Congratulations on your admission to UChicago’s Summer Session programs! We are looking forward to having you to be part of our campus community this summer. As an admitted Summer Session student, you will have access to a wide range of resources via the University of Chicago. Prior to the start of class, we will be in regular communication with you, and you will need to complete forms and register for accounts.
Becoming a UChicago Student: A Checklist
To secure space in UChicago Summer Session, students and their families need to complete all the items on the checklist below. All items are accessible through the Status Page located at https://applypcs.uchicago.edu/apply.
- Submit your Reply to Offer of Admission form.
- Pay the non-refundable $1,000 enrollment deposit within a week of receiving your acceptance letter.
- Students enrolled in Summer Online must pay the remaining balance on the program fee within four weeks of receiving your offer of admission.
Complete and submit the required forms via your UChicago Account:
- Parental Release Form (to be completed by parent or guardian ONLY)
- Academic, Program, and Community Policies Acknowledgment
- Student Waiver of FERPA Rights
- Claim your CNET ID and password at cnet.uchicago.edu using your UCID.
If you have a 504 plan or IEP at your current school, or otherwise believe that you might need accommodations such as extra time for exams, contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible at disabilities@uchicago.edu or at (773) 702-6000. The review process can take a while, so don’t delay your request if you think you might need it.
Class Expectations
Your day to day life may look a little differently based on your particular course. Students in Pre-College Connect and Summer Online will have synchronous activities scheduled Monday through Friday for 2 hours per day. Students in Summer College should check their specific course page for the scheduled synchronous sessions.
Online courses have a mixture of synchronous work, meaning everyone does the same activity at the same time, and asynchronous work, meaning students do activities on their own schedule, by a certain due date.
Synchronous activities will feel much like the traditional classroom activities you are used to -- lectures, discussions, hands-on projects -- with the only difference being that you will engage with your instructor and fellow students online, via Zoom.
Asynchronous activities will involve the sorts of things you might have done as homework, such as problem sets, taking notes on readings, and writing papers. They will also include activities that take advantage of online course delivery such as contributing your thoughts to discussion boards or class blogs, making videos or curating virtual exhibits, and performing simulated experiments on virtual subjects or materials.
Whatever it is you are doing from day to day, your instructor and TA will work to ensure that students remain engaged with the subject matter and with each other throughout the course.
Online Orientation
Summer Session Orientation provides information for students (and parents/family members, should they wish to attend) to become acquainted with class expectations, online community standards, and what typical day will be.
All students must attend Summer Session Orientation for their session. We will send emails with the dates and times of Online Orientation closer to the start of Session I.
Technology Requirements
Students will need reliable and regular access to wifi and a laptop.
Summer Session courses will be supported by a suite of platforms for online learning.
- Canvas is the official learning management system already in use for instructors across campus to manage individual courses. Canvas provides access to the course syllabus, links to online resources, assignments, discussion boards, and other essential teaching tools.
- Zoom (Enterprise) is the official video conferencing platform, which allows for real-time interactions among instructors, teaching assistants, and students. All instructor-led class sessions on Zoom will be recorded, so that a student who misses the session may view it later on their own schedule. Students may also use Zoom to engage with each other on assignments and group projects.
- Other online tools such as Microsoft Teams and Google’s G-Suite may be used by instructors depending on the course’s specific curricular needs, but all will be required to fulfill the privacy requirements articulated at studentprivacypledge.org.