The whole point of being a scientist is, indeed, writing papers and giving talks.

… and of course writing grants rounds out the top three.

Not only will this get them used to taking the initiative when they get to grad school, but hopefully it’ll help with the advisor search.

Mind you, I’m in astro, so it’s slightly different but I started with research between my freshman and sophomore years of undergrad. That in turn got me publications (yay, always good, including one first author pub my sophomore year) and experience which got me jobs which then got me into grad school with a topic and an advisor. My working during undergrad for various different people (whilst sticking with my official research advisor whom I loved as a mentor) also let me know the type of advisor I can do well with- the kind that is generally hands off, but is there when I finally say “Enough! I’ve been trying to figure out this problem and I’ve google-whacked, emailed people, talked with people and I’ll be buggered if I can find anything that might help.”

And I’d like to say that in the “be like a postdoc you’d want to hire
” and “be a finisher” sections should perhaps mention proposals. Much as we may not like to admit it, the holy NSF/NASA/DOE/DOD grant money, is what funds much of the sciences. Writing proposals can always be a trying experience, however doing them before your last year of your grad career get you so much more experience in writing and have the chance to improve before your funding depends on you being able to secure it.