<p>My kid with ADD would not do well with the quarter system. It really does take him a while to get acclimated to things.</p>
<p>He is on a 4-1-4 system, which I think is ideal for him. The last winter session course he took was crucial to his personal development. I like that he has a short vacation, only two weeks, at Christmas. The month of January is spend with the extra course.</p>
<p>He did have two quarter universities on his top ten list. I am sure he would have adjusted, but I don’t think it would have been as congenial as the situation he’s in.</p>
<p>Then again, his school is very academically intense.</p>
What’s the problem with it for Christmas break? At least for the UCs on the quarter system that’s the break between 2 quarters with the benefit that they can relax and not worry about HW or studying over the break.</p>
<p>ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad - that is my biggest plus for the quarters; each break, except for Thanksgiving, is a real break in that one term is over and the next has not yet begun so there’s no work or studying during the break.</p>
<p>I also think that more classes can be taken over the year which allows for more opportunity to double major, major and minor, major and double minor,or just single major and take classes that interest you in addition. </p>
<p>It is true though that it is all a little more intense which might not work for some kids. Once again, neither better or worse, just personal choices.</p>
<p>I went to undergrad and grad school on the quarter system and I went to law school and have taught on semesters. </p>
<p>I’m a BIG procrastinator (need that last-minute pressure for inspiration!) I much preferred quarters for that reason. It kept me going at a steady pace. No slumps when there’s a longish break between papers or exams.</p>
<p>And I liked the fact that quarters end quickly . . . when I had a class that I didn’t like, it didn’t drag on and on. And it gave me an opportunity to take a wider variety of classes.</p>
<p>Both kids were on the quarter system for college. I’m really just confirming what others say – intensity, constant work, and on the whole that was a good thing. They NEVER (or hardly ever) missed class – when you only have 20 class sessions for a particular course, you are very aware that you need to accomplish something at every one.</p>
<p>The schedule was a mild problem for summer jobs, but only a mild one – no one has yet gone without or missed a big opportunity because of it, but they weren’t on the Wall St. internship circuit. The biggest problem was September before school started their first years – that dragged. By the next year, they weren’t hanging around at home, they were back a school early working and earning money. And when my daughter graduated, she only had seven days between graduation and starting her job in a distant city – that was a little hectic.</p>
<p>I have one kid on semeters and one kid on quarters. I think both prefer quarters, but it’s not such a big deal that they’d choose a college based only on that. My son (the one on semesters) does have that odd summer scheduling thing Thumper mentioned; he’s a lifeguard and spent a month sitting around after school got out waiting for the pool to open.</p>
<p>In general, there is not that big a difference. While the typical quarter system (ignoring Dartmouth’s D-Plan) feels more fast paced, one also takes fewer classes per term (3-4) than on the semester system (4-5). Thus, the intensity per class is higher, but there are fewer classes in which to be intense. Moroever, Frosh Chem is Frosh Chem; Frosh Calc is Frosh Calc. Both courses are taught all year over ~33 weeks. The only difference is that a semester course may have more “midterms” while a quarter course has three finals.</p>
<p>The big downside IMO, it that one does not have time to get sick – little time to catch up.</p>
<p>I’ve gone to schools on both the semester and quarter systems. I preferred the quarter system because a lot of classes did not need the entire semester to teach the topic. Not all classes can be shortened from 16 weeks to 10 weeks. Some classes are lengthened to two quarters (20 weeks). Year long sequences are not affected.</p>
<p>One big difference is that on a quarter system, the Summer term is similar to a regular term. I’ve taken summer classes at Semester and Quarter schools. It is tough to squish a 16 week class into 8 weeks. At most quarter schools, the summer is a full 10 weeks.</p>
<p>Just one more vote in favor of the quarter system - D loves it for the reasons listed, mostly because of the speed of the classes. First Q was a bit of a shock - that first midterm comes up fast - but now she wouldn’t have it any other way.</p>
<p>Not true everywhere. DS is on quarters. At his school 3 classes would be an under load. Only once during his 3 years has he taken just 4 classes and that was when he had to drop a course midterm. Otherwise he has taken from 5-7 courses and it looks like he’ll have a similar course load in the fall. </p>
<p>There are only three 10 week terms at his school, fall, winter & spring. No classes are offered during the summer. I have heard that at his school they squeeze a semesters worth of work into each quarter. The only way I have to judge whether or not that is true is foreign language classes. I was surprised the first year of his Japanese class, they had to buy the 2nd year text book at the beginning of 3rd quarter as they’d completed the first year book.</p>
<p>I attended schools on both quarter and semester. Personally, I liked the quarter system since classes only lasted 10 weeks plus I can take more classes on different subjects.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, many quarter oriented schools are switching to semesters. This is true for most of the state universities in Ohio starting in 2012. I understand that they are ostensibly doing this to promote an easier transfer system among more universities.</p>
<p>An additional pleasant surprise the true one class at a time block arrangement gave was that everyone’s one class started at the same time. That meant everyone got up about the same time so the issue of noise in the morning in the dorms was not a big deal.</p>
<p>As other posters have noted, with true block classes getting sick is a disaster. I used this to preach healty living (food, water, vitamins, enough sleep, exercise etc) as a survival technique.</p>
<p>I love the quarter system because I’m having enough trouble dividing my time among three classes, two jobs, whatever number of extracurriculars, and planning my next off term. With four or five classes, I think I’d be even more prone to spreading myself too thin.</p>
<p>It’s more fast-paced, but having fewer different items to pay attention to at one time makes a huge difference for me. </p>
<p>(The caveat being that I’ve been ill frequently [mono, bronchitis, pneumonia, strep throat, innumerable sinus infections] and my GPA has probably taken a greater hit than it would have on a semester system, but otherwise I think it suits me better.)</p>
<p>Don’t know if this will strike a chord with anyone, but going from quarter system to semester system made me feel like a car in 2nd gear for quite some time. Took a while to get used to it, but then it felt just right (the semester system was in professional school).</p>
<p>I think the 4-1-4 system is really neat and wish more schools offered it. The break in the middle seems ideal for exploring a sideline or just resting, depending on the student’s needs.</p>
<p>I went undergrad in semesters and grad school in quarters. D1 went to a semester school. D2 will be going to a quarter school this fall. Each system has it’s pluses and minuses. I personally preferred semesters, but quarters worked out fine. Kids are young and flexible and can make either work. </p>
<p>It shouldn’t be a deal beaker either way. IMO there are much more important criteria in choosing a school</p>
<p>Colleges that operate on the Block Plan: Colorado College, Cornell College (Iowa), Maharishi U of Management (Iowa), U of Western Montana, Quest U (Canada), Tusculum College (Tenn).</p>
<p>Many 4-1-4 colleges do not allow for “just resting.” At S’s school the Winter Study term is mandatory for each and every student. Without 4 WS classes they can’t graduate.</p>
<p>He has really enjoyed this set up and adored the three WS classes he has had so far. Each was academically rewarding.</p>