Summer Study

At Cal, summer's an academic adventure

Spring 2008 | How do Berkeley undergraduates exercise their bright young minds come summer? If you answered (a) traveling abroad, (b) taking on internships, or (c) following their intellectual bliss, you’re partly right. But the full-credit response is that almost half of all undergrads enrolled in the spring will attend Berkeley Summer Sessions this year, while some new students take classes before their freshman year officially commences. The reason is obvious: it’s a unique opportunity to get a head start on Cal coursework, expand academic horizons, experience life-enriching trips, or pursue career-enhancing internships — and further their education at the same time.

For Berkeley undergrads, Summer Sessions offers an enticing menu of multiple choices. There are five distinct sessions, ranging from three weeks to 10, so students can decide whether they want to devote themselves wholly to scholarship or reserve part of their summer for rest and recreation. And there are more than 500 courses to choose from, allowing them to satisfy an academic requirement (or just an intellectual itch), raise a GPA, maintain eligibility for financial aid, or complete a previous semester’s work.

Summer Sessions also gives students the chance to explore the world or embark on a future career while earning Berkeley academic credits.

The Travel Study program provides intimate academic and cultural immersion in the language, culture, and history of places students may only have read about in books — the educational adventure of a lifetime.

Students in the Summer Internship program are placed in internships at Bay Area firms or organizations in one of more than a half-dozen “interest tracks,” and are supported by their enrollment in a course designed to help integrate the professional experience with their academic skills and goals.

Participation in Summer Sessions is on the rise, with some 16,000 students expected to enroll in 2008. Is summer study at Berkeley the right choice for your student? For more information, visit summer.berkeley.edu.