J-Term, or January Term, is a 3-week period of time when students go to one class for three hours a day. In my opinion, J-Term is a great way to get back into the swing of things after a long winter break. It’s nice to be able to wake up, go to class for three hours, then put all of your energies into that one class afterwards.

There is plenty of time in the day to do your homework and hang out with friends. However, some classes have a lab attached which requires an extra three hours, three days a week.

This can be torture, especially if you do not particularly enjoy the course you are taking. It would be best If you can avoid taking a lab class during J-Term. Cramming a lab course into a 3-week period is excessive and can be extremely difficult for students.

My suggestion is that the school takes away lab courses during J-Term. Otherwise, having one class three hours a day does not seem to be a bad idea. Regardless, there are no doubt some who feel as though this term is distressing due to the higher frequency of tests, quizzes, and papers during the short period of time. Also, it is hard for most to sit in a class, especially a lecture course, for a whole three hours without a break.

It may take a few years for people to adjust to the J-Term schedule. For people who do not like to sit through long classes, I would take a general core class or something that is more interactive and fun, such as art appreciation , a dance course, or even traveling abroad.

This year, students are in Guyana, Ireland, Florida, and Costa Rica. It’s amazing that we get the opportunity to go to so many diverse places. Traveling seems like the best way to take advantage of J-Term. Without J-Term, students would have to wait to travel until the summer if they did not want to miss a whole semester.

Other people like to take core courses such as Western Classics to get that out of the way. If you do not like a course, you could take it in J-Term.

Why not take a math course for three weeks instead of several months if you dislike math? In my experience, the best part about J-Term is that you can lessen your course load during Spring semester. Instead of taking five classes next semester, I can take four, which is a huge relief. Overall, I will definitely be taking advantage of all the coming J-Term opportunities in the future.