One Course At A Time

OCAAT Video

In 1978, Cornell College adopted a block plan calendar, known as One Course At A Time, that enabled three distinctive academic benefits to blossom: focus, passion, and flexibility.

When students and professors focus deeply on one subject at a time, learning happens in particularly exciting and effective ways. Whether you’re studying ancient Greek culture or experimenting in the biology lab, a clear focus and sustained attention will help you to reach a deeper level of knowledge and understanding.

Studying at Cornell on the block plan means you’ll immerse yourself in a single course each three-and-a-half-week block, then engage in a new subject after a four-day block break. Concentrating on a single class, you’re free to indulge your passion in areas such as creative writing, studio art, or laboratory science.

Just as students take one course at a time, Cornell faculty teach just one course at a time. Your professors dedicate themselves fully to you and your classmates, mentoring students in exceptionally powerful faculty-student relationships and intense learning communities. The OCAAT block calendar also means faculty have the flexibility to take art students to museums and galleries in Chicago, or take a class to Memphis to learn first-hand about professional sports management.

Of course, the block plan encourages off-campus experiences, too. No worries about getting to another class on time, so why not spend a block studying religion in Tibet or Spanish in Bolivia, all the while immersed in new cultural experiences? Or serve an internship at a New York bank or in a Congressional office?

Focus, flexibility, and passion. With OCAAT, the opportunities are extraordinary—and almost limitless.