UCI Summer Session Offers Hundreds of Courses to Thousands of Students

IRVINE, Calif. – February 18, 2000 – While summer often means a break from studies, for more than 5,000 Summer Session undergrads it means more classes, term papers, and tests. And this summer, in response to students' demands, Summer Session has more classes to choose from than ever before. Nearly 400 courses are offered during the two 5-week sessions beginning June 26 and August 7, and one 10-week session beginning June 26, with early online enrollment beginning March 13.

Summer 2000 courses include the ever popular subjects like English, history, math, and bio, to the out-of-the-ordinary like History of Jazz, Women in Horror Films, Fundamentals of Greek, and Cosmology. UCI is the only UC to offer Vietnamese and one of three to offer Greek. Pre-med students have an opportunity to take courses not in their program but helpful to their field, such as Nutrition, and Disease, Medicine, and Culture: Health Care in the U.S. Since 1900. With demand for computer courses during the year, ICS is offering a larger selection this summer to accommodate more students.

For those who desire a bit more adventure during the summer months, they have the option to travel abroad, as they earn credits toward their degree. UCI Summer Session offers a five-week study tour in Cambridge, England, from June 25 to July 29, 2000. Students can take one or two 4-unit courses selected from offerings in art history, literature, economics, history, and political science.

Students take Summer Session courses for all kinds of reasons. Many need to complete breadth requirements, such as Alex Agoritsas, an economics major, who attended Summer Session for the fourth time last summer. "I want to graduate on time in June," he says.

Other students want more variety in their summer courses, such as Michelle Wasserman. "There's so much I want to study that I don't have time for during the year. Being undeclared, I wanted to explore subjects that would help me decide on a major."

Some students attend to graduate sooner, such as Eugene Lai, an unaffiliated ICS major. "I want to get through school quicker so I took two courses last summer. I liked being able to concentrate on just one or two courses."

The first UCI Summer Session began in 1965 after the state determined it had the budget to finance instruction for only three quarters for each of the UC campuses. So it was decided that the UCI Summer Session would be self-supporting and assigned the responsibility to the dean of University Extension. The current average lecture course costs $340, with an additional registration fee of $85. Some student loans are available.

Originally established as a single eight-week session, the Summer Session schedule changed to two 5 1/2 week sessions in 1971, permitting students several ways to complete a full quarter of academic work. This system also allows faculty the option to teach only one of the sessions and spend part of their summer away from campus. Most summer faculty are lecturers and graduate students who teach the same courses during the year.

Approximately 30% of all UCI undergraduate students attend Summer Session. Summer students consist of 77% UCI students, 11% from other UCs, 5% from other universities, and 7% from the local community.

When students are asked what they like most about Summer Session, their most frequent comments are that it's more relaxed, quiet, and not so crowded. Class sizes are smaller and students can focus on one or two courses. And there's plenty of parking.