<p>Comrades and friends,</p>
<p>So far, I've only come to find of Colorado</a> College and Cornell</a> College offering the cool'io block plan.</p>
<p>Would you all know of others?</p>
<p>They are the only two…when we did the info session at CC they mention this fact.</p>
<p>Aw.</p>
<p>I was hoping there was more. :p</p>
<p>What is the block plan? Can you direct me to a place I can learn about it? Thanks.</p>
<p>There’s a college in Canada that has the block plan.</p>
<p>One thing to think about - feedback we heard from students at Colorado College - is what that 3 1/2 week experience will be like for ALL of the courses you will have to take. A research paper due the next day, calculus, organic chemistry lecture all morning and lab all afternoon followed by homework that night, etc.</p>
<p>The professors know you have nothing but their class, and they do max you out with reading etc.</p>
<p>Just something to think about.</p>
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<p>Cornell College has an [adequate</a>, basic, description of it](<a href=“http://www.cornellcollege.edu/academics/ocaat/index.shtml]adequate”>http://www.cornellcollege.edu/academics/ocaat/index.shtml). The side bar on the left-hand side has more links with information on the block plan.</p>
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<p>Indeed. What concerns me more, to be honest, is that I feel like everything will be zooming by! The first day, you’re learning simple proofs on the derivative, and BAM! three weeks later, about, you’re done with Calculus I. </p>
<p>But, what attracts me the most about this is the potentiality of really submerging yourself into the the course at hand. For example, in the traditional 4-class per semester curriculum, it’s quite common for people to place more of an emphasis on classes they think are more important, most importantly classes required for their major. With the block plan, if I turn out to be a math major, and I decide to take a creative writing course, I wont be able to slack off or put it off. I’d have to place all my effort into it…And, this appeals to me. 
haha.</p>
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The academic rigor is something that I need to consider thoroughly, too. Like an ex of mine who is attending Colorado College told me that it’s quite common to have to read a whole novel, for homework one day, and be ready to discuss it, dissect it, criticize it, etc. the next class day. </p>
<p>Intense stuff, yo. </p>
<p>lol</p>
<p>It’s possible to truly submerge yourself with the course material, but remember that some fields of study may be better suited for the block plan than others. I truly believe the block plan is the best way to teach geology/ecology/ any other environmental science fields because the labs are best taught without time constraint.</p>
<p>Spanish or Chinese on the other hand? That IMO requires more sustained effort over a longer period of time. I cannot understand how someone can memorize and apply the intricate grammatical rules of a language in just three weeks, regardless of how many hours a day they’ve put into it.</p>
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<p>Good points. (y)</p>
<p>On that note, I’ve heard that Colorado College has sections of certain dorm buildings where one can only speak in a certain foreign language. If this is true…I think it might be done to keep one’s mind jogging in that language? I mean…imagine…taking a course in French in September…and then not taking the succeeding course until April. :p</p>
<p>At Colorado College, they offer 0.25 unit adjunct classes that meet once a week to practice various foreign languages during the semester to help maintain and enhance skills. Personally, I can’t decide between the block plan or a traditional schedule for next year.</p>
<p>Our S took a couple of summer physics courses at CC during HS before deciding to attend a different school. He did well in the CC courses, but decided not to apply there because learning science and math concepts at the required pace seemed unreasonably difficult.</p>
<p>I don’t see why you couldn’t schedule more than 1 block of language study back-to-back. You could schedule them right before, or right after, an intensive summer session (or a study abroad term). That way, you’d stretch out a language immersion experience.</p>
<p>There are 6 language immersion houses.
[Language</a> Houses ? Residential Life ? Colorado College](<a href=“http://www.coloradocollege.edu/offices/residentiallife/housing-facilities-information/language-houses/]Language”>http://www.coloradocollege.edu/offices/residentiallife/housing-facilities-information/language-houses/)</p>
<p>4.5 day breaks separate the blocks. With a pretty nice city surrounding the campus, Denver ~90 minutes away, and the Rockies at its doorstep, this is a fairly intense “work hard, play hard” kind of school.</p>
<p>You’re right about the back-to-back thing; a lot of their beginning and intermediate language courses are offered specifically as double blocks (2 in a row). This is true for some other classes too, I believe.</p>