The four-week session of the summer courses at Eastern have wrapped up and while some students are heading home, new students are arriving to take their place and keep the professors busy as a new group has arrived for the 6-week session.

Beginning this Monday, classes begin for the six-week session and will continue until July 21.

Textbook Rental for the 6-week session has already started and will remain open beyond the standard hours for this week only starting Monday June 11th to Thursday June 14th from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Workers at the Textbook Rental have said that they have more students for the 6-week session than the previous 4-week session and more students have shown Monday to get books than last week when it opened on Wednesday June 6th.

The 6-week session for students is considered by Academic Affairs to be the main session, but the most popular is the shorter 4-week session. Students have begun their 6-week session today for many different reasons.

Some students have shown up to fill up their courses needed for graduation; some continue their education from the previous 4-week session. Others have no choice but to attend the 6-week session because of their graduate level courses.

“I have to take this class for my major and it is only offered during the 6-week session,” said Katie Herrmann, a graduate student with a Communications Disorders and Sciences major.

This is standard practice for the summer courses.

Different courses are offered during the three sessions with graduate-level courses offered more in 6- or 8-week sessions, according to William Weber, associate vice-president of Academic Affairs.

Keith Wilson, a psychology professor, said that his department offers classes every other summer.

The pressure during summer session is not only felt on students, but on professors as well who have to condense a semester’s worth of material into six weeks.

“A class for four weeks or six weeks feels a lot like running the 800 meter dash,” Wilson said. “I don’t feel like it’s more work, but it does feel from my perspective faster-paced.”

There are some benefits that students do get from taking a smaller summer course. Wilson said that classes are smaller and this gives students more attention from their professors and it makes students feel more confident to participate in classroom discussions.