5 Reasons You Should Take an Online Course This Summer
Before you ditch your laptop and study notes for sunglasses and suitcases, hold on a sec. You might want to pull the desk back out of storage and get started on an online class this summer, and here are 5 great reasons why:
1. Balance is important to you.
You work crazy hard. So it feels absolutely amazing when that last class ends and you finally get to take a break! Science backs up this fact: vacations are necessary for good health, especially if you’ve been marathon-running your way through the school year.
But once you’ve caught up on sleep and finished the last season of your favorite Netflix show… then what? You may find yourself a few weeks into the summer staring at the ceiling, wondering why your vacation doesn’t seem so fun anymore.
The mind and body were made for regular rhythms of work and rest. Just like professional athletes use easy workouts to break up hard-core training, you can achieve this balance with your college schedule.
With Accelerated Pathways’ online courses, you don’t have to load your summer down with classes or quit school cold turkey. Over the break, consider keeping your brain in shape with however many affordable online courses as you need.
2. You’re serious about your goals.
When some people look at summer, they see a good excuse to do nothing for several months. But not you. When you look at summer, you see a chance to do more than other people are doing. You see an opportunity.
Theodore Roosevelt said, “Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground.”
Adding an online course to your summer bucket list gives you a head start on your goals. While everyone else is zoning out, you’re moving your graduation time a few months closer.
3. You don’t follow the crowd.
Nothing is improved without change.
College students like you are figuring this out. Aubry ditched traditional college in favor of hitting the road with her husband and graduating debt free. While in Accelerated Pathways, Destiny chased her dream job opening a nonprofit horse therapy program. I taught a children’s orchestra, Brian attended a local Korean congregation to help his language studies, and Brent pursued a degree in business management while directing the maintenance of a small farm.
Life is about so much more than college. Like these students, you are unwilling to forfeit experience for education or trade out dreams for debt.
Taking a summer course is one way you can raise an eyebrow at the status quo, set yourself apart from the masses, and take back your college experience.
4. Your time is your own.
Ah, college lectures. The ubiquitous, mind-numbing staple of centuries of higher education.
If only there was a way to avoid the interminable hours of half-asleep professors droning on about topics that won’t be on the test. If only there was an alternative to rearranging your whole life around class times. If only—
Wait. Oh yeah…there is an alternative.
You can study with Accelerated Pathways. You can have all the time in the world to be spent any way you choose. No inconvenient lecture times. No nodding off to monotone powerpoints.
Just you and the schedule you make for yourself.
5. Nothing is holding you back.
Not only are there many great reasons for taking a college course this summer, there is also nothing stopping you. Here are just a few things you don’t have to give up to study this summer:
You don’t have to give up your summer job. Cha-ching! No need to put school on the back burner if you’re strapped for cash. Taking an online course in the summer means that you have ultimate flexibility. (Plus, the stunning affordability of Accelerated Pathways means more moola in the bank! Or more frappuccinos at Starbucks. It’s a win either way.)
You don’t have to give up your travel plans. The flexibility of Accelerated Pathways means you can take your studies wherever your wanderlust leads. And no need to drag that extra suitcase of ridiculously-heavy textbooks around the airport, because Accelerated Pathways' study materials are included online. Ain’t no strings on you!
You don’t have to give up your freedom. With Accelerated Pathways, you aren’t stuck in a degree program for 4-6 years. You are on your own time, and you can go as fast or as slow as you like. Whether you want to take just one class or a whole semester-load of courses, it’s totally up to you!
You don’t have to give up time with your family and friends. Taking a course in the summer doesn’t mean your social life is over! With a little bit of planning and discipline, you can get studies out of the way quickly each day, leaving plenty of time to hang out with your family, take road trips with your besties, make a new friend, or volunteer with a nonprofit summer program.
You don’t have to give up your future. You might have heard… college doesn’t have to be a debt sentence. You don’t have to blow your life savings, hock your antique baseball card collection, subsist on Ramen, or pledge the life of your firstborn in order to get a good education.
You don’t have to give up recreation. A social life and a well-paying summer job sound great and all—but I know you would also like some time to just chill, right? A single course only takes a couple hours a day, leaving you most of the day for goofing off, catching some shut-eye, and doing summery stuff. And you’ll have another class checked off your degree plan. Sounds pretty good!
If you’re completely wiped out and don’t think your brain will survive the addition of school to your summer repertoire, it’s okay. Live up that vacation, kiddo!
But if you’re ready for something different, consider a compromise with Accelerated Pathways. Whether you put your head down and knock out an entire semester of courses or kick your feet up and just tick off one or two, you’ll be ahead of the game when the summer is through.