Summer Classes - Help!! =)

NellieOlsen · Feb 24, 2012

How long are your summer terms? If you haven't checked that out yet, I'd make sure to see if they are 6-week courses, 8-week courses, 12-week courses, etc.

I planned on taking APII over the summer also until I found out that it's only offered as an 8-week course and it requires being on campus 3.5 hours a day/4 days a week. With kids home for the summer, that's a lot of time away from them.

Anyway, my point. Before deciding how many classes to take, check the length of the summer term first.

And since the AP class will be intense, I'd either do it alone for the summer or take a light and easy class with it.

NICUmiiki, DNP, NP · Feb 24, 2012

I perform the best during the summer. I do better with speedier paces, but I am the minority. I took Span I, Intro to Comm, and Chem (10 hours total) last summer and did VERY well. If you're not sure how you perform during the summer, you shouldn't overload with 10 hours. A&P+Lab will be a lot of work. I'm not saying that you can't do it, but you wouldn't want to hurt your chances with admission.

CDEWannaBe · Feb 24, 2012

Summer classes are ususally 8 weeks, so they take twice as much time and are twice as much work. Take half the hours that you can handle in a normal semester.

It's important to get an A, not just complete the classes. You may have a hard time getting into the nursing program if you don't have good grades in your science classes.

Izonme · Feb 25, 2012

Thank you all so much for all your help and information! Yes, my school as the 8 week courses for summer. So I will take everyones advice and only focus on the A&P I and I will take a humanities class and that will be it. So I can focus on getting an A for sure in that course. Thanks again! I love this forum! :)

daleguthery · Mar 1, 2012

I am going to be taking some of my pre-reqs this summer. My advisor won't let me take any more than two classes since it is only 8 weeks long and the classes are longer each day. I'm taking COM103 and MAT016. I did really crappy on the math portion of my COMPASS test, so I have to take two math classes as pre-reqs. This Fall I will have a full work load.

SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP · Mar 1, 2012

Make sure there are no pre-requisites for some of the science courses. For example, many schools require that you've already completed Bio 101 AND Chemistry 101 before you can attend A&P. Same with Micro. Usually HG&D requires completion of General Psych first....you get the picture.

It's really up to what you feel you can handle when signing up for summer classes. The school I'm attending has a short, 8 week summer schedule (instead of the usual 16 weeks). I'm taking 3 classes this summer (although 1 is a physical education course required by the state, so it's only a 2 credit hour class). Why? Because I know I can handle the course load.

Take into consideration the following:

1. Length of summer semester - 6 weeks? 8 weeks? 10 weeks?

2. Hours per week you have to work - 20 hours? 40 hours?

3. Family/child care responsibilities - do you have children under age 12? Teens? No kids?

4. Time you feel you can devote to studying/homework - 30 minutes/day? 2 hours/day?

5. Time you'll spend in the classroom/online - depends on # of credit hours

6. Domestic responsibilities at home - are you the sole housekeeper? cook?

Take a long, hard look at how much time you can actually devote to your classes and that will give you a rough guide as to how many classes you can handle. A&P tends to be heavily rote memorization, which requires a LOT of study time. Will you have to write papers in other courses?

Best of luck! Let us know what you decide to do.