<p>MrTrojanMan, I took 5 classes a term at my semester school, started out taking 5 or 6 classes a term at my quarter school, realized I didn't need it, and am now taking 4 classes a term -- one less than I took in the semester system.</p>
<p>i took 5 classes too at uci so i could minor. so what.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to show off -- you stated that it was impossible that I was taking one less class on a quarter system and still graduating on time. That's why I responded. Can you not remember your own posts? Just click on page 6, it's post 117.</p>
<p>ooookk. so its normal at your school to take 5 or 6 classes? and you are underloaded with 4? it depends on unit breakdown, how many units you get for a class, and how many you need to graduate. </p>
<p>and what i was trying to say is that taking 4 12-unit quarters (or 3 classes) would make it impossible to graduate from uci.</p>
<p>12-unit quarters (or 3 classes)</p>
<p>not all classes are four units</p>
<p>ya, youll have like two chances to take a 6 units course in your academic career. whoopee.</p>
<p>Colleges do not offer the same amount of units for classes. This is true whether you're in the semester system or the quarter system (transferring between the two highlights the difference between systems, of course). What they choose to call it really doesn't matter -- most people take within 5-10 courses of what everyone else takes under a normal load.</p>
<p>Just because UCI has 4 unit classes does not mean that all UCs do, nor does it mean that all colleges with quarters do. The argument that "yours" reflects everyone else's is what you used to argue the semester/quarter difference, and it just isn't true.</p>
<p>UCSC is not the acme of higher education (and that has nothing to do with the fact that it's on quarters, either), but I get what I need and because I only have 3 classes per quarter, I can spend a lot of time on those classes and on what's really important to me, which is learning OUTSIDE of the classroom. </p>
<p>(On a tangent, I'm not even sure if the usual conversion between hours spent in class and units of worth is true. For example, I have about 3 1/2 hours of class per week, plus 1-2 hour discussions, for each of my 5 unit classes.)</p>
<p>My college defines the number of units you need to graduate to be 180. That's 36 classes. Most majors fall in the 12-15 class range (with exceptions notably excluding Engineering, the sciences and some of the art majors), and most minors in the 8-12 class range. That means most people can easily fit a major, a minor and their GEs (if they have APs/outside classes; there are 14-16 classes of GE requirements, though there are classes that satisfy up to 3 GEs at a time) in 4 years if they plan carefully. </p>
<p>At Berkeley, to compare schools, they require 120 units to graduate, though the average load means most people graduate with 128 units. The average load is 4 classes per semester (16 units, though the college only requires about 12-13 to be considered a full-time student), which equals 32 classes over the average 4-year undergraduate degree. The average major at Berkeley contains about 12-16 courses (with exceptions similar to those at UCSC), and the average minor requires about 5-8 courses. The GE requirements vary according to the college you're affiliated with, but they account for about 6-10 courses. The average person on an average load schedule, then, could complete a major with a minor and the GEs (assuming, again, that some have already been fulfilled via AP/previous coursework) in 4 years.</p>
<p>The conclusion? If you don't have prior coursework/AP credit, you're going to have it a little more difficult in college. You won't have so much of a chance to explore your options -- at either school. If you do have that credit? Well, then you're in pretty much the same boat either way.</p>
<p>not at USC. they encourage us to double major for a reason. i would have been a 5th yr senior at uci, if i just minored, with a normal courseload for that school. over here, i switched my major then turned my old major into a minor, and i will still graduate maybe a semester too late. school now works for me.</p>
<p>or maybe i should have just gone to ucsc, life would have been easy. classes at uci are 3 hrs a wk. i would have taken an extra 1/2 hour for an extra unit so i could take one whole less class anytime anyday.</p>
<p>I'm happy for you at USC, then. </p>
<p>Life at UCSC is particularly easy, but I think the only reason I stick with it is because of the quarter system. If I had to endure the classes here on a semester scale, I would have already transferred. At least this way I can tolerate it until I can transfer.</p>
<p>Why do they encourage you to double-major at USC?</p>
<p>I thought most colleges are anti-double majors.</p>
<p>I plan to double major, and I still can still do it on the quarter system.</p>
<p>exactly - i know a hell of a lot of people who are double majoring...</p>
<p>b/c its easier here, especially on semester system</p>
<p>I don't think it's the semester system helping you, I think it's USC. The problem you had with UCI, I think, was the percentage of coursework required for each part of it (ie, too much of what classes you had available were requisitioned for GEs).</p>
<p>ya, youll have like two chances to take a 6 units course in your academic career. whoopee.</p>
<p>Actually, almost all GEs (if not all) are five units. And yes, there are the chem labs and such that are 6. Since there are more than 4 GEs, it would easily be enough to upset your little 4-unit off theory.</p>
<p>b/c its easier here</p>
<p>ok you have to stop saying things like that - I have to bite my figurative tongue to keep from ridiculing USC. But since you point that out, yes UCLA is an academically challenging school (and SC, well...) - I would think that is what someone would want out of an undergrad experience.</p>
<p>haha ok my apologies for that last one - this really does not need to turn into a rivalry thread - there are enough of those. So, my first point stands anyway.</p>
<p>"Actually, almost all GEs (if not all) are five units. And yes, there are the chem labs and such that are 6. Since there are more than 4 GEs, it would easily be enough to upset your little 4-unit off theory."</p>
<p>GEs are 4 units and 4 units only at uci. not everybody is a physical science major. i wasnt , a majority of kids arent. out of over 90 quarter units i took, only one happened to be a 6 unit class, and it was a class most students wouldnnt have to take.</p>
<p>"UCLA is an academically challenging school"</p>
<p>of course, by challenging you mean you dont have much time to do anything else but study. ya, that sounds like what someone would want out of an undergrad experience. go ahead and ridicule all you want.</p>
<p>GEs are 4 units and 4 units only at uci. not everybody is a physical science major.</p>
<p>What does your major have to do with GEs? They're 5 units each here.</p>
<p>"of course, by challenging you mean you dont have much time to do anything else but study. ya, that sounds like what someone would want out of an undergrad experience."</p>
<p>Bingo! Your opinion. Tens of thousands of students go through UCLA, and at least some of them, I'll wager, wanted the experience (though perhaps your idea of it was not theirs). The quarters/semesters debate? Exactly the same, though perhaps without the premeditation as I can't think of too many people who chose their school by whether it was on quarters or semesters off the top of my head.</p>
<p>thats was more like a joke, and less of an opinion</p>