An Intense Experience

Summer school students tend to spend more time on their academic coursework, which draws many professors to the school, Buck says.

"You do have people's attention in a way that you don't have during the academic year. You can expect better responses and responsiveness," he says.

James E. Davis, a senior lecturer in the chemistry department who teaches more than 300 students in Chemistry 5: "Introduction to Principles of Chemistry" during the academic year, says there is less to distract students during the summer.

There are fewer extracurricular activities, for instance, so many students devote themselves completely to the one course that they are taking.

Also, classes meet more frequently and for longer period of time than during the academic year because the term is much shorter.

Davis' summer school general chemistry course, Chemistry S-1ab: "General Chemistry," meets in lecture each day for more than two hours. The course also has two separate three-hour lab courses weekly, as well two different hour and half sections each week.

That's more than 20 hours of chemistry, every week.