<p>hey gang - Please Chime in with you opinions</p>
<p>Our son is deciding between schools that offer both the Quarter system and the Semester system. Both have their advantages and drawbacks...</p>
<p>Please share your observations...</p>
<p>Note - he is a BioMedical Engineering major (to be) - thus will have a heavy load of challenging courses. His choices include smaller class sizes and lab opportunities (Cal Poly SLO and University of Utah (Honors College) as well as UC Santa Cruz</p>
<p>Personally I like the quarter system due to taking more courses in a shorter time. But for your son, it seems to be best for him to take his time and do the semester system. The longer the courses, the more work there is to be done longer. The shorter, the more crammed they are.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Quarter system will have more courses, but each course will be “smaller”. For example, the freshman and sophomore math courses will cover the same material under either system, but will be broken up into six 10 week chunks under the quarter system, versus four 15 week chunks under the semester system.</p>
<p>What may be more relevant is that the quarter system may be more accommodating of students who take time off school for a co-op job, since one would be out of school for only a quarter instead of a semester.</p>
<p>Student athletes may also find one or the other system to result in less impact of their sports season on their academics. For example, football players would have football season during half of their academic year on a semester system, but on only a third of their academic year on a quarter system.</p>
<p>For STEM majors it doesn’t much matter. A quarter system has three finals, whereas a semester system only has two finals, but more midterms. As UCB notes, Frosh Calc is Frosh Calc, whether it is taught over 3-10 week quarters or 2-15 week semesters. Ditto Chem, etc.</p>
<p>The big downside to a quarter system is getting sick – there is no time to recover if one has a high fever during midterms. Semesters tend to be better for lit/hume courses since there is time to work on term papers.</p>
<p>I like semesters a lot better because you have time for the material to “simmer”. Some learning just takes time. Quarters blow by sooo fast.</p>
<p>^ I agree. Also, profs have more time to delve deeper into special topics in some cases on semesters. On quarter system in the first two weeks you’re talking about mid-terms. Quarters are good for getting done quickly with a terrible prof/class. But, you also have to register for classes and buy books one additional time per year vs. semesters, which can be an administrative pain. </p>
<p>I also prefer semester system school timing…start in late August (football season), finish first semester before Christmas break and done in early May. Quarters you’re not starting till late September and getting done till mid June.</p>
<p>great feedback gang…</p>
<p>Our son’s high school success pattern has been in faster moving/more difficult subject matter - testing is his strong suit VS busy work to fill time and for others to catch up…the thought is that the quarter system may provide a closer match until its additional registering/admin accompaniment is factored.</p>