J-Term is Here

06 January 2012 ~ Comments Off

A pile of books is symbolic of the workload over J-Term. Despite only having one class, the workload remains the same.

At this time of the school year, the academic schedule is completely different from the ordinary, familiar college experience. In the fall and spring semesters, a minimum of 12 credit hours is required to be considered a “full-time student,” and these classes usually fill up each day, Monday through Friday. Then, along comes January Term (J-Term, as it is known), where students take only one three-credit course over two and a half weeks. Instead of this one class being 2-3 times a week, it is held Monday through Friday for three hours.

Students have the opportunity to take a GenEd, an upper-level CORE class, or a class in their field of study if they would like, and most of the time, January is month with a much smaller load attached to it. Some professors do take advantage of the fact that his or her class is the only one students are focusing on and piles on homework that would keep anyone as busy as three classes of work. Overall, the fact that having only one class to worry about is a breath of fresh air for most students.

In some cases, students have an opportunity to go outside of the classroom and head to places like Florida, a cross cultural overseas trip, or Texas. You always know when these trips happen when students have Facebook statuses about their departure for another country when other students are still on break. On the other hand, some students do not even have to take J-Term and end up having another month off. Since J-Term is not required, some students decide leaving January open is the best option.

Overall, J-Term is considered a blessing before the next semester hits. Usually, spring semester can be equally difficult (if not harder) than fall semester, so it is nice to have a slow transition into a heavier workload. This J-Term, and my last one, will be spent taking CORE 400 with Dr. Brent Cline. While Dr. Cline is considered one of my favorite professors, I know the workload will be heavy. Whatever course you are taking, and wherever you are in the world, may this January be a blessing to you as you move forward.

Josh