needed to take those two classes this summer from the educational side of things).
If you're like me, you're always planning and thinking about what you need to get done next. If you could, you'd plan out exactly what classes you're taking and when for the rest of your time spent in school/college. However, college doesn't work that way. Most colleges only let you plan your schedule one semester in advance. I'm lucky because at SDSU, we get to plan our whole year out during the Spring semester.
This also means that you're pretty close to figuring out what you DO need to take, at least generally, before it comes up. So, if you have the chance (and the endurance) to figure all that stuff out, I suggest looking into summer classes, especially if they'll help you get done early. For some reason, people have this idea that college is the best years of their lives. I say that's a bunch of pathetic crap. If this is as good as it gets, please, God, let this life be done! I don't know about you, but spending at least 15K a year to sit around and half-ass classes that more often than not have nothing to do with my major isn't my idea of "the best of times." So that's my rationale for my 1.
Rationale for 2: If you spend all your time with your nose in your books, you miss out on a lot of great experiences and a bunch of great people. Sometimes the bad times and the bad people are even good for you. Even they help you grow into a better, more developed you. So make sure you take time to breathe. Also, being too focused on school may get you graduated, but it's the time away from the books that help you get a job. Being involved and knowing people and living life is what employers like to hear about. They don't want to know about how well you got to know Jan from the library every Friday night.
Anyway. That's my thoughts for the evening.
