<p>I wonder whether anyone has any experience with summer General Chemistry classes? My son is in his second semester of freshman year and anticipating that, due to his other course requirements, he will benefit from a summer program. Any feedback on particular programs? Harvard's, Stanford's, any college in the U.S.? My son's forte is NOT chem, so we are looking for a program that is exceptionally well-taught and well-supported (i.e. with T.A.s who speak fluent english and perhaps additional tutoring available.) Seems as though many of these programs are accelerated, so I'm not sure how challenging the pace would be. Thanks for any advice!</p>
<p>Back in the stone age, I took a lab science in summer school at the home-state public U where I was studying. Several years later, I took a full-year intro foreign language in the summer at a different university. I worked like a demon in both courses because a year of material was crammed into only six weeks. However, it was nice to have only one course to be worried about at a time, and I somehow managed to keep working part time during that science class and 3/4 time during the language class as well. It is entirely do-able.</p>
<p>Your son needs to find out from his current college/university what that institution’s policy is about transfer credit, and whether or not a General Chem class at X, Y, or Z will fulfill whatever requirement or pre-req he needs it for.</p>
<p>At a semester system school, the summer session is usually half as long as a regular semester, so the courses move twice as fast. A full course load in the summer is half as many courses or credits compared to a regular semester.</p>
<p>Check your local semester system community colleges for inexpensive options. Make sure to find the correct courses (those which your state flagship considers transferable as the general chemistry courses there). Of course, his actual college’s transfer credit policy needs to be checked as well.</p>
<p>While summer courses are accelerated, many of them simplify the syllabus a bit to get it all in. My D took Anatomy and Physiology II during the summer at a local college and did very well in the course. She had the benefit of not having other courses to study for and could focus her energy on the one class and lab.</p>
<p>As another poster said, be careful to make sure that your son’s college accepts credits from the college that you chose for the summer course. Often, you need to get the course pre-approved ahead of time even at an approved college. Another consideration is that some universities and colleges will accept the transfer credits but will not figure the grade in to the student’s GPA. That was the case with my D. Unfortunately.</p>
<p>What is his major and what are his plans for a future career?</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, everyone. SteveMa, he’s majoring in physics/engineering. (He leans strongly toward physics, but chem is, by contrast, fairly non-intuitive for him.) At least that’s his current plan. So, his 4-year schedule of classes is quite full, and a summer course could buy him some curricular breathing-room.</p>
<p>Do you mean to say that he is double majoring in physics and engineering, or will choose either physics or engineering? (And what kind of engineering?)</p>
<p>Also, just to verify, is chemistry required for either or both majors? Chemistry tends to be rather peripheral to physics and some engineering majors, though it may be more important for other engineering majors (chemical, materials, biomedical).</p>
<p>ucbalum, physics or engineering. He’s particularly interested in environmental engineering – and it’s his understanding that grad schools in this field usually want to see the general chem course(s). Does that sound right to you?</p>
<p>I took a year of chem in summer school. Took two more years of chem after that, but in the regular school year rather than during the summer. This was many years ago, though, so I don’t know how much that helps, except that you now know it’s possible for someone who is definitely not a chem wiz to live through (and actually, even enjoy) the experience. If you do find a good summer program which offers the full year of intro general chem, please post about it, as my philosophy-major son has told me, now that he’s a senior due to graduate in May, that he’d like to study chemistry.</p>
<p>Some knowledge of chemistry (possibly up to organic chemistry) and biology is likely useful for environmental engineering. At some schools, environmental engineering is a subarea of civil engineering; at others, it is a subarea of chemical engineering (and likely requires more chemistry in the latter case).</p>
<p>For graduate school, he may want to look at the recommendations for students applying to graduate programs, like:
[Environmental</a> Engineering | The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine](<a href=“http://www.eng.uci.edu/grad/concentration/ee]Environmental”>Environmental Engineering | The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine)</p>
<p>If he is at a state university, it is likely that it has an articulation agreement with same-state community colleges, so that matching courses at those community colleges will be automatically accepted. Some also have articulation listings for out-of-state colleges. Try “transfer credit” in the school’s web site.</p>
<p>Many times summer courses are taught by adjunct faculty, i.e. not the usual faculty. At a typical research university, public or private, the regular faculty don’t teach in summer. They focus on research full time at that time of year. This doesn’t mean the courses are bad, just that you can’t base what they might be like on what they are like during the school year. And yes, they will move twice as fast. You’ll be fitting two semesters of general chemistry into two approximately six week summer sessions.</p>
<p>I would just make sure the class is approved by his program/accepted by his school. That would be the biggest concern.</p>
<p>Isn’t Gen Chem required for eng’g majors? I thought it was also req’d for physics, but maybe I’m wrong. :)</p>
<p>I’m not sure if seeking programs at ivy-like schools is the best idea. Who knows if they’ll put a good teaching prof or TA in those summer classes. I’m thinking that maybe a good LAC or bachelors-only school might be better since those profs are more focused on teaching, rather than research. </p>
<p>Do find out if his undergrad will allow the course transfer. Some do not like it when you take req’d classes elsewhere. I think they’re worried about content and how their own seating numbers will be affected in their own classes.</p>
<p>Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. ucbalum, I so appreciate those suggestions and will definitely follow up with inquiries at UCI.</p>
<p>No, the chem is not required for the physics major, and his school also offers environmental physics, which incorporates a fair amount of engineering. But he noticed that many grad programs in environmental engineering require the chem.</p>
<p>I recommended that he check with his school’s pre-med advisor to find out where students are having good experiences with summer chem classes (and hopefully also take a shortcut to understanding which programs are approved by his school). That might offer us some leads, and if so, I’ll post them here.</p>
<p>I hear that Stanford’s summer chem is pretty agonizing, with big gaps in the curriculum compared to the breadth of material the students are expected to know for exams. Haven’t been able to find out anything about Harvard’s program, except that natural chemists, who probably don’t have much in common with my fellow, can thrive there. 
The LACs don’t seem to offer chem in the summer. I’ll look into state university programs as well.</p>
<p>Stanford is on the quarter system; its courses may not “line up” too well to a semester system school (or a school with another calendar whose courses are equivalent to semester-long courses).</p>
<p>UCI was only an example of an environmental engineering graduate program; he and you may want to check the web pages of other environmental engineering graduate programs for their recommended prerequisites.</p>
<p>Note that pre-meds are generally discouraged by medical schools from taking pre-med course work in the summer, or at community colleges. But this should not be a concern if he is not pre-med. However, the pre-med advisor may not necessarily be the best one to ask about summer courses for this reason.</p>
<p>Do any community colleges near you offer a suitable chemistry course during the summer?</p>
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<p>Harvard summer school only has one 12 week session from my experience taking 1 full year course in Chinese language and one semester course in stats which seemed to be heavily populated by econ majors. </p>
<p>IME, a 12 week session is much better than 2 6 week summer sessions other schools like Columbia has as that can feel much more rushed from what I’ve heard from students who’ve taken summer classes at both places.</p>
<p>D was invited to do such a program before freshman year. 2 semesters in 8 weeks. D did not have a good background in chemistry and the course was very difficult for her. I wouldn’t recommend an accelerated program–unless your S had AP chem in high school and did well in it. (D is a BIO/pre-health major.)</p>
<p>Thanks atomom. DS did not have AP chem in high school, so your thoughts are particularly pertinent for him. I have heard of several kids getting swamped in the accelerated summer courses, so I’m wary of the tight schedule. Seems like a lot to assimilate in the span of a few weeks.</p>