You Can Go Back To College For One 'Perfect' Day

Do you ever wish you could make up for all the classes missed back in the day because you were too busy cramming for an exam or sleeping past noon? Now you can go back to school and get a bite-size taste of academia by signing up for a one day college lecture series in a city near you. Participants can sit in on classes taught by a top-rated professors, but without the anxiety-inducing requirements of homework or tests. Even though there are no grades handed out at the end (which I know will be disappointing to some over-achievers), all those who attend a One Day University live event can enjoy feeling like a student all over again.

Steve Schragis founded One Day University in 2006, and the operation has since expanded to 48 cities across America. Schragis came up with his unique concept of continued learning after dropping his daughter off for her freshman year at Bard college in upstate New York. Being once more on a leafy campus, and listening to short presentations given by a few professors, made him long to stay — he could tell the other parents were just envious of the college experience.

One Day University is set up to feel like a slice of life of a university student. Participants attend four different lectures, each just over an hour in length, throughout the course of the morning and afternoon.

They get a 70 minute lunch break to make friends and socialize, though Schargis says, speaking to The Washington Post, that the focus is primarily on learning: “We don’t promise anyone a networking opportunity, a better job, a chance to get rich, etc. We promise a good time and some fun and rewarding learning experience. That’s essentially why I started it.”

Professors are invited to participate based on student reviews of their teaching. It is strictly about their abilities in the classroom, not a famous name, how much they publish, or an Ivy League Diploma (though Yale, Brown, and Harvard professors are definitely on the roster).

The most popular subjects to date, Schragis says, are psychology, history, politics, music, and film. The lectures which are hosted in auditoriums and theaters may range from a variety of topics such as “Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War: Separating Fact From Fiction” to “The Science of Pleasure: Why We Like What We Like.” Attending this day of learning costs between $149 and $199. While you can watch plenty of interesting lectures for free online, it does not provide the same experience, "There really is something special about live presentations. There is a unique excitement in the room that’s quite different than watching a computer screen," Schragis told The Washington Post.

If you are tired of the corporate working world, and want to spend a Saturday in the comforts of academia, attending these lectures could be a re-energizing experience, that peaks curiosity and interest — even if by the end you aren't chomping at the bit to extend it into a three year graduate degree.

Sadly, I feel obligated to mention that One Day University does not offer a kegger once classes are done.

Images: pixabay, giphy (1, 2)