Necessity of Summer School for AE majors

Hi there, my son is an entering Freshman in Aerospace Engineering at GT. We’re super excited.
He has no AP credits and has resigned himself to a five year trajectory with a likely coop and international semester. And also a minor in a non-technical field. My question is: is summer school a necessity in the coming years to keep up with the requirements of the AE major? He’s a very hard worker and will take a full load (16+) every semester. But I’m wondering if we’ve now spent our last summer with him ? Many thanks. FASET has been an eye opener to be sure!

My son went in with AP credit. He is entering third year as an AE major and he should graduate in 3.5 years. He took advantage of freshman forgiveness for a class he struggled in and repeated a class. GT is HARD, don’t be surprised if your very smart student has a class they struggle in and may even repeat. I remember sitting at FASET hearing other parents tell me this and I didn’t believe them or that my student would struggle. He takes 16+ credit hours a semester and has never gone summer. He did research as a 1st year and is working at an internship in his field this summer and making really good money. Our situation is different but it is possible to do it without summers. But they may not be home and may be working.

@nogddg thank you for the perspective. Very helpful. I can build your experience into my own calculations. Again, many thanks.

My student has taken up to 19 credits a semester. Some classes are much easier than other classes at GaTech. So seniors may have research credits, for instance, and senior thesis writing class, which are all easy. If you TA at GaTech you get pay and credit, and are required to take a “how to TA” class for credit, in some departments. Freshman classes like required Health, English 1 and 2 have easy curves. There is a required study and into to college seminar for Freshman and its a very easy A. Some math classes are easier than others, and students get to know what they can handle, so I do think its possible to finish in 4 years, but students who change majors will often take 5 years. In state kids can take 6 years and still get Zell Miller awards, if they keep GPA up, so they take a lot longer,in some cases, than out of state kids paying $43K a year.