<p>does 4-1-4 mean that the college has a quarter system?</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>4-1-4 is semesters with a 1 month spot for either intensive study or to relax.</p>
<p>so it's like 2 semesters and 1 month in between them?</p>
<p>More like 2 months because of breaks, but 1 month of class in between. I thought it sounded pretty sweet when I heard about it with Middlebury and Williams.</p>
<p>Exactly - usually a "winter term", for independent projects or mini-courses.</p>
<p>cool
is it as stressful as a quarter sys?</p>
<p>4-1-4 is cool. You have your two semesters and what is called "Jan term" in the middle. Jan term offers a variety of options including staying on campus and taking one course 3-4 hours a day for 4 or 5 days a week throughout the month of January. Or you can study abroad for that month or even do an exchange with another 4-1-4 school. Some schools allow you to use your Jan term for interviews or hanging out at home, others require you be doing one of the above options. </p>
<p>I know students who use Jan term for an intense class that they want to be able to focus on exclusively. Others use it for fun classes or like I said for study abroad. Some schools on this schedule have jan term classes that are travel study like a bio class in Costa Rica that does intensive study in the rainforest.</p>
<p>What 4-1-4 school were you looking at?</p>
<p>Hi Everybody,
My D would LOVE going to an excellent LAC that has the 4-1-4 calendar. She was disappointed that Bowdoin, Amherst, Carleton & Grinnell didn't have J terms for cross cultural experiences & interesting 4 week classes like she found at Williams & Middlebury.</p>
<p>What other excellent LACs besides Williams & Middlebury have J terms?</p>
<p>Thanks!
~Kat</p>
<p>It's not a LAC, but Brown has a January term that offers classes for half credit.</p>
<p>Oberlin has Winter Term, and Mount Holyoke has J-Term.</p>
<p>Centre has CentreTerm, which can be a class or study abroad experience, and Bennington has Field Work Term, which is a Jan term used mostly for internships.</p>
<p>o0o i like 4-1-4
ive noticed that a lot of schools have it...
don't really remember exactly which ones though</p>
<p>Wells College has a 4-1-4, and Bates has 'short term' in the Spring, so their regular schedule ends in April and then you take just one class for the last month.</p>
<p>McDaniel, a LAC outside of Baltimore, requires students to take at least one winter intersession class during their 4 years there. They're typically special topics courses, but many times schools will offer GenEd classes. Great way to squeak in an extra class to graduate early.</p>
<p>When do these 4-1-4 schools usually start/end classes? Do they start in late August and end in mid/late June or something?</p>
<p>Colby has the Jan Plan. They require you to be part of the program 3 of your 4 years. You don't have to be on campus though. If you can come up with an internship, or community service, and get a professor to sign off on it, you can do it.</p>
<p>I don't think most 4-1-4 school years are terribly different than most regular programs. They might end about 2 weeks later (late May). Remember, even schools with no "1" semester usually don't return to campus until mid-January. Jan Plan schools tend to start their in-between-term immediately after New Year's, so they're only about 2 weeks or so behind.</p>
<p>On the west coast: Saint Mary's California, Linfield in OR and Pacific University in OR are all on 4-1-4. </p>
<p>Re schedule: the 3 schools above all start around the first week in sept and get out around the third week of May. It's still 9 months like a traditional schedule.</p>
<p>While Carleton doesn't have a J term, they do offer off campus study programs during the winter break.</p>
<p>St Olaf and Gustavus Adolphus also have 4-1-4. So does DePauw. Illinois Wesleyan has 4-4-1; same idea, but the short term is in the spring. "Better to tack on a couple weeks vacation if your short term is overseas".</p>
<p>My D is also interested in a 4-1-4 or 4-4-1 schedule. Haven't heard of any schools west of us (Minnesota) with this option.</p>
<p>Oops, pressed return and then noticed historymom's post re: St Mary's, Linfield, and Pacific. Guess there are some west of us!</p>