Victoria Cawley knew Syracuse University was a good fit even before she started her first semester.

That’s because the freshman, who majors in environment sustainability and policy and economics, had the opportunity to take the school for a test drive through its summer college program.

Cawley said that was another benefit of SU’s summer college experience.

She changed majors after she got hands-on instruction in architecture and decided that wasn’t a path for her.

“This was just the first one," Cawley said. "So, we learned a lot about spatial relations and how that impacts people and the way people feel. It was a really interesting project because we created different forms of it throughout the weeks. This is a actually one of the first projects they did in the first semester. It was really nice to know if I did continue in architecture, I would already know how to do this.”

One of the summer college courses offered out of 10 of SU’s schools and colleges is sports analytics. Francisco Riverso is the program manager.

“Really be able to define whether or not that’s for you. I think the support from summer college really allows students to do that exploration early and make those decisions that can be difficult," Riverso said. "So one of the things we’ve seen pretty regularly from our students they didn’t realize how easy it was to get exposed to the areas that we specifically cover in course, but also that it really is a viable career path for them, where it kind of cements their career interest.”

Students say that two-to-three week preview gives them comfort and confidence entering into college life, as well as college credits.

“Summer college is an amazing experience and there’s nothing quite like it," Cawley said. "The dream job is to become a business analysts at a financial firm, and I would be working specifically in the environmental branch of the firm."