I’m currently debating whether to go to Berkeley or UCLA, and one of my main concerns is the difference between the semester system (Berkeley) and the quarter system (UCLA). I plan on double majoring in either PoliSci/Econ or PoliSci/Communications and would really like to study or intern abroad (hopefully in multiple different locations too). Which academic scheduling system would allow me to accomplish these with less difficulty and more flexibility?
I don’t know about UCLA or Cal specifically, but I go to Davis and I’d imagine that they would be similar with regards to things like study abroad.
We have a few options with study abroad: There’s quarter abroad, summer abroad, and we also started offering short courses abroad over breaks a couple years ago. With quarter abroad, keep in mind that there are three quarters each year and thus three opportunities to take a quarter to study abroad each year. Of course, the tradeoff is that it’s only for 10 weeks instead of the ~15 you’d get on the semester system. For summer abroad, the programs start at various times throughout the summer and generally last about 6-8 weeks. There are some special programs that go for pretty much the entire summer though. And I don’t know much about the couple weeks abroad thing, and don’t know anyone who’s done it.
So for UCLA, you’d have more opportunities to take a full term abroad. But with Cal, you’d have longer times abroad if you went for the term. I wouldn’t say that either of those is more beneficial than the other necessarily, because it really depends on what you’re looking for. Summer is approximately the same length between the two systems (just offset by about a month either at the beginning or the end), so I wouldn’t think there’d be huge differences there.
As far as double majoring, I’m graduating with a double major in four years on the quarter system. But I’ve also heard of people on semesters doing the same thing. The quarter system allows you to take fewer classes at a time, and assuming that a class is offered more than one quarter each year (this is a big assumption for smaller departments or less in-demand courses) you potentially have more chances to take the class. But at the same time, with the semester system you have the opportunity to reasonably fit more classes in a given semester. In both systems, it’s not uncommon to see even a required upper level course only offered once per year, depending on the department. It’s also not uncommon for series courses to start in one specific quarter/semester, again depending on the department.
Honestly, I don’t think the semester vs quarter issue would impact much. Go with whichever school is a better fit. And congrats on your acceptances!