While students should typically spend summers frolicking in the sun, many Brandeis students began this school year with a slightly paler complexion, as they spent the precious few summer months in class, working to complete their major requirements. The top courses that students chose to take were organic chemistry, physics, calculus, general chemistry, and various economics courses. Prof. Bruce Foxman (CHEM), the undergraduate Chemistry advising head, has helped many students plan their studies around summer school.

He said he noticed two major reasons for making the sacrifice. First, many transfer students have to make up classes and credits in order to graduate on time. Second, summer courses allow students to have greater flexibility when it comes to planning schedules during the school year.

Foxman did, however, point out a disadvantage when students take summer school classes: "A year's worth of information has to be assimilated in eight to ten weeks," he said.

Within the sciences, students mainly take general chemistry or organic chemistry. Students that take general chemistry have, for the most part, decided during the year to become a science major and need to stay on track with their required courses. Those that take organic chemistry usually do it to free up their schedules for other classes in their second year.

Foxman underscored the importance of finding a solid and prestigious summer school program. "If an admissions committee is looking at a transcript, they would be more impressed by seeing that the student had done his/her summer work in a comparable or better program," Foxman said.

Students take classes in other subject areas during the summer as well. Prof. Michael Coiner (ECON) said students enroll in economics summer courses in order to complete the popular major and fit another into their schedules.

Prof. Ralph Thaxton (POL) has taught courses at the Brandeis Summer School for the past five years. He likes the summer atmosphere because it is a different type of learning environment. According to him, the most popular politics courses during the summer are comparative and international politics. Students take courses like these because they are looking for something they can relate to.

"I think that they deal more with current events than most classes do," he said.

Jonathan Sham '06, a Biochemistry and Philosophy major, took Organic Chemistry at Southern Methodist University in Dallas this past summer. He needed the extra time and space to logistically fit in the required courses needed for both majors. He also wanted to relieve himself of the stress of taking two sciences during the school year. Taking organic chemistry during the summer allowed him to focus solely on that class and not have to worry about other subjects. The drawbacks included the time he needed to put in, both in class and out of class study, and not having free time.

"I had the stress of tests while all my friends were going out to the movies," Sham said.

Sham, a pre-med student, said that his advisors told him that as long as he was taking a summer school course for very specific reasons, it would help him out with your medical school application.

"The big thing is planning everything out beforehand," Sham said.

Anya Turetsky '06 took organic chemistry at University of Massachusetts Boston. Turetsky, who has not yet declared a major but is a pre-med student, went to Umass-Boston mainly because it was cheaper, easier to get to, and had a less rigorous science curriculum. She said that she was offered financial aid to take classes at Brandeis but the factors of transportation and workload pointed her towards Umass. She added that credit transfer was not a problem for her.

Jane Partensky '06 took general chemistry here at Brandeis. She is already a European Cultural Studies major and she wants to study either Biology or Biochemistry. It was necessary for her to take chemistry to do this. The benefits of doing summer school here at Brandeis included the convenience of working with the home school financial aid office in addressing financing issues. However she found that there were many drawbacks. The intensity took a mental toll and made it impossible to get behind.

"Its kind of a rush. If you miss something, you have a hard time catching up," she said.

Partensky also said that doing summer school has allowed her to pursue two majors, which leaves her two different options for graduate study.