I was wondering if any of you knew if it was possible to take summer school before beginning your first year. I'm a 105 applicant not currently in high school and I have already been accepted to social science for the fall. But I thought that maybe I could take a course in summer school so I have the experience of being in a university setting and could potentially lighten my course load for first year. Would that be even possible? Also, if I did this, would I still be able to participate in welcome week?

I just want to know if it's worth calling admissions and asking or if there isn't really a chance.

Originally Posted by invisiblerose

I was wondering if any of you knew if it was possible to take summer school before beginning your first year. I'm a 105 applicant not currently in high school and I have already been accepted to social science for the fall. But I thought that maybe I could take a course in summer school so I have the experience of being in a university setting and could potentially lighten my course load for first year. Would that be even possible? Also, if I did this, would I still be able to participate in welcome week?

I just want to know if it's worth calling admissions and asking or if there isn't really a chance.

I know people in engineering who were able to take few courses before their first year. Give it a shot, it will allow you some extra time to adjust to uni and might cut you some slack in first year. Good luck!

For engineering, there is a specific program that allows incoming first-years to take specific courses.
For other faculties, no, you cannot - you are not considered a student until September, so you can't register for courses now. Also, for second term summer school, courses begin on June 22, when you're not even done high school, and most (though not all) of the second-term courses have first-term prereqs. This is why there is a special program for incoming first-years in engineering - the timing wouldn't work otherwise.
Lastly, a course in summer school is different from during the year and probably isn't the best introduction to university. Things move very quickly, so you won't have much time to figure stuff out.

Literally thousands of people have full course loads in first year and do just fine, so unless you have a specific reason why you feel like you can't handle it, don't be scared by the prospect of a full course load. If you find you're having trouble once you've started, you can always drop some courses and take them in the summer after first year.

You say that you are not currently in high school so you would be available to take summer school courses, but your acceptance is for the fall. I was a 105 applicant as well, but they put my acceptance at May, not September; I was able to take summer courses.

You could talk to the registrar's office and/or Social Science advising (who are incredibly helpful) - even if they say no, at least you'll know for sure.

Good luck.