My kids asked me to ask this, and since I graduated, I had no idea what to tell them…
After each of them logging 100+ hours of summer work ( from AP courses mostly ) they asked me: “Dad, is their summer work in college?” And I told them that I have no idea, unless they go to summer school.
My daughter has had some summer work but more orientation type stuff - lab safety video/quiz, mandatory TED talks, etc… Nothing that I would call academic like in HS.
S2 will be a sophomore and had one assignment sent to him this summer from a professor. He had to write a short bio based on prompts and a few paragraphs about his expectations from the class.
I encouraged him to get one of his textbooks for a class that is notoriously difficult and to read ahead. He did not do this. His summer has been work, hanging out with friends, and going swimming at the lake.
reply to myself, LOL… there, not their… I always screw it up when typing.
Going into freshman year my son’s school assigned a book to the entire class for discussion at orientation with their RA. I don’t know if they every actually did it! Other than that, nothing over the summer.
A book to read before freshman orientation.
After that, barring summer school (which is a semester compressed into 6 weeks and so is limited to 1-2 courses with tons of HW) professors meet students on the first day of school. If they have the pre-requisites they’re able to do the work, if not they drop - and summer should be earning money or internship or study abroad + fun/friends, to avoid burn out.
100 hours of summer woek sounds absurd and counterproductive.
Both had an online achohol awareness class to finish before move-in day freshman year. Otherwise, eldest didn’t have any summer classroom work. She did internships and actual work for money but no summer reading and such during her 4 years. May be the same for middle since he’s attending same school.
What everyone said. Is the summer AP work required by their current schools, or something they elected to do on their own?
My daughter’s AP HS summer work was required. There was a lot!
Freshman year they were supposed to read a particular book before they got to college. After that, no.
From what the OP said, it was probably spread out amongst several AP classes.
It’s not uncommon to schools to assign summer work in some AP classes, but it is far from universal and even in schools that have AP summer assignments, it may not be for all classes. PSets in calc and reading a couple of books and writing an essay to compare/contrast for English are common. Often the AP contract states that not completing summer work is grounds for dropping from the class.
Anyway, back to the OP’s question, no, I have no summer work in college. As others have said, some colleges have a book for incoming freshman to read. As an example:
http://reading.berkeley.edu/index.html
some colleges ask you to take placement tests online before orientation. Here is a link to the info from ucla as an example http://www.admission.ucla.edu/NewBruins/NSG_Freshmen.htm (expand step 2). I’ve heard of other schools asking students to complete an online education course about alcohol and drugs. Cal has students complete info programs about the school https://orientation.berkeley.edu/before-you-arrive
But these are all pre-orientation activities for new students. It sounds like you are interested in ordinary college classes assigning summer homework. Never heard of that. Especially since you don’t even register for them at many schools until the summer.
Our son is a rising college senior and is just finishing up his summer assignments which started with several weeks completing a research project and paper at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in MD right after school let out, two weeks leave, and the rest of the summer completing a leadership detail at Ft. Riley, KS. Oh, and studying for the GRE in between. He hasn’t had a “free” summer since HS. But, at least this summer, he’s not jumping out of helicopters, shooting stuff, or blowing anything up. The military has no trouble handing out summer assignments.
S had no assignments prior to starting college, my D had a book she needed to read but it was only for discussion groups during orientation.
D18 had a book to read (all freshmen are required to do so,) an online alcohol class and an online sex assault class to take. Neither of my rising college seniors has had work otherwise.
If they do a summer research program there is definitely academic oriented work (reading, writing up results, posters, papers, presentations), though may not be assigned by their own college if they attend a program at a school other than their own. But this type of program takes the place of a summer job and is paid.
A book to read for all incoming freshmen, to prepare a question if desired for the author/speaker during orientation and a book discussion group at the college president’s home for a fortunate few. I’m reading the book also and I must say it is good. Wondering if I can get in on the book group? ;))
Well, sure. But that’s like saying if a kid takes classes during the summer that he will have to do coursework.
My son’s school (RIT) requires students to complete co-ops/internships in order to graduate. Most students try to get those done over the summer in order to graduate in four years. His major requires two co-ops of 360+ hours each and I hear the CS major requires three! His sister, who is an English major at a different school, was notified by the professor of a class in which she is enrolled for the fall that she needs to read a particular book and be prepared to discuss it in the first class at the end of August. So much for having the summer off…
@MYOS1634 … it does sound absurd, and they still have about 10 - 15 hours to go. Physics was like 20 hours alone.