Georgia Tech announced changes to the Spring 2021 academic calendar to minimize the health risk to the Tech community due to travel-related transmission of the coronavirus.

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Georgia Tech announced changes to the Spring 2021 academic calendar, including no weeklong Spring Break, to minimize the health risk to the Tech community due to travel-related transmission of the coronavirus. The modifications are based on the administration’s study and input from faculty experts.

The first day of classes has been delayed to Thursday, Jan. 14. To allow students the opportunity for a mid-semester break from instruction, no classes will be held (and no assignments or assessments due) on Tuesday, March 16, and Wednesday, March 24. The dates of final exams have not been changed.

The key dates of the Spring 2021 academic calendar are:  

  • Thursday, Jan. 14: Classes begin  
  • Monday, Jan. 18: Martin Luther King Jr. Day (national holiday) 
  • Tuesday, March 16: No classes, assignments, or assessments 
  • Wednesday, March 24: No classes, assignments, or assessments  
  • Monday, April 26 – Tuesday, April 27: Final instructional class days 
  • Thursday, April 29 – Thursday, May 6: Final exams 

Students will have the same number of instructional days as a typical academic semester and as required by accreditation norms. The Faculty Executive Board, acting on behalf of the Academic Faculty Senate, has approved these changes, as required by the Faculty Handbook.

Other relevant dates for spring include: 

  • Monday, Nov. 2: Schedule of classes for Spring 2021 available
  • Monday, Nov. 9: Phase 1 registration time tickets begin
  • Monday, Jan. 11 – Tuesday, Jan. 12: FASET orientation for incoming first-year, transfer, and exchange students

Dates, schedules, and details for housing and related services, graduate student hiring, and Graduate Institute Orientation are also being revised to reflect these changes and will be announced as soon as they are available.

Reminder of Changes to Fall 2020 Semester

The coronavirus pandemic also changed the look of the Fall 2020 academic calendar, but students will have the same number of contact days of instruction. To reduce travel, the two-day fall break originally scheduled for Oct. 5 – 6 has been canceled, and fall in-person instruction will end by Thanksgiving.

Reading days and final assessments will be administered remotely. Under special circumstances faculty members may request to administer an in-person final assessment. Those requests should be made through their respective dean.

The Institute asks that students who travel for the Thanksgiving break do not return to campus.

The calendar has been modified as follows:

  • Nov. 23 – 24: Final instructional days (no new material or scheduling of any other assessments)
  • Nov. 25 – 29: Thanksgiving holiday (students traveling will not return to campus)
  • Nov. 30 – Dec. 8: Reading days and final assessments

To see updates to academic operations, click here.