Chances are if you clicked on this article, you may be struggling with the curiosity or even guilt over the idea of online summer courses for college. The topic either sounds completely unappealing to your already-exhausted mind, or it only encourages you to question if you should have taken them or not. Well, from sharing my experiences, maybe I can help with the decision.
Look, nobody wants to be spending their summer wedged in a lecture hall while their friends are living it up outside in the sun, or, like myself, peeling their corneas over online PowerPoints and note-taking instead of streaming Netflix. But we have all come to the time where with our adult lives comes great responsibility — yuck.
I’m not arguing that you’ll want to take a chunk out of your summer to benefit those credits — I’m implying that you should. The difference a few weeks of work can make in your college career can be enough to either get you back on track or even ahead of the game. Also, the financial sting to your wallet is a little bit less compared to the regular fees. I was able to save some big bucks by earning credits in the scorching sun instead of the snowy days, and I didn’t even have to leave my house.
If you can, I highly recommend online courses compared to the in-lecture ones. The lessons are more bearable in the comfort of your own home than in some stuffy lecture room. But, be warned: with familiar luxury comes terrible distractions. Time spent on the couch can influence any helpless student soul to give in to the temptation of procrastination, our worst enemy. Perhaps glue yourself to the less-comfortable seat of a kitchen table or desk just to keep distance with that couch and bed until you get the work done.
It’s entirely up to you how you spend your time. With daily tasks to summer jobs, not everyone has the time or extra money to commit to online classes. College is an experience to grow with the changes that life throws at you, and how you prepare yourself to handle them depends on your ability to be prepared. Just take the time to weigh out the pros and cons and reflect on the importance of your aspired to college timeline, and make the decision. I’m glad I decided to go the extra mile this summer, and I plan on doing it for the future beach days ahead, since the rewards are worth the struggle.
