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Summer College Admissions for Incoming Students

Summer Session is excited to welcome this year’s incoming class and invite pre-matriculant, incoming first-year and transfer students to apply to take a course prior to the start of the academic year! Enrolling in a summer course can be a great way to jumpstart your UChicago academic experience and to get your first taste of the distinctive academic culture of the College.

Incoming students are eligible to enroll in remotely taught online courses. In-person or on-campus courses are not available for incoming first-year students. Please review the following policies and guidelines prior to completing and submitting your application form. Although we hope we can accommodate your request, we cannot guarantee that every student will receive a course assignment as courses sometimes fill quickly.

Please listen to our pre-recorded virtual information session to learn more about the course offerings and how to apply for a Summer Quarter course. 

Financial aid is not available for incoming students taking summer courses. All pre-matriculant, incoming students must be prepared to pay for the summer course independent of a financial aid award. Any aid awarded to you cannot apply to courses taken prior to Autumn Quarter of your first year, and additional scholarship aid is not available. 

The application to register for courses will be on your UChicago status portal on Monday, May 6. If you have questions about the courses or the admissions process, please contact us at  at summersession@uchicago.edu.

Timeline & Application

The application opens on May 6, and will remain available on your UChicago status portal until June 25. All incoming students may apply for courses during Summer Quarter or September Term. Incoming Transfer Students must have received a preliminary credit evaluation in order to apply for Summer Quarter and September Term courses.

You may apply for courses in all sessions, but please be aware of the following deadlines as you consider which courses you'd like to apply for.

  • May 15: Deadline for Round 1. This is the final deadline for Session 1 courses.
    • May 21: Decision notification
    • May 28: Confirmations due 
  • June 7: Deadline for Round 2. This is the final deadline for Session 2 courses.
    • June 18: Decision notification 
    • June 24: Confirmations due
  • July 20: Final Deadline for September Term courses.
    • July 30: Decision notification

Note: Some courses fill more quickly than others, so we recommend all students indicate at least 2 courses they would like to take. You can apply for up to 4 courses on the form. No matter how many courses you indicate interest in, first-year students can be enrolled in a maximum of 1 course only. Transfer students can be enrolled in a maximum of 2 courses total.

We will consider the order in which you list your courses to be your order of preference. We make every effort to accommodate your preferences, but we cannot guarantee placement in any course as demand is very high and can vary depending on the course in a given year.

Students who are placed on the waitlist will be notified 5 days before the first day of class if a spot opens up in one of the courses they indicated interest in.

First-Year Course List

Incoming students are eligible to apply to take the courses listed below (subject to change). Only courses on this list are open to incoming first-year students. All of these courses will be taught remotely, online.

All Summer Quarter courses are for credit and provide quality letter grades. For Autumn 2024 incoming students, any course taken in Summer 2024 will count generally towards the overall number of credits needed to graduate as general elective credits.

Courses taken in Summer 2024 cannot be used to meet Humanities, Social Science, or Civilization Core requirements.  However some courses in the Arts, Biological Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, and Physical Sciences may be taken in Summer 2024 and count towards your Core requirements. 

If you are not familiar with how this will factor into your academic plan, please contact College Advising at collegeadvising@uchicago.edu.

Course descriptions can be found by clicking on the course name. In addition, the list below indicates whether a particular course is eligible for Core credit specifically.

Session Date Starts

Session 1: June 10
Session 2: July 1
September Term: August 26

Current UChicago students will be given priority placement in all courses, so we recommend that all pre-matriculated students indicate at least 2 courses (and up to 4) that you would like to be enrolled in. No matter how many courses you apply for, you will only be assigned to one course.

