<p>If I understand it correctly all undergraduate classes at NU meet four (4) times a week and all students get a credit of 1 unit per course. However the science classes meet four times a week for lecture/discussion and have 2-hour lab once week getting the same 1 unit of credit as an all lecture courses.</p>
<p>For example:
Math 220, Differential Calculus meets 4 times a week for a 1-hour lecture/discussion
Physics 135, General Physics meets 4 times a week for a 1-hour lecture and has a weekly 2-hour lab.</p>
<p>If Northwestern used the college hour system then Math 220 would be four (4) credits and
Physics 135 would be five (5) credits. Two (2) hours of lab time is equal to one (1) hour of lecture/discussion under college hour system.</p>
<p>If John was taking four (4) lecture courses per quarter his load would be equal to 16 college hours. If Mary was taking two (2) lecture and two (2) lecture/lab courses and lab per quarter her load would be equal to 18 college hours. John and Mary would each get credit for 4 units. </p>
<p>Please explain if I am missing something?</p>
<p>not all classes meet 4 times a week</p>
<p>Classes can meet anywhere from once a week (usually 3 hours) to every day (usually 50 minutes). Music classes are .5 credits; dance classes are .3 credits, I think? You get half a credit for marching band and orchestra.</p>
<p>My point is that lab time is given zero (0) credit.</p>
<p>I think the labs are just considered part of whatever class the main credit is coming from, chemistry, physics, whatever. If you are planning in majoring in one of the STEM areas, best get used to this now.</p>
<p>The journalism program also has freshmen take classes that are twice a week, 3 hours each meeting time - with many hours of outside work. My conclusion is that quite a bit is squeezed into a quarter, no matter what your major.</p>
<p>I read an article in The Daily recently that some people are pushing for the labs to count as separate credits from the rest of the class. I don’t know if/when the university will implement that, but it’s an interesting idea.</p>
<p>NU’s credit system is based on this formula: 1 NU credit = 2.67 semester-hours.</p>
<p>So 45 credits would be equivalent to 120 semseter-hours, the typical graduation requirement for most 4-yr colleges.</p>
<p>Another way to look at it is this: 3 NU courses is equivalent to 2 4-unit courses in semester schools. But in the engineering school, many NU courses cover the same amount of materials as those with similar course titles in semester schoools. That’s why I think that NU has some rooom to relax its course requirements and allow for experimental programs:
[</a>" + artTitle.replace(“-”,“”) + " - " + “The Daily Northwestern” + " - " + “Campus” + "](<a href=“http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/campus/schapiro-pushes-for-more-mandatory-experiential-learning-programs-1.2465903]”>http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/campus/schapiro-pushes-for-more-mandatory-experiential-learning-programs-1.2465903)</p>