<p>Last week, there was a thread asking about schools that have Jan-Term. (Where students take one semester long course, and finish it in one month.)</p>
<p>I just happened upon Whitman College's 'Semester in the West site', which sounds like a really interesting program.</p>
<p>Is there an easy way to find out which schools have these interesting programs? I've only heard about them AFTER we have decided to look at a school. I'll bet we are missing some good ones!</p>
<p>I think U of Delaware has a Jan term during which they encourage students to travel abroad.</p>
<p>University of Redlands has a May term. Lots of interesting classes, several involving travel &/or community service.</p>
<p>Before you pick a college based on one interesting program, try to find out the number who get to participate vs. the number who would like to. Some of them are highly touted but take a small number each year (or alternate year, like Semester in the West, with 22 students every other year...)</p>
<p>I think many colleges have a short term, some in January and some in May. The purpose is for student travel, non-traditional courses, etc. The college I'm familiar with has one in January that lasts 4 weeks. Professors use the term to take students on shorter trips (non-tourist season rates) arranged around some topic, e.g. marine biology in the Bahamas, Vietnam, Russian literature in Moscow, etc. It is also a term when professors can offer short, sometimes quirky, courses on topics that they have a special interest in. A student will take one course that meets for a couple of hours a day every day. I would guess many schools have variations of this. However, probably in many cases they are not special programs that anybody could join, but are available, just like any other class, for currently enrolled students. How you would find out about these, other than looking at individual schools, I'm not sure.</p>
<p>I have a S at Whitman who did Semester in the West. It is a fantastic and unique program. I'm not sure there are really are many like it, at least not during the regular school year.</p>
<p>While I don't think there is a directory for such programs, it isn't hard to make the leap about the kind of schools that back these efforts. Whitman has a commitment to environmental studies which is the basis for Semester in the West. It is also the brainchild of a particular faculty member - Phil Brick - who single-handedly organizes SITW and has the kinds of contacts that bring interesting, adjunct instructors into the course of study. </p>
<p>Similar programs tend to come through consortiums. In geology, there is an outstanding summer program run by the Keck Consortium which I believe is headed at Carleton. In any event, it is a collaborative field study/publishing research opportunity shared among several colleges with strong geology faculty.</p>
<p>In classics/archaeology, there is a program run out of Duke University called the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies which provides for a semester study in Rome. There are something like 25-30 member colleges/universities whose faculty take turns teaching in Rome and whose students are eligible to apply.</p>
<p>You have to question how realistic is it to choose a college based on these unique programs. Not every student at Whitman who wants to participate in Semester in the West is accepted. Not every geology major at Carleton gets into Keck. Not every archaeology major at Duke will go to the Rome program. These can be wonderful, additional opportunities but there's no guarantee for any student that he/she will get in.</p>
<p>If short term programs interest you, perhaps you should check out Colorado College. The whole school is a series of short term programs.</p>