<p>D is on a trimester system. A friend said it was the same as a quarter system, since kids only take 3 quarters/year.</p>
<p>D is taking 3 6credit classes plus PE, music lessons and band for a total of 3 addtl credits.
The 6credit classes meet for different amts of time - 2 are ~3.5hrs lecture/week, but Music Theory is 5.5 (although the same number of credits).</p>
<p>I'd always understood that a trimester class was the equivalent material to a semester class, just meeting more hours/week for fewer weeks. So is a quarter system just a trimester schedule at a school that runs during the summer too?</p>
<p>bingle, you are correct, the Trimester system is more akin to the Semester system than the quarter system. The trimester system has two primary terms that are slightly shorter than the two primary terms of the semester system (14 weeks instead of 16 weeks), but instead of one largish summer session, the trimester offers two smaller summer terms. </p>
<p>The quarter system, which has three primary terms, each 10 weeks long, is significantly different from the Semester and Trimster systems.</p>
<p>Hmm; even more complicated than I realized. D’s trimester system is 3 10wk terms with no summer option. So standard load is 3 courses/term for a total of 9/year. Semester seems to be 8/year and quarter??? Clearly some schools have “uneven” terms, so they aren’t directly comparable, I guess.</p>
<p>So are 2 semester terms of language equal to 2 trimester terms or 3? And do you take 4 quarters of a language to be at the same place as 2 semesters?</p>
<p>Your D’s trimester system is in name only. Nearly every other college, including Northwestern and Stanford, would call it a “quarter” system. (I’m guessing your kid is at Carleton?) Typically, under a quarter system, 3 quarters of Language or Frosh Chem or Frosh Calc equals two semesters of the same elsewhere. The one big exception is Dartmouth, which is on it’s own, accelerated quarter system – three quarters are compacted into two.</p>
<p>In addition to Alexadre’s description, a trimester system also may have a one-month winter-session in between two 14 week terms. That one-month term is good for one intensive course, which can be taught in an remote location such as the Galapagos in the winter. :)</p>
<p>btw: many semester schools requires kids to take 5 classes to maintain satisfactory progress.</p>
<p>^^upon further review, it appears that Carleton’s “trimester” is similar to Dartmouth’s quarter system in that courses are compacted. For example, in a standard semester and quarter college, Frosh Chem would be taught all year, the only difference is that a quarter system has three “finals”. Ditto Frosh Calc.</p>
<p>But, under Dartmouth’s quarter, D-Plan, and Carleton’s trimester term, such classes are taught over ~20 weeks, not ~35. Thus, Dartmouth and Carleton students only take 3 classes per term, unlike a typical quarter system which requires ~4.</p>