OK sybbie. Thanks for clarifying. It read as if it were the HS class of 2018, not the college class of 2018. Many schools announce a decision and then modify it. Penn did that with their ED policy this year, and UMD did that with their decision about the coalition app ( now using the coalition prompts only this year.) Regardless, its still more current than Dart’s summer semester requirement (which was in effect in the stone age when I attended college!) There are other schools, like UF, that have a summer requirement.
Worth checking how AP credits work at various targets. At some it can vary by dept.
While the Dartmouth summer session requirement is intended to substitute a summer quarter for a (usually) fall quarter under the D-plan, resulting in 12 quarters (4 academic years) of attendance, the summer requirement at Florida public universities appears to more likely result in an extra summer session without reducing the number of regular semesters, resulting in 8.5 semesters (4.25 academic years) of attendance (counting a summer session as a half semester), and restricting the student from summer jobs and such. Indeed, many of the sample schedule maps for various majors at Florida public universities assume 8 semesters plus one summer session, so students and parents should be aware of the extra cost and forgone summer job earnings and experience that are likely to be necessary.
@ucbalumnus The state of Florida (and UF) do have several exceptions to the summer requirement.
The summer enrollment requirement may be waived for students who have completed an internship or comparable professional development training during one or more summers in which they are enrolled at UF. A lot of students get the requirement waived by doing internships (or co-ops).
Also, students may petition to waive the summer enrollment requirement due to reasons of financial hardship, academic reasons or other extenuating circumstances. If the student needs to work (low SES), UF will allow it.
The requirement can also be waived if you do a study abroad over the summer.
Very few if any students attend Dartmouth for 12 academic quarters.
The requirement is that students must be on campus (unless permission is granted not to be on campus):
freshman year -fall, winter spring
senior year- fall, winter, spring
sophomore summer
A lot of students are usually “off” doing study abroad programs/internships junior year with some students doing LSPs sophomore year.
In addition you have 3 opportunities to take a 4 class term vs. the normal 3 class term.
As a result a student who does do 3 -4 class terms will probably end up being “off” another term.
One of D’s BFF’s D-plan was as follows:
on freshman year
on sophomore fall, winter and spring, attended sophomore summer (taking 4 classes 2 terms)
on fall junior year only (interning in NYC winter, spring and summer junior year) and
on senior year, graduating with the class in June.
English Major (concentration in creative writing). Has been consistently employed in her dream career since graduation, moving up and have taken assignments in different cities/ countries.
Some Dartmouth students participated in the 12 college exchange their junior year as well.
I feel compelled to point out that summer in Hanover is idyllic. It is hardly a penance. 
S was abroad Fall term sophomore year, and doing an internship Winter term junior year. He actually opted to be “on” an extra summer, which enabled him to explore a subject he was considering adding as a major or minor. And he was able to work for the Rassias Institute at the same time. Win/win.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Lots of great posts! Really appreciate!
UC Irvine Business undergrad is a joke. I love UC Irvine, but the undergrad business major is week. Good education, but very limited help with internship / job placement. Business needs, needs, needs networks. UC Irvine does not provide them, unfortunately. (Source: Personal experience at the university)
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Why would it be an issue? Who cares?
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Thank you for the info! Not a big deal, D is not planning to use AP for credit.
@ Aida Thanks!
I knew a couple of econ majors who spent a winter term in Santa Barbara, taking classes a UCSB. Skiing or the beach. Hmmmmmmm
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Why would it be an issue? Who cares? "
My D did, and it was one of the reasons it came off the list.
^Some students do care. You start late, you get out late compared to the majority of other colleges. You spend at least one summer there. It can provide opportunities but it can also limit some opportunities. So more structured internships and summer programs have start dates that don’t mesh with Dartmouth’s academic calendar for one.
Unlike @Consolation, I would not call the summer in Hanover idyllic: it was far too hot for my taste when we visited D, but she enjoyed it. She also really liked the quarter system and felt that taking fewer courses at a time more intensively was a better way to learn.
Kids from the East care because practically all Eastern schools are on the semester system, with an August start and May finish. If an Eastern kid goes to a school with a late-start, late-finish quarter-system calendar, he’s home when his friends are at school and at school when his friends are home. Kids don’t like that.
A California kid like yours is likely to be more comfortable with the idea that different colleges start and end their academic years at different times.
There’s also the factor that some students don’t like the perceived faster pacing of courses in 10 week quarters versus 14-15 week semesters.
However, this is a very YMMV scenario as there are many students who prefer the pacing of courses on a quarter calendar system vs semesters.
Some like a cousin at Caltech or some colleagues/HS classmates at Dartmouth in the '90s/00’s loved taking 9-12 courses in an academic year versus 8 in a normal semester both for the greater variety and the pacing.
I went from a semester system as an undergrad to the quarter system as a grad student. It was definitely difficult for me to adjust, partially because of the nature of the classes and the work at the MA level. We weren’t studying material and taking exams as we went. We were writing a paper for each class, and basically you had to select a topic and start working on the paper before you had learned even half of what you would learn in the class. Those in the know, I later realized, dealt with this by selecting classes that addressed the same works they had studied as undergrads. I don’t think I would have had a problem if I started out with the quarter system.
Thank you very much for great advice! In summary,
- Both schools are great.
- It really doesn't matter, Berkeley or Dartmouth, both are good.
- Dartmouth doesn't have business undergrad, but has an econ undergrad.
- I still don't understand the meaning of "econ undergrad". Looks like every college interprets it differently.
Thanks!