6-Week Online College Course Guide

Six-week online college courses can fast-track your degree. Explore popular accelerated courses and discover career options.
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Updated on May 7, 2024
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Eager to enter the workforce? You can fast-track your career by pursuing an accelerated online bachelor's degree program.

Six-week online courses can help you earn your degree in less time. Many online programs offer flexibility and can even save you money.

You can find accelerated six-week college courses in many popular fields, including business, computer science, and education.

Featured Online Bachelor's Degree Programs

Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.

Popular Online Six-Week Courses

No matter your field of interest, you can find six-week courses to meet your passions or career goals. Check out 15 of the most popular online six-week courses.

1. Accounting

Want to become an accountant in less time? Then research six-week online courses for accounting majors. Many colleges offer online accounting degrees with accelerated classes. After earning your accounting degree, you can become an accountant, auditor, or budget analyst.

Stay on top of your accelerated accounting classes by creating a schedule and tracking assignment deadlines.

2. Business Administration

Business continually ranks as one of the most popular college majors. Six-week business administration courses can help you focus on specific topics in business and finish your business degree faster.

An online bachelor's in business administration program can prepare you for various good-paying careers in business.

Whether you're interested in human resources, operations management, or running your own small business, completing accelerated business courses can get you started faster.

3. Communications

Strengthen your writing and communication skills with six-week online courses in communications. By taking accelerated classes, you can earn a bachelor's in communications or specialize in an area like public relations or media communications.

Put your communications degree to work as a journalist, public relations specialist, market research analyst, or editor.

4. Computer Science

If you like all things gadgets and gizmos, consider taking an accelerated computer science course. It's a great way to earn your computer science degree in less time. A six-week online course may cover software development, database management, or computer science theory.

Computer science careers pay high salaries and are part of a growing field. Plus, an accelerated degree means you'll enter the workforce sooner.

5. Computer Information Systems

Specialize in data management by taking six-week online courses in computer information systems. You'll learn how to organize and distribute data across networks. With a degree in computer information systems, you can qualify for roles like network administrator and information security analyst.

Interested in cybersecurity careers? Courses in computer information systems can help you prepare for these roles.

6. Criminal Justice

Whether you want to work in law enforcement or corrections, a criminal justice degree can help get you there. You can also specialize in areas like criminology, crime scene investigation, or legal studies to prepare for the job market.

You'll study criminal behavior, investigative procedure, and the justice system in your accelerated classes.

7. Education

An education degree can open the doors to a career as a teacher or early childhood educator. By taking six-week college courses, you can build assessment, classroom management, and instructional skills. Online programs even incorporate hands-on student teaching experiences.

Pro Tip: If you know you want to become a teacher, make sure to check whether the program meets your state's requirements for a teaching license.

8. Finance

A finance degree teaches you the ins and outs of money management. With coursework focusing on economics, investment, and risk management, a degree in finance prepares you to work in various industries.

You can pursue a lucrative career as a financial analyst, accountant, or budget analyst. The 2023 median pay for budget analysts was $84,940, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

9. Healthcare Administration

Learn how to manage healthcare departments and oversee non-clinical responsibilities with six-week online courses in healthcare administration. With a healthcare administration degree, you'll qualify for roles like health information specialist and patient services representative. And with experience, you can become a hospital administrator or health services manager.

Take classes in healthcare finance, human resources, or informatics to pursue specialized career paths.

10. Information Technology

It's no secret that tech skills are in high demand. By taking six-week college courses online, you can earn an information technology degree. Use your skills as an information security analyst, quality analyst, or database administrator.

You can even learn new programming languages with accelerated classes — and put your newfound skills to work faster.

11. Management

Hone your leadership skills with accelerated management classes. You can earn a degree in general management or choose a specialty like hospitality management bachelor's instead. You can take on supervisory responsibilities or launch your own business with strong analytical and leadership skills.

Looking for similar classes? Check out supply chain management, entrepreneurship, and organizational behavior.

12. Marketing

Marketing requires a unique blend of creativity, understanding human motivation, and business. Coursework includes subjects like consumer behavior, marketing research, and marketing strategy.

An accelerated degree in marketing paves the way for careers like marketing research analyst, marketing manager, and social media coordinator.

In 2023, the median annual pay for marketing managers was $156,580, according to the BLS.

13. Nursing

Launch your career in an in-demand field with accelerated nursing classes. With a bachelor's in nursing, you can earn your nursing license and work as a pediatric nurse, lead nurse, or ER nurse. Or you can choose to specialize in areas like oncology, surgical care, or critical care.

Nursing is a fast-growing field with many advancement opportunities. If you decide you want a little more responsibility, you can become a nurse practitioner and increase your earning potential.

14. Psychology

Psych majors examine human behaviors and mental health conditions. In six-week online courses, you can study human development, personalities, and social psychology. With a psychology degree, you can pursue a career in therapy, social services, or public affairs.

You'll gain strong analytical, communication, and research skills as a psychology major, which can help you on many career paths.

15. Social Work

You can study social welfare and client advocacy by taking six-week college courses online. Earn an accelerated social work degree to fast-track your career as a caseworker, adoption advocate, or social worker.

Interested in clinical social work careers? You'll need a master's degree, but a bachelor's in social work can cut time off your MSW program.

Why Should You Take Six-Week Courses?

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    Graduate faster: You can typically earn your degree faster with an accelerated program. Graduating faster can get you in your career faster.
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    Cheaper: Because your degree takes less time, you may also find your degree costs less money. Some schools even offer accelerated programs at a cheaper rate than traditional courses.
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    Focused Coursework: Although you move through the material faster in a six-week class, some colleges structure the course map so you take fewer courses at the same time.
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    Flexibility: Online classes allow you the flexibility to tackle coursework in your own time. Many accelerated programs cater to working adults and offer flexible options for students.

Frequently Asked Questions About Six-Week Online Courses

What certification course takes the least amount of time?

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You can earn a certificate in real estate, emergency care, or medical coding in a few months. By researching six-week certification programs online, you can quickly earn a certificate and launch your career.

In many cases, you can also transfer the credits from a certificate program to an associate degree or a bachelor's degree program.

Is a six-week course hard?

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Yes, many students find six-week courses challenging because of the accelerated format. You'll cover the same material as a typical 15-week semester-long course on a shorter timeline.

How long does a typical college course take?

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Most colleges operate on a semester schedule, so typical courses take 15-16 weeks. Some schools use a quarter system with 10-week classes.

A growing number of colleges offer accelerated classes on a shorter term. For example, some schools break the 16-week semester into two eight-week terms so students can focus on a smaller number of courses at a time.

BestColleges.com is an advertising-supported site. Featured or trusted partner programs and all school search, finder, or match results are for schools that compensate us. This compensation does not influence our school rankings, resource guides, or other editorially-independent information published on this site.

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