<p>I have a question regarding the intersession period on the calendar for 2013-2014. My son is an entering 1st year student in the game design program in GCCIS and I have not been able to find a detailed outline of the curriculum with the new semester format. There is a roughly 3-week intersession after winter break (most of January), and I don’t know what classes are offered. Are there mandatory classes? Is it solely optional? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m not sure any of the students know what is happening with that yet! My S will be a junior in the Game Design program and he doesn’t think he has to take any classes during the intersession, but has received no information about it (at least that he has shared with me)! Further investigation reveals that there will be an additional tuition charge for classes taken then. </p>
<p>It sounds optional from the website (not sure what date it was posted)- </p>
<p>The new RIT calendar will consist not only of two fifteen-week semesters, but also an optional three-week January intersession and a ten-week summer term.</p>
<p>You can view the 2013-14 calendar here: <a href=“http://www.rit.edu/conversion/media/documents/AcademicCalendar2013_2014.pdf[/url]”>http://www.rit.edu/conversion/media/documents/AcademicCalendar2013_2014.pdf</a></p>
<p>The optional January intersession will provide students the opportunity to:</p>
<pre><code>engage in research projects with faculty;
participate in abbreviated study abroad experiences;
catch up or get ahead with required courses;
take unique electives and co-curricular courses.
</code></pre>
<p>A committee of faculty, staff, and students is currently working out the details of the 2013-2014 intersession. Further information about the intersession and summer terms will be posted as it is available.</p>
<p>Thanks, mamabear1234! I appreciate the quick reply and I guess we will wait and see. My son is very excited about the game design program. Do you have any advice for a student entering the program? Anything you wish you knew at the beginning? Thanks!</p>
<p>Not really. My S is very independent and does not seek advice from us on classes, etc. He seems to know what he is doing. He chose to study abroad this summer, so he will have to do his co-op next year, but he had a friend who did not start looking for a co-op position early enough last fall and so did not find something suitable for this summer. My S tells me there is a professor who spends a lot of time maintaining contacts with the game industry, so it would be good to get to know him! He loves the program and found a group of friends like him, which is great because he was very quiet in high school. He caught us by surprise by moving off campus sophomore year, which worked out fine.</p>
<p>The intersession will likely be like the summer session was in the quarter system. A small subset of classes available for people who need to catch up or want to get ahead. As a current student, I think it’s fairly useless, especially considering those three weeks could have been three more weeks of summer, and therefore three more weeks of co-op pay.</p>
<p>I think it will be interesting to see how students choose to use the intersession. I don’t think people really want to be home with their parents for an entire month, so there might end up being a lot of cool activities considering campus/dorms will be open for all that time with nobody going to class.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure the RIT residence halls are closed Dec. 20 through Jan. 19.</p>
<p>Well, I guess they don’t expect freshmen to stay on campus for intersession, which makes sense. But there will still likely be people around.</p>