I was interested in Drexel and was wondering how the quarter system is? Is it very difficult to maintain decent grades for an engineering major in a quarter system? Also, how is life on campus?
Bump
The quarter system is nice. You get to take more classes. Of course, you also get more grades, but I think they are easier to manage.
Semesters are just a bit too long for both students and faculty.
I like quarters better, get to take more classes, it goes faster, no time to slack off.
Okay thanks^
From my experience, I prefer quater semesters. Ten weeks is more comfortable for me than fifteen week semesters. The material does go by faster, but it’s less of a drag compared to semesters. Also, when it comes to heavy work loads I burn out a but later in the semester – a week quarter vs three weeks semester.
I absolutely hate quarters. You’re perpetually taking tests, things are happening faster, and with fewer tests each test counts a lot more.
Ohh, yes, turbo93. I forgot about that part. Compared to semester systems, quarters are more stressful because there are fewer tests and the assignments are pushed closer together, especially if you’re grades aren’t going how you want them to be!
Another thing is what major - I was computer science and with a huge project doing it in a quarter… Meh. Write a compiler in a quarter? epic lolz. My daughter is in architecture. Exact same thing. Graduate school with lots of projects? same. If you’re in a program that does not have huge projects, it does not matter as much I guess but not for project happy courses or programs.
I was thinking aeronautical
I did compiler class while working full time as well as taking operating systems class. I also had to learn Pascal to write the compiler. Thank goodness I had help from a very nice classmate. He was proficient in Pascal. Compiler is not that bad but it’s a hard course and very time consuming class at my daughter’s school, which is also a quarter system.
It really depends on how the CS classes are taught. In my generation - mid 80’s - in my decent but not top state school, both undergrad and grad, it was one person per project, and nearly all of the work was coding. Then in the mid 80’s they began to switch to Pascal, team programming, software engineering methodology with requirements, design, etc and the end result was the same project we did alone was now done by 4 people, with more deliverables. That’s not bad as you really have to work well as a team to finish fast. I recall one class out of 18 was group programming and we were bumping on each other 
The other thing was how complex the assignments were. Back then most of the junior/senior and grad projects were like serious code. Like MANY thousands of lines of code. Like, we’d compare assignments with friends at top schools and be amazed as to how easier their assignments were. But whoever got out of that school knew how to code. Maybe we did not have the exposure to the latest and greatest, or the top faculty, but could we code.
I feel the semester vs quarter system had a lot to do with both aspects; group vs individual projects and less ‘hero’ type projects. Good old days :-*
To the original poster (aeronautical) I would try to fish the information out of the schools or look at the syllabi if you can take a peek. If the syllabus says a class in, say, propulsion systems, is 80% tests and 20% homework and projects (I’m just making things up) it’ll likely be lots of tests. If the course is 60% tests, 20-30% project, and 10% homework, the project will need to be substantial hence in my experience semester may be easier. (note, not better).
It was one project but the gentleman helped me. He was just taking it for fun. A lot of companies, back then anyway, paid employees to take class. He was in my class but everybody had their own project. No team work.
My experience with the quarter class scheduling system at Savannah College of Art and Design.
I attended SCAD from 2001 to 2004 studying architecture in the Master of Architecture program. Since I was a student with an undergraduate degree in a related discipline, I needed to go for 3 years to meet the requirements. For anyone considering to go to SCAD I can provide some first hand experience that can help anyone make their own decisions of where to go to college. I am going to list the major things that someone should consider before going to SCAD.
- SCAD has the quarter scheduling system. A quarter system class scheduling system is a lot different than a semester system class schedule. A quarter system academic year is three quarters: fall, winter, spring. A full time class schedule is 3 classes. This sounds reasonable but each class is 2.5 hours long. Studio classes are 5.5 hours long. If you schedule a studio class and a regular class back to back you are in class all day. In architecture studio classes. we spent a lot of time discussing our own projects or other students projects with the class which limits your own time of getting your own projects completed.
