55: When a Summer Program Conflicts with Finals

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Hi, everyone. I have a quick episode today on what to do when you've been admitted to a summer program, and you find out that it conflicts with your finals. This is a quarter specific issue, because a lot of our summer programs, or a lot of the national summer programs, happen to be on a semester system, and our students are on a quarter system. There are way more semester system schools out there than there are on the quarter system.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

For our students, our quarter ends in mid June, and a lot of these programs will start early to mid June. They usually conflict for one, two, sometimes even three weeks of our quarter, which can be especially stressful for our students. I had a student email me recently asking, what should I do? I've been admitted to this really great summer program, and it conflicts with my finals. How should I reach out to my professors? When should I reach out to them? How do I request accommodations? I want to make sure that I remain in good communication, develop a good rapport with them, and so on.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

This is a great opportunity for me to share my advice with other folks, because I anticipate if this happening to him, this is also happening to other students in the quarter system. And a lot of you in the UC quarter system listen to me. So okay, what advice would I give the student? There's a couple of things.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

The first thing I would say is you have a couple of options when it comes to having this conflict between finals week and your summer program. The first thing you can do is you can always reach out to your professors for the classes that you're taking, and request to take the exams early. If you know that your summer program starts during finals week, then you can request to take the exams during the 10th week. If it starts during the 10th week, you can request to take them during the ninth week. Basically, you just request to take it early.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Another thing you can do is instead of taking your exams early, you can also always contact your summer program and request to see if they can allow you to start a little later- start one, maybe even two weeks later. It depends on how long the summer program is. If it's only eight weeks, I would say only ask for one week. If it's a ten, twelve week summer program, then yes, maybe you could push it to starting two weeks later. But typically, I've seen programs be able to accommodate one week later.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Another option of what you can do is you can take the exams on time during finals week. If you physically have to travel and be somewhere for a summer program, we have had students get their exams proctored at the site of their summer program. What happens is the professor will be put in touch with the coordinator or director of that summer program, and they'll find a staff member to proctor the exam for the student on the day and time of the exam. That's another option. Or similarly, now that a lot of things are happening online, you can always take the exams online at the scheduled time. Then notify your summer program, so that they can excuse you from any activities, seminars, workshops during the time of your exam.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Those are a couple of options. It's ultimately up to you to decide what to do. I usually like to decide between the first two options. I think it's not a bad thing to first reach out to your professors and see if they allow you to take the exams early. If they are unwilling to work with you, then that's when you can reach out to the summer program and ask if you can start a little later. How do you do this? When you email your professors, the best way to do it is I recommend actually forwarding your acceptance letter to them. That way, they know that you're serious, that you're being honest when you're telling them this. Say, dear professor so and so, my name is so and so. I am enrolled in X course, and I wanted to let you know that I've been admitted to this summer program, X summer program, which starts on- and then you give the dates. Then you say, unfortunately the summer program conflicts with the date of your final. Would it be possible for me to take the exams early? Please let me know what I can do to prepare for possibly taking the exams early. I appreciate the consideration.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Just let them know. Just ask them in whatever way you feel comfortable. But definitely, I recommend forwarding the acceptance letter. That way they see it. They know you've been accepted to this competitive summer program, and that it's in their best interest to accommodate you, because you are a student with ambitions to go to graduate school, and most likely you're going to be a good student in their class.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So that's what I would recommend. Email them as soon as possible. I would say email them at the beginning of the quarter if you can. And if not, then email them as soon as you find out about the summer program, because sometimes it's not possible because you're still waiting to hear back. If you find out in the second, third week of the quarter that you got admitted, as soon as you say yes and officially send them the paperwork that you're going to do their summer program, then contact your professors. I hope you find this helpful. That's all I have to say about notifying professors and how to manage conflicts between summer programs and your finals.