Jan Term

Jan Term is a growing trend among liberal arts schools who are looking to give you a multi-faceted educational experience (or some krap like that).  The concept is basically that you have three terms: Fall semester where you take 14-16 credits, Jan term where you take 3-5 credits, and Spring semester which is the same as fall semester.  This means that in Jan Term, you take one class but you have it every day for several hours - that way you cover a week's worth of material every day and finish the class in three weeks.

There are several uses to which you can put Jan Term:
1) Take a class you hate.  Get rid of that irksome math credit in three weeks.  You will want to die for three weeks, but then you will be done and won't ever have to worry about that subject that you hate again.
2) Take a class you love.  Decide to have an awesome month and take that art class that you have been dying to take.  Just focus on that for a month so that you can unwind and de-stress for Spring semester,
3) Take a special class.  Travel abroad for a few weeks, or be bussed up to the mountains to snowboard for PE credit every day.  Whatever it is, you can take classes that the traditional semester system wouldn't easily facilitate.
4) Test out your major.  Take some kind of class that focuses intensely on some aspect of your major - if you enjoy studying that subject every day for three hours and get a lot out of it, then you picked a good major.  If you discover that you hate spending three hours a day discussing feminist issues, then maybe gender studies isn't a good major for you. (Hint: gender studies isn't a good major for anyone)

I am using my Jan Term for the fourth reason.  I'm taking an oral intensive Spanish class that involves three hours a day of conversations in Spanish, so that I can see if I really want to major in Spanish.  I know some of you just shuddered but don't stomp on my dreams!  I think this is the best use of your freshman Jan Term - every college student's worst nightmare is to suddenly discover that you hate your major at the end of your junior year.  Don't go there - Jan Term to the rescue!