May 10, 2021
Dear Students and Colleagues,
Starting in the coming academic year, our first-year Fall A Term will be called Summer Term and our first-year Fall B Term will be called Fall Term. This will be a change in label only. The start and end dates of the terms themselves will not change, our core courses and graduation requirements will not change, and there will be no changes to second-year term names.
The reason for the changing first-year term names has to do with U.S. Department of Education regulations on standard terms (semesters, trimesters, and quarters) and the length of terms. Currently, Tuck Launch, Fall A and Fall B are all under the umbrella of Fall Term and add up to 18 weeks of instruction. The Department of Education defines a standard term as 13 weeks of instruction. It’s important for financial aid disbursement that we define our terms here at Tuck accordingly in standard way.
Aside from the changing term label, we don’t expect there to be any noticeable difference in experience. View the full academic calendar here.
Please reach out if you have any questions.
Stacie, Joe and Brian
Stacie Marshall, Director of Academic Systems and Registrar
Joe Hall, Senior Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning
Brian Tomlin, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research
Dartmouth has formed a high-level task force to plan for and manage possible disruptions related to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, monitor federal and state recommendations, implement guidance, and communicate with our community.