One thing that’s vastly different about high school versus college is the length of time you get for breaks. It’s typical to get almost all of January off, making winter break about 4-5 weeks long (my freshman year, we had a late start to the second semester due to Covid, so the break was six weeks long).
Amherst used to offer optional courses during J-Term, which met every day for about three weeks and counted as a full class—some of my friends did a January course and then only took three courses in the spring semester. We haven’t had that offering since 2022, so now J-Term looks a little different. Athletes use the time for extended practices and training trips, some students work for professors as research assistants or for the Loeb Center and other campus departments, thesis writers take advantage of a time free of other courses and responsibilities to get lots of work done, and pretty much everyone gets working on applications for summer internships or jobs. You are allowed to live on campus with a meal plan starting on January 2nd as long as you submit a request form to the housing office before their early December deadline.
This will be the first year I spend January on campus. Freshman year, I was home in Maryland the whole time, resting and decompressing after a difficult first semester of college. Sophomore year, I visited friends in California and took a road trip from the Bay Area to LA. Junior year, I was only home for about three weeks before heading off to visit a friend in Germany before my study abroad program in Lisbon began. This year, I plan to head back up to Amherst around the 10th of January to spend some dedicated time on my thesis, in hopes of having a draft of my third chapter before classes begin. I would stay home, but I don’t think I can get myself motivated to work without the doom and gloom of the Frost Library basement.
I still have a couple weeks here to rest, though, and will be taking full advantage of it. I hope you’re enjoying this lull time between Christmas and New Year’s, and, as always, you can email me with any questions at swolff25@amherst.edu.