This is my second year in a row taking summer classes, so I’m probably the most qualified (and dumbest) student available to make this list. Without further ado, here are three pros and three cons to taking summer classes.
The pros:
1. Grounds is #Empty
The lines to all the U.Va. essentials are nonexistent during the summer. You can get your Roots bowl, your plain bagel and your kale smoothie all in under 20 minutes. Stunning! Also, The University of Virginia™ is much prettier when it isn’t crowded. You can actually stop to look at the blooming flowers since no one’s right on your tail, threatening to stomp on you.
2. Chill professors
Since the professors only have to deal with a maximum of 20 students, it’s easier to test the boundaries when it comes to policies. I mean, you have to keep up with the reading because if you didn’t do it everyone knows you didn’t do it, and you still have to turn your papers in on time, and you still can’t text your friends, but … I forgot where I was going with this. It really isn’t that much more chill. You know what, it’s when they wear the khaki shorts. It gives that illusion.
3. Movies in class
Classes are long enough to watch full-length movies so you will, on occasion. Can you tell that I’m struggling with this list?
Alright finally, the cons:
1. The heat
Maybe in 1995 the summers would have been bearable, but unfortunately, global warming isn’t going away anytime soon. If you live more than five minutes away like I do, walking to Grounds is out of the question unless you plan on showing up to class with a puddle of sweat at your feet. Even buses are difficult –– if you’re not careful, you’ll miss your stop trying to tear apart your thighs from each other. This problem of stickiness translates to the classroom. Two hours and 15 minutes of sitting and you’ll take the chair with you once you’re finally free. What a metaphor!
2. The classmates
Dealing with annoying classmates is irritating enough during the school year, even when you only deal with them two or three days out of the week. A full week for two hours? It takes patience, especially in seminar classes. But really, you can’t escape it anywhere. You’ll get your Steves: they ask irrelevant, advanced questions to show off their knowledge. You’ll get your Colins: they argue with anyone and everyone just to cause controversy. You’ll get your Brodys: they don’t do anything in particular. They just smell. They take that 15 minute walk to class, and they will still sit right next to you.
3. Are you okay?
If you decide to take a summer class, you will get this question from your friends. They laugh while they ask it, pretending that it’s a joke, but you know deep down that they have a point. How are you doing when you decide to give up your break, wake up earlier than you have to during the school year and write papers when you could be doing literally anything else? Is your GPA really so bad you couldn’t find an internship? Are you too pretentious to work a minimum-wage job? Do you not have friends back at home? Think about these questions carefully before hitting that “enroll” button. It’s not like these classes are filling up anytime soon.
Sydney Branham is a Humor Columnist for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at humor@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
U.Va. “Tourapocalypse”
By Adair Reid | 3 days agoSpring is a beautiful time for Guides to go on the offensive and really highlight the beauty of Grounds from the pollen-caked sidewalks to the lovely-smelling new mulch.
Dear Power Outlet, My Dearest Darling Love
By Maggie McHaty | 6 days agoMy dearest darling love, the concussion to my midnight snowball fights on the Lawn, the 2023 sewage flood to my Brown Residential College, I know I should not have come back.
University squirrels unionize
By Claudia Hunn | April 11, 2024This week, an unlikely group discovered their own collective power as workers by unionizing — a community of University squirrels now known as the Squirrel Workers’ Guild, or SWG.
