OT: How do some student-athletes finish a bachelors so quickly (to transfer)?
Not specific to UM, maybe not even applicable to UM, it's just I've read so many cases of student-athletes transferring into graduate programs and sometimes they're only third years. How does this work? It's become somewhat uncommon for non-athetes to complete a bachelors on time in four years. Is their respective university allowing them to take an absurd amount of credit hours (inc. custom independent courses?) and/or are they applying outside online courses to their bach requirements? Is there a specific accredited online college these student-athletes are using? I vaguely recall reading a student-athlete claim he was wrapping up like 30 online credit hours in a term to transfer into a grad program by June.
Good Q.
My final semester I had to take 20 credits to complete my grad requirements. I had to get special permission, as did anyone who was taking more than 18 credit hours.
It was not easy and I didn't have to worry about sports or practices or meetings.
Spring and Summer sessions.
Also some are early enrollees.
yet I find myself wanting to answer it anyway. The internet is devious.
this kids are pretty much on campus year round. So they can take a couple of classes each summer, Sometimes schools offer classes over the winter/Christmas break and they take one then. After a few years of this, it's almost equivalent to squeezing in another year of school.
But spring and summer schedules are abbreviated, making it very difficult to load up on credit hours.
If you go both spring and summer, you can 12-16 credits in between the end of winter classes and the start of fall semester. That's like a whole extra semester. Do that between first and second year and again between second and third years on campus and that's an extra year of classes. 3+1 = 4.
Of course it gets even easier if you redshirt.
it is essentially the same as a full term. I did one spring semester during my four years and there were a TON of football players in my Roman Sports and Daily Life class (hey, I needed humanities credits!).
Add that to the fact that a lot of them enroll early now, which gives them a full semester or even two semesters if they do spring/summer (which would already make them sophomores) before their fellow freshmen even set foot on campus, and it's not too difficult to graduate in three years.
Yep, and at least at Michigan they are never subject to holds and get first priority for class selection.
They take classes year round.
At Michigan, some athletes chose to take classes all summer because they are there training anyway (spring and summer half terms) and they often take classes at least the summer term before their freshman year.
Mostly taking classes in Spring and Summer terms or AP credits. Taking a handful of classes over the summer basically adds in an extra regular length semester (or more) a year. And I'm sure at least a couple have AP credits built up, a lot of kids can get out of a semester or two of classes just from AP tests.
My guess is that they take a full load of classes in the summer.
It is probably a combination of several factors but I assume a lot of college athletes apply the same work ethic that allowed them to be such accomplished athletes to many of their endeavors. I also think sports can work to keep certain guys on the "straight and narrow" and pretty goal oriented. Even with playing a sport, if you take away most of the general jack-assery that most college students engage in to pass the time and apply it "doing college" I think it would be much easier to graduate ahead of schedule.
While they take lighter loads during the season, they tend to be on campus all year round taking classes. So for 120 credits to a degree, most students do 15 a semester and graduate after 8 semesters. If football players do 12 credits in the fall semester, 16 in the winter and then 8 each half of the summer term, they have 44 credits and are on track for graduating in 3 years.
Additionally, more football players are enrolling early, so they get an extra winter and summer of classes under their belts. Coupled with advisors who can help them optimize their schedules so they are always making progress towards their degree, it's not hard to fit in a full degree in 3 years.
A good chunk would come from summer courses, I expect. I think athletes these days (especially those looking ot possibly graduate in 3/3.5 years) spend most of the summer at school. I'm not sure exactly how many credits one can reasonably get in during the summer, but over three summers, not hard to imagine that you can make up a lot of ground. Especially if you are in a major that may not be too heavily dependant on specific order in which classes are taken.
On the football side, of course, there's the early enrollment factor. Which gives an athlete a "free semester" towards graduation.
Yeah, it always seemed like it depended a lot on the major - some people seem to be able to make more headway during the spring and summer semesters than others. As for me, I was always able to complete credits here and there in the spring and summer, but sometimes the offerings pertinent to my majors were limited in those semesters.
As others have noted, a combination of summer courses and good time management/AP credits. And I'm sure specific majors are more amenable to graduating early.
Part summer classes and part high school "dual enrollment" credits that they can transfer in. It is not uncommon, at all, for kids to finish high school with an associate level degree and then finish their bachelors in just two years.
humblebrag.
Two words, my friend. Summer school. A lot of the student athletes (in particular the football players) are still in town during the summer working out, holding unofficial practices, etc. They might as well go to class too while they're there.
I also imagine that summer school helps ease their fall and winter semester class loads. You can get away with taking a couple less credits during the actual school year and have more time for practice if you're taking some classes during the summer.
Right. A typical student who doesn't go to Summer school, goes Fall and Winter semester or eight semesters in four years. 15 credits a semester on average x eight quarters = the 120 credits needed to graduate.
The athlete taking classes in both the Spring and Summer short sessions can have that equal a normal semester. Thus, in three years, including Spring and Summer sessions, they are covering the equivalent of nine full semesters, allowing them to take a slightly lighter Fall load during football or just cover twelve credits over the Spring/Summer.
This, along with taking an easier major, makes it likely to graduate in three years if you apply yourself.
So it's not transferring in online courses from some web-based institution? I thought I've for sure read that various times - not at UM, I think most recently it was in reference to a basketball player.
I don't know about student athletes, but if you want enough credits to graduate early:
1) AP Credits
2) Summer classes (even at your local state school or community college, just check with UM beforehand)
3) Maxing out on credits during the semester with easy classes (e.g. instead of work study money, I was able to get credits for the research I did, which was an easy A)
4) Independent studies/ projects that are interesting, but not terribly difficult (easy A)
5) Pick a major that doesn't require a ton of 400 level courses or create your own major
-PCU
Academic support staff.
YEs this. But also profesors and GSI will go way out of their way to help. I feel like this should be pretty obvious. You see it all the time.
It's actually pretty easy and you can plan it out day 1 when you arrive. I advise all student-athletes when that they should plan on finishing school in 3 years. Sounds hard but not as hard as you'd thinking.
Every school is different but when I was in school we had three summer sessions. Session 1 max credits were 9, Session 2 was 12, Sessions 3 was 9 again. Add that to the average student doing 15 credits in the Fall and Spring each you can get to 126 credits (most degrees) in 3 years.
Sadly this also points to the lack of "real world" experience that most SA get. Students don't go to year around, they work and tend to get internships in the summer or a fall/spring semester.
Point is every SA should have an advance graduation date. Devin Gardner is a great example of that. He got his masters in 5 years. That's HUGE.
A year's worth of classes, but stop-time for eligibility.
we have AP classes kids can take to earn college credit. Many will enter college as a sophomore academically. I would imagine if a student is smart enough to attend Michigan fer God sakes that they could and would have take AP classes prior to enrolling.
we have AP classes kids can take to earn college credit. Many will enter college as a sophomore academically. I would imagine if a student is smart enough to attend Michigan fer God sakes that they could and would have take AP classes prior to enrolling.
I never had any problems getting classes I needed in the Spring/Summer back in the late 80's.
I have to believe the availability of on-line classes also makes it easier to schedule around practices and games.