As the weather warms up, students are likely already making plans for the summer. Whether planning a job, an internship, or time off, students often look forward to the season; however, students also have the option of taking summer classes.

Denise Robb, coordinator of Student Advising Services, listed some benefits of taking summer classes: students can get ahead, reduce their course load for the fall and spring semesters and can stay on track and retake a class they failed.

Nevertheless, students should consider a few things before deciding to take a summer course. According to Robb, students sometimes have the misconception that all SHC summer courses are online. The summer term is divided into four sub-sessions with some classes online, on campus, or a mix of the two. Robb said, “There’s a pretty even split of online and in-person classes…the last summer session is all online, but the first three have a mix.”

Students who want to take summer classes at another institution must fill out a transient study application, which can be found on BadgerWeb, and must get it approved by their advisor ahead of time. Robb said this is especially important for major-specific courses that usually must be taken at the home institution.

Further, Robb said that taking a course at another institution will not improve a student’s GPA. As a final word of advice, she suggested that students speak with their advisors to determine if taking summer courses is a good option to help them move forward.

A tentative summer course schedule is on BadgerWeb, and a complete version will be released in the first week of March.