Summer Classes
During the regular school year, it can often become overwhelming in classes. There are always people everywhere, and with all kinds of different assignments and due dates, even if you’re not in class you’re busy doing classwork and studying. Part of that is what’s really great about summer sessions. There are way fewer people, and often times you’re only in one or two classes, which makes workload and keeping up with due dates a whole lot easier, but since sessions are often shortened (sometimes even as short as four weeks) it makes for much faster paced learning for long hours that often start way early in the morning, or way late at night completely screwing up your sleep schedule, but at least giving you afternoons off. Needless to say, there’s a lot of things to consider, but we’ll go over it all and even help you decide if it’s the right choice for you!
Summer classes are great, and honestly, I actually like taking classes outside of the regular semester better than I like regular semester classes. The campus is so quiet, and with my current class running 7:30 to 11:30, I get out in plenty of time to meet with friends for lunch and hang out in the afternoon. The class is also only 20 days, so as soon as I get into the groove of things it will be over, which I love; I’m not even going to have time to worry about anything assignments or grade wise because it will literally be over before I know it! Not to mention that because we have so much class time back to back, my professor admitted that not only do we not have any time to finish assignments but that he doesn’t have time to grade them. We have exactly two assignments and they’re both extra credit. We have a test every Monday about the material covered in the week before and a cumulative final on the last day of class, but with the course only being a month long, it’s going to be hard to forget the material in between time which will make studying super easy. I’m super enjoying it so far, given all of the above and the fact that it’s just plain fun, but that’s not to say that it’s a perfect world either.
To start off, the classes start at 7:30. That’s EVEN WORSE than an 8 AM. As a commuter, I have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to get myself together and then drive over to campus which REALLY sucks. I am as far from an early bird as you can get, but that was the only time available, which leads straight to another problem I have with summer classes. With so few people attending, often the selection is limited. If they even offer the course you want, odds are there’s only one section which means you have to get up at the crack of dawn (or go home in the middle of the night) whether you like it or not. Showing up on campus so early is beyond miserable, and there’s not all that many other people there either so making friends becomes an even larger problem; When class lasts four hours you’re sort of just forced to make friends with those around you. And when listening to a professor drone on and on and on and on… you eventually become bored out of your mind, even when you like a subject.
While I may be sending you mixed signals here, starting with how wonderful and then ranting how awful, in the end, I think my good points outweigh my bad, but it might not be the same for you. Feel free to consult my chart below to decide whether summer classes would be a good fit for you personally, or if you should just stick to the regular semester.
If your personal learning style tends to lead more towards slow-paced group work, I would definitely lead towards the regular semesters, but if you don’t mind a fast-paced quick course then summer may be something to consider! Summer is especially great when you need more hours to graduate on time, but don’t want to kill yourself with 18+ hours in one semester. Of course, keep in mind that this applies most specifically to MTSU where I attend school, and even there your experience may not be the same. Be sure to follow me on social media, and tell me about your experiences and preferences in the comments below!
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