Course    Core credit?
ARAB 10123 91 - Summer Intensive Arabic Level 1 - Session 1               SLI
ARTV 10100 92  - Visual Language: On Images - Session 2               Yes
BIOS 12114 91 - Nutritional Science - Session 1               Yes
BIOS 14112 91 - The Workings of the Human Brain: From Brain to Behavior - Session 1               Yes
BIOS 20151 91 - Introduction to Quantitative Modeling in Biology - Session 2 Yes, but only for biology majors
CHEM 11100 91 - Comprehensive General Chemistry I - Session 1               Yes  
CHEM 25000 97 - The Drug Discovery Process: from Lead to the Clinic - September Term               No
CMSC 33260 91 - Internet Censorship and Online Speech - Session 2               No
CRWR 10306 91 - Beginning Fiction Workshop - Session 1               No
DATA 11800 97 - Introduction to Data Science I - September Term               Yes
DIGS 10000 91 - Approaches to Digital Humanities Using Python - Session 1               No
EDSO 23007 91 - Language, Culture, and Education - Session 2               No
ENGL 10703 91 - 20th Century American Short Fiction- Session 2               No
ENGL 13651 91 - A Brief History of Doom: Ragnarok & Other Apocalypses - Session 1               No
GNSE 21503 91 - Sarah Baartman through Schitt's Creek: an Introduction to Gender and Popular Culture - Session 1               No
GREK 10123 91 - Summer Intensive Introductory Ancient Greek - Session 1               SLI
HIST 13700 91 - America in World Civilization III - Session 2               Yes
JAPN 10123 91 - Summer Intensive Elementary Japanese - Session 1               SLI
MAAD 12320 91 - Critical Videogame Studies - Session 1               No
MATH 19620 91 - Linear Algebra - Session 1               No
PBPL 22300 91 - Policy Implementation - Session 1               No 
PLSC 24860 97 - Congress in Chaos? Understanding Legislative Function and Dysfunction - September Term               No
PSYC 20300 91 - Introduction to Biological Psychology - Session 1               No
RLST 10100 91 - Introduction to Religious Studies - Session 2               No
SOSC 20112 91 - Introductory Statistical Methods and Applications for the Social Sciences  - Session 1               No
SPAN 10123 91 - Summer Intensive Elementary Spanish - Session 1               Yes

 Summer Language Institute (SLI) courses will fulfill the College's general Language Competency requirement. 

If you have any questions related to the credit policy, review the following section, and if you have additional questions, please contact College Advising at collegeadvising@uchicago.edu.

Transfer Course List

Incoming transfer students are eligible to apply to take courses listed below (subject to change). Only courses on this list are open to incoming transfer students. All of these courses will be taught remotely, online.

All Summer Quarter courses are for credit and provide quality letter grades. For Autumn 2024 incoming students, any course taken in Summer 2024 will count generally towards the overall number of credits needed to graduate as general elective credits.

Courses taken in Summer 2024 cannot be used to meet Humanities, Social Science, or Civilization Core requirements.  However some courses in the Arts, Biological Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, and Physical Sciences may be taken in Summer 2024 and count towards your Core requirements. 

If you are not familiar with how this will factor into your academic plan, please contact College Advising at collegeadvising@uchicago.edu.

Course descriptions can be found by clicking on the course name. In addition, the list below indicates whether a particular course is eligible for Core credit specifically.

Session Date Starts

Session 1: June 10
Session 2: July 1
September Term: August 26

Current UChicago students have been given priority placement in all courses, so we recommend that all pre-matriculated students indicate at least 2 courses (and up to 4) that you would like to be enrolled in. Please make sure to review your preliminary credit evaluation before registering for Summer Quarter and September Term courses.

