Summer courses at NC State and beyond

Whether students are interested in switching majors, adding a minor, building a stronger GPA or retaking a course, summer classes at NC State provide a myriad of opportunities to best suit students’ needs. 

NC State offers three, five and 10-week summer sessions through both in-person and online formats. 

Summer courses are open for enrollment until the first day of the session, though a late registration fee will be added after April 18 for Summer Session I and May 28 for Summer Session II.

Shorter summer sessions, such as the three-week Maymester session or the five-week session, offer students the chance to fulfill required credits while still leaving the majority of the summer open for other opportunities. 

For Gracie Stepanian, a third-year studying business administration and finance, taking classes over the summer helped alleviate the stress associated with taking excessive credit hours during the school year.

“I can’t really have a good semester if I’m above, I’d say 15 credits,” Stepanian said. “So I mainly just did [summer classes] to lighten my load, and so I can still graduate on time.” 

Shawn Smith, assistant vice provost for Enrollment Management and Services at NC State, said another benefit of summer courses is smaller class sizes that allow students to cultivate stronger relationships with their peers and professors. Graduation rates also show the benefit of taking a summer class. 

“Just based on our most recent cohort, 83% of the NC State undergraduate population graduated in five years, and if a student took a summer course, this percentage increased to 88%,” Smith said. “If a student did not take a summer course, this percentage declined to 72%.” 

While NC State offers many different courses and programs over the summer, some students choose to take classes at a local community college.

Grace Blackwell, a second-year studying bioprocessing science, took Physics I online last summer at NC State. However, this summer, she plans on taking Physics II at a community college. 

“Community college is also cheaper, which definitely catches my eye,” Blackwell said. “If I’m going to take [a summer class], it’s nice to take a cheap class.” 

However, not all community college credits can be transferred over to NC State. Smith suggested students speak with their advisor to ensure the class credits will transfer over. NC State’s transfer course equivalency website is also available to assist in the search for summer courses. 

“I came the spring semester of my freshman year, and the first semester I was at a community college at home,” Stepanian said. “And I had some trouble with transferring those credits over — they transferred over, but it wasn’t what NC State wanted it to be weighed as, if that makes sense. And so I just mainly took [classes] through NC State to avoid that happening again.”  

Credits transferred from a community college do not count toward a student’s GPA and a grade of C or higher is required for credit. 

Summer registration opens in the fall so students can plan ahead, but new classes continue to be added through the spring. Smith suggests checking your student email and the registration portal over winter break to look for any newly added classes. 

When deciding what courses to offer during the summer sessions, Smith said Enrollment Services take into account classes that are typically waitlisted or in high demand during the fall and spring semesters. While many offered courses remain the same year to year, new classes are always added, especially for GEP credit. 

Summer session housing, excluding the Summer Start program, is available in Wolf Village and Wolf Ridge. Students are eligible for summer housing if they are enrolled in summer classes at NC State, are working for NC State over the summer, have an internship in the area or are required to be on campus for NC State Athletics. 

Students can visit the Summer Sessions FAQ page or contact studentservices@ncsu.edu for additional information.