Do your summer plans include taking classes? If not, there are many reasons you could consider adding summer credits–you don’t even have to stay in town!
- Gen ed courses that have watch lists during the fall and spring have availability in the summer. Courses such as CAS 100 (Effective Speech–GWS), ENGL 202 (Effective Writing–GWS), PHIL 012 (Symbolic Logic–GQ), and 400-level PL SC, which students often have to wait to take, are easier to schedule during the summer.
- Have you had trouble fitting in a lab science? ANTH 021 (Biological Anthropology–GN) is available during the summer, and it fulfills the lab requirement for Liberal Arts.
- Still need foreign language credits? You have the opportunity to complete one, two, or three levels of language in the summer. Because the educational objectives vary somewhat from traditional language courses, the language placement policy enforced during the fall and spring is not in place for these summer courses. That means that if your previous units place you in a higher level of a language than you are comfortable with, you would still receive credit if you take a lower-level language in the summer.
- Class sizes are small. As an example, CRIM/SOC 012 (Criminology–GS) could have 300 students during the spring and just 20 students during the summer.
- Courses are offered during different sessions and different formats, so you choose what works best with your schedule:
- Online, six-week courses: Courses are available in two different sessions–May 16 to June 24 and June 29 to August 10. Examples are AAA S 110 (Introduction to Contemporary Africa–GS, IL, Other Cultures), CMLIT 108 (Myths and Mythologies–GH, IL, Other Cultures), ECON 102 (Introductory Microeconomics Analysis and Policy–GS, Business and the Liberal Arts Minor), LER 100 (Employment Relations–GS, Business and the Liberal Arts Minor), and WMNST 003 (Introduction to Women, the Humanities, and the Arts–GH, US, IL).
- Online, summer-long courses: Courses are available from May 16 to August 10. Examples are ENGL 202 (Effective Writing–GWS), PHIL 103W (Introduction to Ethics–GH, Writing Across the Curriculum), PL SC 014 (International Relations–GS, IL), and PSYCH 100 (Introductory Psychology–GS). The educational objectives are the same for the summer-long courses as the six-week offerings–you are doing less work per week, though, since the lessons are spread across more weeks.
(NOTE: For a complete listing of online offerings, search both the University Park and World Campus listings on the Schedule of Courses. You do not need residency at University Park for any portion of the online courses.)
- Resident instruction six-week courses:Courses are available on campus during two different sessions–May 16 – June 24 and June 29 – August 10. Examples are ANTH 045 (Cultural Anthropology–GS, US, IL, Other Cultures), CAS 100 (Effective Speech–GWS), CAS 450W (Group Communication Theory and Research–Writing Across the Curriculum), CRIM 100 (Introduction to Criminal Justice–GS), ENGL 050 (Introduction to Creative Writing–GA), HIST 010 (World History I–GH, IL, Other Cultures), LER 201 (Employment Relationship: Law and Policy–GS), PHIL 105 (Introduction to Philosophy of Law and Legal Ethics–GH), and PSYCH 100 (Introductory Psychology–GS).
- You can catch up on credits if you are behind, or you can get ahead so you have more flexibility in future scheduling. If you have late dropped credits or taken smaller semester loads and are looking at a heavier credit average for your remaining semesters, summer credits are a way to get back on track. Maybe you are completing a concurrent major or minor and want to take some of your minor credits or 400-level major credits in the summer to make things easier in your final semesters. Some students even plan for full-time enrollment in the summer in an effort to graduate a semester early.
- Students pay the current tuition rate for summer credits. You may use the tuition calculator on the Bursar’s site to determine your costs based on the number of credits, and you would check with Student Aid to determine if you are eligible for financial aid during the summer.
You may register for summer courses through eLion. If you have questions about whether or not taking summer credits is a good idea for you, consult with your adviser.
For more information about Penn State Summer Courses, visit the outreach website.