Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Summer Plans: Students Opt For the Hilltop

The semester may have just gotten into full swing, but for students planning on studying on campus during the summer, it’s pre-registration time again already.

Pre-registration kicked off today at 9 a.m. and will remain open until three days into each of the four sessions, according to the Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies.

For the summer sessions, SCS offers over 250 courses in 35 different subject matters. Classes for undergraduates cost $1,074 per credit, with a variety of fees for fine arts, science and language classes for the use of various labs.

Caitlin Huntley, assistant dean of SCS, explained that coordinators hope to meet student demands by chronicling highly popular classes from the academic year in order to offer them again in the summer months.

“Georgetown Summer School runs mostly courses that also run in the fall and spring,” she said. “The popular courses are usually the introductory level courses or those that are required for majors. We review fall and spring enrollments carefully to determine which classes are most popular and close out or have high wait lists.”

The classes begin with pre-session on May 23. Sessions I and II are each about a month long, and an eight-week course called the cross-session — which runs from June 6 to August 29 — is also available.

This summer, the university plans to introduce two community-based learning classes into its catalogue by offering Introduction to Justice and Peace (JUPS-123) and Social Deviance (SOCI-030). The CBLs, as the classes are often called, pair classroom work with outside service so that students can wrestle with social justice issues in the metropolitan area.

“These classes will allow students to enjoy experiential learning while providing valuable community service and earning an extra credit towards their degrees,” Huntley said. “It is a great opportunity for students who are often too busy or overloaded during the fall and spring to take advantage of these classes.”

Though the majority of summer students are affiliated with the university, the SCS is also expecting hundreds of applications from students outside the university. International and even high school students, as long as they have maintained a B average and completed freshman year, can apply.

For the most part, professors for summer classes also hail from the university, although Georgetown does offer some visiting professors a chance to teach on the Hilltop.

“Occasionally, we have summer-only professors teaching,” Huntley said. “Some of these are visiting professors from other universities who like to spend their summers in D.C. Others are retired professors who simply want to teach over the summer.”

Classes can fill up quickly, Huntley warned, so she encouraged students to register early. All classes are assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis. Add/drop runs through the first three days of each session.

Students can take no more than four courses over the summer term and must have a minimum GPA of 2.0 — a C average — to qualify for enrollment. Students are limited to one class during the pre-session and to two for the first or second sessions.

For students with hefty major requirements, summer classes can create a more relaxed environment in which to finish their most stressful classes. Greg Ouellette (COL ’13) is considering tackling some of his required classes over the summer in order to complete his pre-med track on time.

“I’m trying to get pre-med requirements in before I graduate,” he said, adding that he hoped to avoid taking more than one pre-med requirement class each semester.

“I’m also trying to study abroad,” he said.

Athletes are also common participants. “It would be very hard to have a full schedule during season time,” said Jason Clark (COL ’12), a guard for the men’s basketball team. “Considering all the traveling athletes do in season, it would be almost impossible to keep up with work for more than four classes.”

Other students take summer classes for the different atmosphere that shorter class sessions and fewer students provide.

“Classes during the summer, I would say, are a lot more intimate and relaxed then the ones during the school year. My Chinese class for instance had only two to three students and we got to know the professors really well,” Carlos Cheung (MSB ’13) said.

He added that the increased attention from faculty members during these sessions almost equates to a having a personal, expert tutor.

“I think since professors are not teaching a lot of classes and [are] more relaxed in general — since it is summer,” Cheung said. “They tend to be more lenient with work and full of energy while teaching.”

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