Course    Core credit?
ARAB 10123 91 - Summer Intensive Arabic Level 1 - Session 1               SLI
ARTV 10100 92  - Visual Language: On Images - Session 2               Yes
ARTV 10100 98 - Visual Language: On Images - September Term               Yes
ARTV 10300 91 - On Time and Space - Session 2               Yes
ASTR 12610 91 - Black Holes - Session 2                   Yes
ASTR 12700 91 - Stars - Session 1               Yes
BIOS 11141 97 - Introduction to Computational Biology - September Term               Yes
BIOS 12114 91 - Nutritional Science - Session 1               Yes
BIOS 14112 91 - The Workings of the Human Brain: From Brain to Behavior - Session 1               Yes
BIOS 20151 91 - Introduction to Quantitative Modeling in Biology - Session 2 Yes, but only for biology majors
BUSN 20330 91 - Building the New Venture - Session 1               No
BUSN 20600 91 - Marketing Management - Session 1               No
CHEM 11100 91 - Comprehensive General Chemistry I - Session 1               Yes  
CHEM 11200 91 - Comprehensive General Chemistry 2 - Session 2                   Yes
CHEM 11300 91 - Comprehensive General Chemistry 3 - Session 3               No
CHEM 25000 97 - The Drug Discovery Process: from Lead to the Clinic - September Term               No
CMSC 33260 91 - Internet Censorship and Online Speech - Session 2               No
CRWR 10306 91 - Beginning Fiction Workshop - Session 1               No
CRWR 12150 97 - Intro to Genres: Writing for TV: The Writers’ Room - September Term                   No
DATA 11800 97 - Introduction to Data Science I - September Term               Yes
DIGS 10000 91 - Approaches to Digital Humanities Using Python - Session 1               No
ECON 11020 92 - Introduction to Econometrics - Session 2               No
ECON 15030 97 - Basics of Corporate, Banking and Investment Finance (in-person, Sept Term)  
ECON 15500 91 - Introduction to Development Economics - Session 1               No
ECON 20000 91 - Elements of Economic Analysis 1 - Session 1               No
ECON 20100 91 - Elements of Economic Analysis 2 - Session 2               No
ECON 20200 91 - Elements of Economic Analysis 3 - Session 1               No
ECON 21020 91 - Econometrics - Session 1               No
ECON 23950 91 - Economic Policy Analysis - Session 1               No
ECON 24000 91 - Labor Economics - Session 1               No
EDSO 23007 91 - Language, Culture, and Education - Session 2               No
EDSO 33002 91 - Schooling and Identity - Session 1               No
ENGL 10703 91 - 20th Century American Short Fiction- Session 2               No
ENGL 13651 91 - A Brief History of Doom: Ragnarok & Other Apocalypses - Session 1               No
FINM 25000 91 - Quantitative Portfolio Management and Algorithmic Trading - Session 1               No
FREN 13333 91 - Reading French for Research Purposes Prerequisite Course - Session 1               SLI
FREN 33333 91 - Reading French for Research Purposes - Session 2               SLI
GNSE 21503 91 - Sarah Baartman through Schitt's Creek: an Introduction to Gender and Popular Culture - Session 1               No
GREK 10123 91 - Summer Intensive Introductory Ancient Greek - Session 1              SLI
GREK 20123 91 - Summer Intensive Intermediate Ancient Greek - Session 1               SLI
GRMN 13333 91 - Reading German for Research Purposes Prerequisite Course - Session 1               SLI
GRMN 33300 91 - Reading German for Research Purposes - Session 2               SLI
HIST 13700 91 - America in World Civilization III - Session 2              Yes
ITAL 33333 91 - Reading Italian for Research Purposes - Session 2              SLI
JAPN 10123 91 - Summer Intensive Elementary Japanese - Session 1              SLI
MAAD 12320 91 - Critical Videogame Studies - Session 1              No
MACS 30500 91 - Computing for the Social Sciences - Session 1              No
MATH 18400 91 - Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences II - Session 1              Yes
MATH 19620 91 - Linear Algebra - Session 1               No 
PBPL 22300 91 - Policy Implementation - Session 1               No 
PHSC 28500 97 - Effective Writing in the Sciences - September Term               Yes
PLSC 24860 97 - Congress in Chaos? Understanding Legislative Function and Dysfunction - September Term               No
PLSC 29102 91 - Game Theory I - Session 2               No
PSYC 20300 91 - Introduction to Biological Psychology - Session 1               No
RLST 10100 91 - Introduction to Religious Studies - Session 2               No
SOCI 20253 91 - Introduction to Spatial Data Science - Session 1               No
SOSC 20112 91 - Introductory Statistical Methods and Applications for the Social Sciences  - Session 1               No
SPAN 10123 91 - Summer Intensive Elementary Spanish - Session 1  
SPAN 33333 91 - Reading Spanish for Research Purposes - Session 2               SLI
STAT 24400 91 - Statistical Theory and Methods I - Session 1               Yes

 Summer Language Institute (SLI) courses will fulfill the College's general Language Competency requirement. 

Costs, Aid, & Billing

The cost of one Summer Quarter (100-unit) or one September Term course is $4,635, and a Summer Language Institute (SLI) 300-unit intensive course is $7,960. 

The costs for any courses you take this summer will not be covered by any financial aid you’ve been awarded. Financial aid awards do not apply to summer courses taken prior to Autumn Quarter of the first year. If you received a financial aid award, then the first term for which your aid award will be applied is Autumn Quarter. All pre-matriculant, incoming students must be prepared to pay for the summer course independent of a financial aid award, and additional scholarship aid is not available. Please note that aid is available in future summers when you are a matriculated student.

Students who enroll in a Summer session course will be billed via the Bursar’s Office. The Bursar’s Office will issue bills to the student’s my.uchicago accounts in early June and payment will be due in late June, after Summer Session classes begin. Payments must be paid via bank account or wire transfer. Credit cards are not accepted.

Withdrawals and Refunds

This is the refund schedule for UChicago students in Summer Quarter and September Term undergraduate courses and programs (including Summer Language Institute).

Refund Schedule

UChicago students who drop a course on or before the relevant deadline will not be billed for that course and the course will not appear on the student’s transcript. 

If a student withdraws after that date, they will receive a “W” on their UChicago transcript, and they will be billed for the full cost of the course.

Requests to withdraw must be made in writing to summersession@uchicago.edu.