@homerdog I believe Carleton is on a trimester academic system- three terms per school year and no summer term (as part of the official academic year). Students at Carleton take three classes per trimester so 9 classes per year. I don’t know a thing about Northwestern’s academic system but Carleton definitely utilizes the trimester system. Maybe it’s just semantics but to me schools on a quarter system would have 4 equal parts to their official academic calendar year.
@lr4550 The majority of colleges with a “quarter” system have 3 official academic quarters to the school year. The fourth quarter is summer. You could use it to take summer school, or get a job or internship or enjoy the summer. Whether that’s semantically confusing or not, that’s what they mean when they say quarters. It’s been that way longer than I’ve been alive which is saying something.
@lr4550 Ah ok. I stand corrected. I went to NU and we called it quarters with one quarter in the summer. S19 looking at Carleton and I know that they take three sets of classes so I just assumed it was called quarters like NU. 
WPI runs four terms not counting summer, each 7 weeks long.
@inboston WPI’s calendar is unique.
All of the schools I know on the ‘quarter’ system ( most of the UCs, Cal Poly, etc) count summer as the 4th quarter so 3 quarters in the time that other schools have 2 semesters.
That’s what we’ve seen. The first 3 quarters basically span what other colleges have as the fall and spring semester. Summer is Q4.
My daughter loved Dartmouth but the quarter system combined with the remote location ended up being a deal breaker.
For those of you looking at Georgetown and were concerned about the “club” culture (meaning there are these exclusive clubs that only a few kids get in to and your club life defines you socially…)
This has ended up not being the case, and my daughter actually got into one of those clubs. She has a great co-ed group of friends and they are all in different clubs, some of them in the “elite” clubs and their social lives still revolve around their mixed-club friendships. This was a relief for me. There are some great social benefits to the clubs, but, at least for my daughter, her club group is not her primary social outlet. She loves her club and the people in it, but has in no way lost her other friendships which are still her primary focus.
There are two different widespread credit-hour norms for semester-system colleges: One where most courses are 3 credits, and one where most courses are 4 credits. At 3-credit-course schools, the load needed to progress toward graduation (generally 120 credits) in 4 years is 5 courses/semester, while at 4-credit-course schools, progress toward graduation (generally 128 credits) in 4 years is 4 courses/semester.
3-credit systems are more widespread among public colleges and 4-credit systems among private ones, but there are exceptions both ways. (And, of course, some colleges have no “usual” credit amount for a class, and others don’t use the credit-hour system at all, using things like course units or Carnegie units instead.)
Stanford and Union (ny) are both quarters. And then there are all the schools that have z short term (usually 4-1-4, but sometimes 4-4-1). And then there are the block schools…
If academic calendar matters, it can be a good way to cull the list.
WPI is (4) 7 week terms.
The only think you need to be concerned about in calling it 3 terms or 4 quarters or 2 semesters if how the financial aid is divided. Just make sure if you are going to school for 4 quarters, including the summer, that financial aid is divided over the 4 segments.
Looks like WashU might be the exception for semester units then-most are 3 unit classes except for some science classes which are 4 units.
I seem to recall that Santa Clara (which is on quarters) had 4 unit classes.
I went to a quarter school and a semester school. Many classes at both were 2, 3, 4 or 5 credits. It depended on how many hours of class there were per week, if the lab was included or separate. When converting, I think they multiplied the quarter school by2/3, so I got something like 3.2 for a 5 credit class from the quarter school.
At both schools the average number of classes taken per semester was 15-16. You could get to the required number of credits to graduate any way you wanted to.
Then there’s Colorado College’s block plan, eight 3 1/2 week courses. That would make me crazy but some students really like it.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Let’s move off the quarter versus semester conversation please; that should be covered in its own thread.
To move the thread forward, I asked DH whether there was a college that he’d disliked when we toured. Yes–it was Villanova. We visited 4 years ago, for our DD, who crossed it off her list. She found the students too preppy, too much like the “mean kids” at her HS. DH remembered the boring info session and felt that it was just too cold and dry.
(I was neutral about it, but DS liked it a lot, partly because of the highly ranked business school and basketball team, partly because a lot of kids from his HS go there and he could see himself fitting in there)
DS crossed Le Moyne off his list. He thought that it was too small, in a place that’s too cold, and not academically challenging enough. OTOH he did think that the dolphin-shaped cookies were a nice touch.
DH toured Muhlenberg and was very impressed. The tour guide was lively and engaging and did a great job of selling the school. DD and I didn’t tour; instead we had an interview with an admissions counselor who was nice enough but didn’t do anything to persuade us that the school was particularly special.
I also visited Mulhenberg and was very disappointed. The information session was underwhelming. I left there no better informed of the mission of the college and what made them stand out.
We took Tufts off of the list after we visited. Horribly boring info session and didn’t love the area it was in.
Hurrah, another college to report on! I’m visiting family in So Cal, and we were heading to San Diego, so I mentioned that my son might potentially be interested in University of San Diego, and 15 minutes later we were there. WOW!!! I totally loved this school. Admittedly, my son was not with me, but my sister and I thought it was awesome and I think it could be perfect for him.
Nevermind that the campus is absolutely gorgeous (move over Lehigh), but honestly, the place had a wonderful vibe. We stopped to talk to several groups of kids and asked them all kinds of questions because we couldn’t do a tour. The kids were the best. They loved their school. I know it has a reputation for being not terribly diverse, but honestly, we spoke with and saw African American kids, Hispanic kids, Asian kids, and white kids, every single one of whom was happy to talk with us and tell us about their school.
It happened to be a special day so there were several stalls set up for various groups. One of the fraternities was holding a fundraiser for veterans and for $2 you got to smash whipped cream in their face. I paid my $2 and it was hilarious! Kids were all over campus, hanging out in groups, relaxing, and just being happy. It’s the happiest place on earth, haha! But what’s not to love with the stunning architecture and landscaping, views of the ocean, great weather, and happy kids. Plus, it’s likely my son would be eligible for substantial merit aid. It’s almost certainly going on the list.