When you were in grade school, the last thing you wanted was to take summer school. However, that’s because you didn’t realize that the time and effort you put into summer school could really take a huge load off of your shoulders during the rest of the school year. If you’ve been thinking about taking some courses over the summer, then you probably won’t regret it. Here are 5 benefits of taking summer courses in college.
- Earn Your Degree Faster
If you are trying to complete a minor, a double major, or even if you transferred from a community college and need to catch up on required credits, you can definitely get a lot of your credits out of the way over the summer so that you can earn your degree much faster. These days, it can be hard to earn your bachelor’s degree in just 4 years, but if you take summer school courses, you can definitely fast track your way to graduation.
- More Individual Attention
The first thing you’ll find when you take your first summer school course is that the classes are a lot smaller. A lot of people don’t like going to school over the summer, so the courses can be a lot more intimate and hands on. Teachers have more time to answer individual questions, and they will remember you much more easily when you start asking for letters of recommendation. Plus, these courses tend to move more quickly, so you will definitely need that extra attention.
- More Time to Study
There are not nearly as many courses offered over the summer as there are in the fall and spring, so most people don’t tend to take a full load. Instead, the summer time is a great time to get no more than 3 classes out of the way. Even if you have a job, this is a much more manageable schedule as compared with the school year, so that you will be able to focus a lot more energy on each class.
- Cheaper Tuition
If you go to Wake Forest University, you may be able to find a community college or an online college that offers a lot of the same classes. If you take the credits that you need at those colleges and then have your transcripts sent over, you could get some of your credits fulfilled over the summer from schools that are a lot cheaper so that you don’t have to spend quite so much money at your university during the school year.
- Retake Difficult Courses
Sometimes when you have a full load over the school year, one or two classes just fall completely under the way side. If this is the case for you, then you may want to withdraw from the class while you still have time and then retake it over the summer. That way you will have enough time to really focus on it, and you won’t have a terrible grade weighing your GPA down.