Once you start attending college, pretty much every spare moment is spoken for from August to May. This makes your summers critical components of tending to all the other little things you’re supposed to accomplish before you head out into the big world of working. Two of the best things you can use your summer for is taking extra classes or finding an internship in your proposed field. It may be possible to do both, but it may also be totally exhausting and not worth the effort. So when you are in the process of trying to decide between taking summer classes and accepting an internship, consider the trade offs.
Summer Classes Help You Recover or Catch Up
If you know you will need to work triply hard to pass biology, taking it and only it during the summer means you can completely focus on that particular class, rather than having to spread your time across 3-5 different classes, all with their own demands. If you already took that difficult class and it didn’t go well, retaking it during the summer means you can focus all your energy on bringing that letter grade up.
Summer Classes Help You Get Ahead in Credits
When it comes to credit hours, it can feel overwhelming to try to fit everything into eight semesters. Even one or two classes each summer can be a huge relief, particularly if you have a job or are double majoring. Additionally, you can often take summer classes online. Although you don’t get the benefit of peer learning and having your professor standing in front of you, you do have the advantage of being better able to fit the extra classes into your schedule.
Summer Internships Help you Build Real-World Skills
If you have the opportunity to take an internship, most people say “do it.” Internships, especially good ones, don’t come along every day; they tend to be massively competitive. Paying internships are rare, but if you’re still living at home while you finish college, it’s a much better idea to opt for 40 hours a week of what amounts to volunteering while you don’t have to pay the rent.
Additionally, some internships can count for college credit— just because you aren’t in a traditional classroom, doesn’t mean you aren’t getting points for it. The difference is, those points count towards a lot more in your future. Yes, biology is important to understand, but if you’re going to be an interior designer, the experience of a summer internship is going to be a lot more important to your career than getting a B in science will be detrimental.
Summer Internships Help You Get Ahead in Your Career
Internships teach completely different lessons than summer classes. The purpose of an internship is to help you get a handle on the career path you’ve chosen. It’s also a great way to start networking, and potentially even get a job lined up for after you graduate. Even if you don’t work for that company in particular, seeing you’ve gone through an internship shows future employers you actually have a little bit of experience in the field, and not just a lot of book learning.