To make up the time, students have to spend long hours into the night to get their projects complete. Eichberg Hall where the architecture department is located at SCAD was open 24/7 when I was there. Students had to do a lot of all nighters because the quarter system class periods are too long.
I personally did at least 100 all nighters in 3 years while attending SCAD. I look back and consider that torture. I would never go to a quarter system college again. All nighters become a very painful experience after a while. I still suffer from all of the sleep deprivation. I did not waste time going to parties. I worked on my projects as much as I needed to do to do my best considering the time constraints of the quarter system. I managed to get straight 'A’s my last year and my GPA was over 3.7.
- Another downfall of the quarter system is that professors have difficulty maintaining a class for 2.5 hours. I had some professors at SCAD cancel class after about 1 hour of teaching. But I paid for 2.5 hours of class time. SCAD is very expensive.
I also think the quarter system is not flexible. You cannot take extra classes over full time like you can a semester system.
I went to a semester system college for my undergraduate degree. Class periods are only 50 minutes long 3 times a week or 1.5 hours long 2 times a week. Since the class times are shorter I had much more time after class to do my work. I only needed to do 1 all nighter and that was because I was taking extra classes over full time. I was able to take 1 or 2 classes over full time each semester in order to study business classes outside of my major and complete the required elective classes for my major.
- Quarter systems are designed to prevent you from taking free classes like at a semester system. At a semester system, you pay for a full class load of 12 credits. Since the class times are shorter, you can easily take an extra class a semester. Since you only pay for 12 credits, that extra class is free. The quarter system at SCAD is virtually impossibly to take an extra class. So, no free classes. I paid for my own college education. I greatly appreciate being able to take an extra class a semester at the semester system college.
- The scope of classes at SCAD is limited compared to a college such as Penn State University. Do your research on what classes a college offers before choosing a college.
To any student considering going to college, I highly recommend going to a semester system college.
I think the quarter system at SCAD is a fundamentally flawed educational system. A quarter system is too fast and time is too short. A person can only retain so much information so fast. I regret going to SCAD for that reason.
Since I graduated from SCAD, I have finished the Architecture Registration Exams and became registered. I passed all of the exams one the first attempt. Most importantly, I have not experienced an all nighter since 2004. I do not miss the all nighter life at all. I would never ever consider going to a quarter system college again. If I take any college courses in the future, I will certainly go to a semester system college.
Re: #14
Looks like those are all characteristics specific to SCAD and/or its MArch curriculum, not the quarter system.
Plenty of quarter system schools have more typical class scheduling (3 * 1 hour or 2 * 1.5 hour sessions per week for lecture/discussion classes), and full time students can take greater than 12 credit course loads (and should average 15 or 16 per quarter to graduate in 12 quarters).
Honestly, I don’t think I could go back to a semester system. The quarter system just gives you much more in the manner of how many classes you can take.
As for the tests, I don’t really feel the pressure too much. This may just be because I haven’t experienced a college semester system in its entirety.
I don’t know much about Quarter system, but it sounds interesting. I have heard the trimester and quarter systems can be a concern for students that transfer elsewhere to a school with semesters.
First, you need to compare the quarter system classes at Drexel with how it is done at other schools. My son applied to Drexel and I was surprised to see that you still have to take 4-5 classes each quarter, which is a lot. He was offered merit money and would have to have maintained a 3.2 GPA, which can be tough every quarter in Engineering.
The quarter system moves fast, you cannot afford to slack off at all because midterms are only 5 weeks after classes start. The benefit of the Quarter system is that if you dislike a class, you are done faster.
Drexel’s claim to fame is their Coop program which is very organized and structured. That is it’s selling point so if being at a Coop school is what you want, then it is worth considering.
Same with University of Cincinnati. Their calendar must refer to some other celestial body because architecture courses and co-op are a bit challenging on Earth time :). I think UC is trimesters or something, and with the co-op students end up with some interesting scheduling. Well worth the effort though.