I am considering the FSAP, which takes 90 incoming freshman for a 5 week summer classes session. I am pre-med and I think it would be beneficial to get two gen-eds out of the way. Getting to know campus and making friends are also clear pros. However it i 5 weeks of my final “high school summer” and I kind of want to spend my time with my family and friends. It is also a steep $4000. I am having trouble finding a job, so this would be my major summer committment.
Worth it? If anyone who has done FSAP could comment on his or her experience, that would be great. Thanks.
Also I would most likely be taking Intro to Physch and the required “writing about literature” course. I am in AP chem andBC calc right now so idk if taking those summer classes would be necessary, since they do not exempt me from Gen Chem or Calc 1
For reference, I did not attend fsap. Only knew a few people who did.
The writing class is a bit useless, and doesn’t really count for any requirements, fyi (except general credits towards your required 120).
You are also correct that the chem & calc classes are also useless. But not just because you’re in AP. They’re useless for literally everyone (again with the exception that they count for your 120). You can fulfill those NSM/whatever artsci is calling clusters these days without shelling out $4k the summer before your first college semester. (And lets be honest, if you have difficulty making the 120 for whatever reason, you can take a summer class near your home for a few hundred one summer).
That being said - the psych class is legit. But it’s easy enough during the regular semesters anyway.
Long story short: you should not choose to do fsap for academic reasons at all. It’s a waste of $4k. You should only do it for the chance to get to explore washu/stl before rushing into college. And even then it’s a waste of $4k (I fully admit I’m quite biased here).
For me, having spent a year away from academia, the refresher on writing was helpful, as well as easing back into classes. And learning the ropes of the campus and exploring St Louis was awesome. The best part honestly was taking Intro to Psych in the summer. That allowed me to take psych courses immediately in the fall, and I was eligible to take high level courses for my major before sophomore year. I disagree with Johnson for that reason re: academics, especially regarding Psychology. The professor (at least for my year) was much better than professors during the year, one who is highly sought after during the academic year and largely works with graduate students. Additionally, the class is much smaller than during the year. It’s quasi-discussion, then, and there is a lot more individual attention. Students in FSAP perform much much better in that course compared to during the year.
On the other hand, there is something to be said for spending the summer with friends and family. This was not an issue for me. But you’re making friends with people you will actually be around for the next few years, so that social investment might be more valuable (up to you - I don’t have close family and friends connections and spend very little time where my parents live now).
Another awesome thing is that between the 6 credits and AP credits, I’m over a semester ahead of my peers. Now looking at study abroad, I have flexibility: I don’t have to worry about earning credits toward my major or graduation, and might even take a leave of absence and do something independently for a semester. More choices are awesome!
Oh, and lastly you get to register for classes before almost everyone else, as well as individual advising meetings. That’s a huge benefit as freshmen have the last registration dates.
It is expensive and definitely not worth it if it is a substantial burden. It’s pretty nice to have 100 friendly faces on the 40 when school starts though!
@thebunny - fair enough, I really can’t argue that it’s a great experience on the whole
To better summarize what I meant though, I think it’s an academic waste if the OP is purely looking to “knock some gen eds out of the way” - in your case it was a great opportunity to launch into psych, but I’d still argue that there are much better (read: cheaper) ways to lighten course load if you’re considering fsap purely for the academic aspect.
