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The Block Plan

Four blocks a semester. Eight blocks a year.
Four years total. Thirty-two blocks at CC.

Want to study for your biology midterm without worrying about filming your documentary, reading 72 pages of The Odyssey, or training your psychology rat?

Stop spreading yourself too thin. Why not take just one class at a time? 

The Film Studies department's block-in-Hollywood students enjoy their moment in the spotlight.
The Film Studies department's block-in-Hollywood students enjoy their moment in the spotlight.

Adopted in 1970, Colorado College’s “Block Plan” is a uniquely intensive academic schedule that allows students to plunge into a different subject every three and a half weeks rather than balancing several throughout a semester. Students take one course at a time and professors teach one, with each block covering the same amount of material as a semester system.

The result? You can study the film industry on location in Hollywood, find Jupiter during evening labs in Barnes observatory, or traverse the natural wonders of the Southwest as a field archaeologist. Classes are small, hands-on, and highly focused.

If you love your class, you’re free to obsess over it. Not your thing? It’s over in three and a half weeks and by block break, you’ll have learned a semester’s worth of course material. It’s a win-win.

The Nuts & Bolts

  • A block lasts for three and a half weeks, beginning on a Monday and ending on a Wednesday four weeks later. 

  • 1 block is equal to one class on the semester plan. 

  • 4 blocks per semester; 8 blocks per year, plus optional Half Block in the winter and Summer Session during the summer. 

  • Class typically meets 9 a.m. - 12 p.m., Monday through Friday, with applicable labs in the afternoon, but professors are free to schedule classes in the format they feel is most suited to the subject matter.