Summer: long, hot days filled with swimming pools, road trips, porch beers and lazy afternoons, right? That’s what many people think summer is best used for, and it’s certainly an enjoyable way to spend the three months between spring and fall semesters. You would think a few people would choose to spend their summer cooped up in classrooms for hours every day, but summer classes are a surprisingly common and beneficial way to spend your summer “vacation.”

For those students who do not have full-time jobs or internships after spring semester ends, summer serves as a break from hardcore studying and academic worry. Spring and fall semesters contain enough of that stress, and the free time that people have starting in May is highly cherished. Why give that time over to yet more classes and studies?

The answer is simple enough: a fantastic opportunity to really crack down on some necessary classes. During the summer term, campus is practically empty; this might seem tremendously boring, but it opens up a lot of study spots as well as disposes of much of the usual distraction. With fewer people on campus (and in Ames in general), prioritizing schoolwork is much easier.

Classes themselves during the summer can be more conducive to education. Minimal enrollment ensures that nearly all classes, even introductory courses, are relatively small. These smaller class sizes offer a variety of advantages.

The first is that the classroom experience is more immersive; it’s harder to get sucked into Facebook when you are one of only 15 people in the room. Secondly, you can get to know your classmates who, likely as not, are just as excited about the “fun” aspects of summer as you are. The third (though not final) advantage is the ability to get to know your professor. Every student on any campus has the same message drilled into their head: Make connections. Connections with professors are much easier to build when your professor only needs to remember 10 to 20 faces per class.

The summer term is definitely a more beneficial environment for learning and studying than are the spring and fall semesters. With fewer students on campus, smaller class sizes, and the lazy summer pace of life, tackling a few classes during the three hot months is absolutely an efficient use of time.

All the elements that seem to make summer classes better also seem to make Ames extremely boring. However, deserted it may seem, there is still plenty to do in Ames. Though summer classes are more condensed and therefore occupy more hours of the day, they are also much shorter. You can knock out three much-needed credits in either four or eight weeks, and have the rest of the summer to spend as you choose.

Though summer semester can be a little pricey, it’s a worthwhile investment if it will help you graduate earlier or master a necessary job skill. Even if you’ve missed opportunities such as employment or an internship, there are good ways to make use of your time off and taking classes is one of them. The campus environment is excellent for studious endeavors during the summer and, if you’re lucky, you’ll still have plenty of time for all the other things that make summer so great.