Summer classes. Just the term elicits nervous sweating and panic attacks.
In grade school, that term meant not getting to have a fun-filled summer vacation with the rest of your friends, and usually meant you were failing. However, at the university level, summer classes actually mean the opposite. Many use it as a way to get ahead in their degrees, not because they are falling behind.
If you think you can handle a fast-paced environment with tight deadlines, summer classes could be right for you.
Summer classes at UW offer the same material of their fall and spring equivalents, condensed into three or four week sessions. Yikes huh? Talk about a cram session.
While some students enjoy the quick-paced class setting and the ability to complete classes in a short amount of time, for others, this can be too stressful and overbearing after getting used to the normal pace of college classes.
Normally, summer class times last longer than many students are used to. When I took summer classes, some classes were over three hours long, several days a week.
Consider whether you are willing to take your chances on a time consuming class that could potentially have a boring lecturer.
Also, remember: if you are committed to your college studies during the summer, you will have less time to commit to other activities, like fun road trips, time spent with the family or hanging out with your hometown friends.
Classes also may prove to be more costly if taken over the summer than during the spring or fall. This is because your financial aid may not be applicable for summer class costs.
While these realistic disadvantages may begin to discourage you from taking summer classes, don’t forget there are a ton of excellent benefits of taking classes over the summer.
Most classes offered over the summer have fewer students enrolled in them than during the academic school year, which equals an elevated professor to student relationship.
Small class sizes are a great way for you to have more one-on-one interactions with your professors and gain valuable relationships.
Summer classes can help you eliminate prerequisite courses that would have limited your class scheduling options for the fall, potentially improve your GPA and will help you get ahead in your college career.
According to statistics found on the UW website, students who have taken UW summer courses have significantly higher retention and graduation rates than students who do not.
If you need to retake a failed course, there is no better time to take it than over the summer. The knowledge you learned on the subject will still be fresh in your head if you retake it immediately, and because of the quick rate of summer class sessions, you won’t have to spend four months listening to the same lectures you just listened too. Instead you’ll receive a brief refresher course of the material you struggled with in order to pass the course this time around.
Not only are there several great reasons to take summer classes in general, taking them at UW is even better. UW offers just under 500 courses, including more than 30 summer international travel courses.
According to the UW website, academic, cultural, social and recreational events are coordinated by UW throughout the summer, so you will not have to worry about a lack of fun.
Plus, aren’t you sick of bundling up to walk to class in the cold, snowy weather? Beautiful summers in Laramie offer an opportunity to walk across a warm, sunny campus to class for a change.
