<p>What are the advantages and disadvantages to colleges on the semester system or quarter system? I'm wondering about the workload, pace, effect on college life, etc. Also are there any other systems out there?</p>
<p>Also, how important of a factor is this when choosing a college?</p>
<p>I like Chicago's quarter system (3 quarters is normal). You only have to take 3 or 4 classes (3 half the time, 4 half the time), and change classes every 10 weeks. I imagine it is pretty fast paced however.</p>
<p>I can't tell you about the effect it has- I'm not sure if it's more stressful or not because even though you have less time to process things, you have less subjects. However, I can tell you there is a system that I've seen on the CollegeBoard website called 4-1-4, where I think it's 4 classes in the fall, a quick class during the winter, and then 4 more classes in the spring. I'm not very familiar with it, so you'll have to ask someone else about it.</p>
<p>Quarter system is FAST. You have midterms about every third week and then you have finals after only 10 weeks. You can't fall behind in your classes...it's just too tough to catch up.</p>
<p>Semester system is SLOW (duh). You have midterms about every 5th-6th week and you have finals after 15-16 weeks. You can fall behind slightly in classes, but you'll be stressing when catch-up time comes around. Also, midterms and finals cover a LOT of material...be prepared to fail them =P</p>
<p>I had semesters in undergrad and currently have quarters in grad school. I liked semesters a lot better. If you miss one class due to illness, needing to travel for some reason, or whatever, it's not nearly as big of a deal. Since there's a lot more time in the semester, there's usually a lecture or two given by professors about their own interests, typically the best lectures you'll ever have, which seem to be missing from my quarter classes. Semesters also give you the ability to let information sink in. I've had a few classes where I take the final still not really knowing what's completely going on, but then halfway through the next semester I'll finally understand what some question was asking, even though I hadn't thought about the class in weeks.</p>
<p>Michigan operates a Trimester system. Trimesters are roughly two weeks shorter than Semester. You take as many course as you would in a semester and you cover as much ground, but you move a little faster. The beauty of the trimester system is the summer break, which begins at the end of April and last until early September. That's 4 months and a week. It allows students tro have long internships or take summer classes while still allowing them to enjoy some time off.</p>
<p>I liked the pace of semesters.</p>
<p>The quarter system you have to go buy books one additional time in a year. The pace is faster and the exams come quicker. One benefit to a quarter system is you can get through a crappy class more quickly.</p>
<p>I still think the quarter system is nice because you are in 3-4 classes, rather than 5 or 6.</p>
<p>If you want to do something with your ECs than semester system is better than quarter system. Quarter system goes by so fast.</p>
<p>What are the advantages and disadvantages to colleges on the semester system or quarter system?</p>
<p>I’m a fan of the trimester system</p>