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At the OE we do one course at a time.  The sixteen week semester is divided into four segments, and each segment is directed by a question.  Students receive 3-4 credit hours in each segment based on independent research projects conducted in the discipline of their choice.  View overview here.

FIRE UP YOUR MIND

ACADEMICS

At the OE we do one course at a time.  The sixteen week semester is divided into four segments, and each segment is directed by a question.  Students receive 3-4 credit hours in each segment based on independent research projects conducted in the discipline of their choice.  View overview here.

Every autumn since 1975, several dozen college students from across the country have taken a step “out of the current” for an unusual semester of vigorous intellectual exploration.  Students earn 17 credits, but focus on one topic of study at a time.  Daily reading, small group discussion, and one-on-one conversations with faculty members comprise the heart of the OE program.

The more serene setting invites students to pursue the kinds of questions that build up during a college education, but that often don’t get the attention they deserve in the normal routine.

Questions like:

  • What kind of person do I want to be?

  • What kinds of relationships do I want shaping my life?

  • What does it mean to live in a way that is sustainable?

  • What do I believe about God and the ultimate questions of life?

  • What do all these facts and ideas mean, and what kinds of responses do they ask of me?

  • What institutions and larger purposes are worthy of my life?

  • What is the fire I want to carry?

WHAT CREDITS
ARE EARNED
  • A total of 17 credits are earned for the semester.

  • The credits may be used to satisfy General Ed requirements or, at the discretion of the student's home college, upper-division major requirements.

  • Students receive three or four semester hours of credit in each segment based on their projects. Students complete research in the discipline of their choice: literature, sociology, philosophy, psychology, biology, religion, history, education, business, political science, environmental studies, art, and communication studies.

  • Three hours of credit are earned in "Composition and Rhetoric."

  • One hour of credit is earned in "Wilderness Recreation"

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