Three Colleges Unlike All the Others

There are many people who find it easier to perform at their full potential when they are allowed to concentrate on a single task, goal, or problem.

Such people often find a single challenge, even one that is difficult, less daunting than two, three, or sometimes even four far less difficult ones.

Not surprisingly, a one-course-at-a-time calendar might be more to their liking than the more traditional quarter, trimester, or semester calendar. Online colleges frequently adopt such calendars to allow working adults with multiple responsibilities to take single courses in shortened terms rather than carrying several courses for a sixteen week semester.

It might surprise you to find out that three relatively small liberal arts colleges also employ calendars designed to allow students to pursue a degree one course at a time. Colorado College, one of the three, developed what it calls the Block Plan more than thirty years ago. The plan divides the traditional academic year into eight blocks of three and a half weeks each. Depending on the material to be covered, a student may be enrolled in a single course for one block or more.

Iowa's Cornell College, not to be confused with Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, uses an identical calendar and an identical one-course-at-a-time system.

Tusculum College's "focused calendar" also divides each semester into four terms of three and one half weeks, with a four day vacation at the conclusion of each. Students may also take one-course-at-a-time during one or more of three optional summer terms.

Colorado College, Cornell, and Tusculum have many differences. Colorado College is the most selective, and draws more students from greater distances than do Cornell and Tusculum. Tusculum is significantly less expensive than the others. Colorado Springs, Mt. Vernon, and Greeneville are as different as can be, and the campus environments at the three institutions feature substantial, obvious differences. What is the same at the three colleges is their belief that a one-course-at-a-time calendar provides students with multiple advantages which include the freedom to take field trips without worrying about schedule conflicts, the opportunity to focus on and gain the most in-depth knowledge of a subject, and the time to extend class discussions or laboratory based projects at will.

If you like the idea of taking one course at a time and the advantages of a block plan appeal to you, you should check out one or more of these unique colleges.

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Daniel Kane has counseled high school and college students for more than three decades. His websites cover subjects which include scholarships for college , financial aid, college admission, and online degree programs .
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