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Summer College Admissions for Incoming Students of the Class of 2027

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.

All courses will be taught remotely and online. In-person or on-campus courses are not available. Please review the following policies and guidelines prior to completing and submitting an application form. Although we hope we will be able to accommodate all interested students, we cannot guarantee that every student will receive a course assignment as demand for courses is at an all-time high.

Last year Summer Session hosted a virtual information session for incoming students to provide information about the course offerings and how to apply for a Summer Quarter course. You can listen to recording here!

If you have any questions about the courses or the admissions process, please do not hesitate to contact us at summersession@uchicago.edu.

The application to register for courses will be on your UChicago status portal on Tuesday, May 2.

Timeline & Application

The application opens on May 2, 2023 and closes on May 12, 2023. Students who have submitted an application will be notified on May 19 of which course they have been assigned to. Students will need to confirm within 7 days that they would like to be enrolled into their assigned course.

  • May 2: Application opens on your UChicago status portal (click access Submitted Application)
  • May 12: Application closes
  • May 19: Decision notification
  • May 26: Confirmations due

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 select, you will only be assigned to one course.

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 by June 7 (5 days before the first day of class) if a spot opens up in one of the courses they indicated interest in. After June 7, we will close enrollment for incoming students.

Course Information

For Summer 2023, only remotely taught, online courses are open to incoming students. Summer courses cover a wide variety of topics and subject areas. Some courses have pre-requisites, so make sure you have completely reviewed the course description prior to electing a course.

These courses are open to current undergraduate students as well as visiting students. Upperclassmen 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 assigned to. No matter how many courses you apply for, you will only be assigned to one course.

Course List

Incoming students are eligible to apply to take courses offered either in Summer College or the Summer Language Institute. All courses will be taught remotely and online.

Summer College. The course list below is the complete catalog of Summer College courses that incoming students may apply to be enrolled in. 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.

Course Core credit?
ARTH 16460 91 - Modern Latin American Art Yes
ARTH 14402 91 - Introduction to the Arts of the Italian Renaissance Yes
ASTR 12610 91 - Black Holes Yes
ASTR 12700 91 - Stars Yes
BIOS 12114 91 - Nutritional Science Yes
BIOS 14112 91 - The Workings of the Human Brain: From Brain to Behavior Yes
BIOS 20151 91 - Introduction to Quantitative Modeling in Biology Yes, but only for biology majors
CRWR 10306 91 - Beginning Fiction Workshop No
DIGS 10000 91 - Approaches to Digital Humanities Using Python No
MAAD  23620 91 - Internet Censorship and Online Speech No
ENGL 10703 91 - 20th Century American Short Fiction No
ENGL 13651 91 - A Brief History of Doom: Ragnarok & Other Apocalypses No
MATH 19620 91 - Linear Algebra No
PARR 21800 91 - The Press, the Presidency, and Public Discourse No
PHIL 20100 91 - Elementary Logic No 
PHIL 29904 91 - Ethics in the Digital Age No
PLSC 29102 91 - Game Theory I No
PSYC 20300 91 - Introduction to Biological Psychology No
RLST 10100 91 - Introduction to Religious Studies No
SOSC 20112 91 - Introductory Statistical Methods and Applications for the Social Sciences  No
STAT 22000 91 - Statistical Methods and Applications Yes

Summer Language Institute and Heritage Language courses. In addition, incoming students have the option to apply to take a course in a foreign language offered by our Summer Language Institute. Languages offered include: American Sign Language, Ancient Greek, Ancient Latin, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish. All Heritage Language Courses and Summer Language Institute 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.

Credit & Grading Policy

All Summer Quarter courses are for credit and provide quality letter grades. For Autumn 2023 incoming first-year students, any course taken in Summer 2023 will count generally towards the overall number of credits needed to graduate as general elective credits.

Courses taken in Summer 2023 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 2023 and count towards your Core requirements. The full course list is can be found above. Only courses on this list are available for incoming students to apply for, and all courses will be taught remotely and online.

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

Costs, Aid, & Billing

The cost of one Summer Quarter (100-unit) course is $4,500, and a Summer Language Institute (SLI) 300-unit intensive course is $7,725. 

The costs for summer courses are not 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. Additional scholarship aid is not available for summer quarter courses taken prior to Fall Quarter of your first year.

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 on June 7 and payment will be due in on June 28, after Summer Session classes begin. Payments must be paid via bank account or wire transfer. Credit cards are not accepted.

Withdrawals and Refunds

Students who drop a three- or five-week Summer Session course through Friday of the first week of the course will not be billed for the course, and the course will not appear on the student’s transcript.

Students who drop a six-, seven-, or eight-week Summer Session course through Friday of the second week of the course  will not be billed for the 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.