<p>I'm a Senior in HS, the college I will most likely be attending runs on a quarter system. What are some positives and negatives. Thanks!</p>
<p>Negatives: Practically every other week you have some midterm or final due, classes zoom by fast and often they try to fit in a whole semester of work in, you get psychologically worn down with that extra winter quarter, as well as getting out in mid june while your other school friends are out in the beginning of may</p>
<p>Positive: if you hate a class its over sooner.... and no work over spring break</p>
<p>Pro: If you lose interest fast (5-6 weeks), the class ends soon after. Seems easier to take more classes in the same time. Less subjects to worry about. Easier to get the recommended background for other courses.</p>
<p>Neg: It seems like the interesting stuff arises in the last week, or in one of my classes, the last 1/2 hour of class. More time required to get classes during the right time, as they seem to bunch most of the good ones (3/4 I wanted to take) at 9.</p>
<p>BTW what college.</p>
<p>My school's on a quarter system, including mandatory classes during the summer some years. Each quarter is 10 weeks, finals are the 11th week, midterms are usually week 5 or 6. I've only had one or two classes with 2 midterms and the first one does sneak up on you really quickly. You never have to do work over the breaks, but your breaks usually won't coincide with semester system schools' breaks.</p>
<p>The way it's set up, if you go to school 3 quarters a year it is actually roughly the same amount of time as going for 2 15-week semesters, it just seems like more because it's divided into smaller sections of time. You also get to take more classes, which to me is a plus but I guess some other people might not see it that way. I need 185 credits for graduation, where at most other schools I would need about 120. </p>
<p>The biggest downside, IMO, is that it's hard to transfer to a semester system school because the classes don't match up. For instance, you might be required to take Calculus I, II, and III for your major, which would be 1 year's worth of Calc classes, each 10 weeks and 3 credits. At another school that same sequence would be Calc I and II, each also 3 credits, but 15 weeks long. So if you transferred, you couldn't directly substitute them for each other because you learn a different amount of stuff in each class. You would basically have to be doing a sequence of 3 classes at a quarter school to equal a sequence of 2 classes at a semester school...which only works if you have sequenced classes. I know a couple people who looked into transferring and one who actually did, and this is the problem they ran into.</p>
<p>Advantage/Disadvantage: You get more chances to alter your GPA.</p>
<p>Pro: you get to experience a greater variety of classes/subject matter.</p>
<p>im on the quarter system and i really like getting new classes so frequently. it sucks that my breaks are different than my home friends, but i actually love my school friends so its not so bad being with them. yes, there are midterms all the time but im on spring break now and its great that i get to go back to all new classes and that i have no work to do for a week +</p>
<p>Pretty much what the person above me said. I love that I get new classes three times a year. You really have to keep on top of everything so you don't get behind, but it's cool. </p>
<p>About the midterms, though, I think I've only had one all year (and only two finals). Most of my classes just had/have three to five regular tests throughout the quarter.</p>
<p>we have 3-5 tests/papers a quarter too, northwestern for some reason calls every test that isnt a final, a midterm (i dont get it either...)</p>
<p>That is a little strange but whatever works, right? I've gotten to the point where I don't really question those types of things at my school anymore.</p>
<p>Quarter vs semester can be important when determining what college you want to go to...some students just can't get used to the quarter system.</p>
<p>I love going to a quarter-system school. I think by 15 weeks I would be so mentally done with my classes, whereas with 10-week terms, I remain interested in my classes the whole time. While vacations not lining up with friends can be annoying, I also like the flexibility - we are required to be on one summer, so we get to take the equivalent vacation time some other term, which offers us many opportunities. Finally, I like only taking 3 classes at a time - I get to focus on them, they move faster, and I have more time outside of class each week.</p>
<p>So does the quarter system give you an opportunity to graduate earlier and is the quarter system not counting summer sessions?</p>
<p>the way it is at my brother's school (he's on quarters):</p>
<p>-- 3 quarters per traditional academic year, 1 summer quarter
-- start & end about a month later than semester system school
-- shorter breaks for christmas, etc
-- classes worth fewer credits each
-- more classes taken at a time to meet regular courseload (my school = 4-5 per semester, his school = 6-7 per quarter)</p>
<p>he complains a lot that because there are only 10 weeks per quarter, almost all of his professors have similar plans for the term, so week 2 he'll have almost no work, then week 3, he'll have papers/tests in every class. & he's at the top of his class, so i don't think it's a motivation problem or a procrastination thing.</p>
<p>He takes 6-7 classes per quarter? :eek:</p>
<p>Quarter system doesn't necessarily mean more work; it all depends on schools. Your classes go faster but you are taking less number of classes at the same time. So in the end, it may all balance out especially if you are talking about schools with an average of 3 courses per quarter (Dartmouth). The average at Northwestern is 4 classes per quarter (almost all classes are worth the same and 1 credit); so by default, they take more classes than average to graduate (45 required) and many would decide to double-major since the 45-course requirement leaves relatively large number of free electives.</p>
<p>The real difference to me is not so much the courseload but how quarter system would make it slightly easier to arrange a more ambitious curriculum (double or even triple major, minors, or co-op/internship in the middle of academic year (non-summer). More classes in quarter system are offered twice a year (often fall and spring). Taking 5 classes in a quarter isn't anything out of the world if you want to overload; but the equivalence of 7-8 classes in semester would be harder to manage; most likely you can't do it even if you want to because of conflicting schedule anyway.</p>
<p>maybe he's counting labs... i HOPE he's counting labs... or seminars... or something????
cuz we can't ever take more than 4... well, 5 i guess in theory... that's called being insane xD</p>
<p>Exactly. I think the average is around 3-5 per quarter.</p>
<p>yep, 6 academic classes and one required intro class for all freshman. his classes are each only worth 2-3 credits though. they meet fewer times per week, so it's probably the same # of hours, but more subjects to juggle at a time</p>
<p>So each class in the quarter system is about how many hours???? Should I go with a university on the quarter sys. or semester sys.?</p>