Accelerated Courses

For students contemplating the value of Summer Session (whether at the UA or elsewhere), here's what I see as the main advantages and disadvantages of an accelerated course. Some items, of course, are more important than others; you'll have to weigh them for yourself.

ADVANTAGES:
A1=> Speed. You have 13+ weeks condensed into around 4. It's a great way to make up some credits you're lacking in a short amount of time.
A2=> If you have the time allotted correctly, it's a very good way to learn a lot in a very focused manner.
A3=> Class sizes can be very small. For freshmen and sophomores anyway (non-Honors), Spring and Fall semesters have a minimum of around 35 students in every class; sometimes hundreds! Summer Session might have as few as FIVE students to a class. Lots of personal attention from the prof, and lots of time to ask questions. I think you learn a lot more that way, and it's a lot more interesting.
A4=> The prof won't tell you this (and I didn't hear it from them - it's just a guess), but condensing a syllabus forces the prof to be more focused about what they really need to teach and they tend to leave out the fluff and busywork.
A5=> Computer labs on campus are nearly empty. No trouble getting on a computer, no traffic jam at the printer, and those private group study rooms are actually AVAILABLE!
A6=> Getting across campus is a breeze because there are no throngs to fight through. I couldn't find actual statistics, but it wouldn't surprise me if less than 10% of the usual 35,000 students stick around for Summer Session. Big difference!
A7=> Parking is also a breeze compared to a regular semester. Same rules are in effect, but there are a lot more parking spaces available.

DISADVANTAGES:
D1=> You go to class EVERY DAY. None of the nice Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday stuff with the weekend available to knock off the harder homework. With the accelerated syllabus, the usual "weekend" falls between Wednesday and Thursday's class!
D2=> Homework may be due nearly every day. That means you're spending a good part of your non-class hours studying and doing homework.
D3=> Assignment grades aren't accelerated. It still takes time for the prof to grade things and you probably won't have the previous assignment back yet when you do the next one. That means any errors you made on the first, you will also make on the second.
D4=> Similar to the previous item, if there is group homework and individual homework that are closely tied together (as mine was in Business Math II), if you didn't understand the problem on the group assignment (or if you thought you understood but didn't!), there's no time to learn to do it right. You're handing in your individual assignment in the same class period as you get the group one back. Oops!
D5=> No tutoring is available. At least there wasn't for math. And even if there is, there's no time because that next assignment is due NOW! You can try your prof's office hours, but it was often late in the evening when I realized I didn't know how to approach a homework problem.
D6=> Miss a day and you really get behind. Better plan to attend EVERY class.
D7=> Don't expect to get the grade you're used to getting with the same level of effort on your part. Be prepared to step it up and improve your note-taking, increase your reading focus, and spend more time on homework. Even with that, you might not get your usual grade - see items D3 and D4, above!
D8=> Reading assignments are also accelerated. In a regular semester you might have one or two reading assignments a week with five or more days to get them read. In Summer Session, you're reading TWO of them nearly every evening!

The analogy that comes to mind is the old taking-off-the-bandaid dilemma. Do you ease it off slowly and torturously (regular semester), or do you rip it off quickly and deal with some short term intense pain (accelerated semester)?! I've heard that a lot of students take care of some of their Tier One and Tier Two requirements during Summer Session. You can't do them ALL that way, but it sure would speed up the pace and move your graduation date that much closer.

I might add to this list in the future, but those are the major arguments for and against an accelerated course.