<p>Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each system.</p>
<p>i hear the quarter system is much harder in that it moves really fast & so it is easy to fall behind :o</p>
<p>I think that’s it is generally irrelevant. You cover the same material for year long courses in one year – wheter quarter or semester. The “test” points are simply different. The one advantage in the United States is that the first quarter of a year long course ends before Christmas, whereas in the semester system it ends after Christmas. Some students like the Christmas break to “study”, and others hate it when they can’t treat the break as a vacation.</p>
<p>For short courses the quarter system can work better than the semester system. For “mid-size” courses the semester system can be better. Schools can adjust by the setting the number of class hours per week. </p>
<p>Finally summer courses fit better as quarter courses than semester courses. So if you’re planning to take courses year round, there is an advantage to the quarter system</p>
<p>So … it’s what you’re used to rather than better or worse.</p>
<p>Not true. </p>
<p>I was on quarter system and a year course was not split into three parts.</p>
<p>Any semester class is taught in full in a quarter, at least where I went to school.</p>
<p>5 classes/3 quarters (not included summers) is 15 courses a year, where my friends on semester system took 10 classes. Same went to grad school.</p>
<p>Quarters move quickly but you don’t know any different.</p>
<p>Friends daughter was at Union College. She told me they are on quarter system and students there take only 3 classes a quarter.</p>
<p>Call your school details.</p>
<p>I personally like the quarter system a bit better, but it’s a subjective issue.</p>
<p>The pace issue is a matter of personal taste.</p>
<p>I think the biggest benefit of the quarter schedule is the added attractiveness for internships, etc, since you can a) take a quarter off with relatively little consequence and b) the quarter schedule starts and ends at different points relative to the semester system, meaning you can stick around at the end of the summer while your coworkers go back to school.</p>
<p>I also think it would be nice to have the option of taking a lighter courseload here and there to focus on hard classes.</p>
<p>Two semesters plus an intensive January term also has advantages.</p>
<p>*The one advantage in the United States is that the first quarter of a year long course ends before Christmas, whereas in the semester system it ends after Christmas. Some students like the Christmas break to “study”, and others hate it when they can’t treat the break as a vacation.
*</p>
<p>Not necessarily true…all the semester universities that we’ve looked at end before Christmas. </p>
<p>Frankly, I don’t know any semester universities that end after Christmas. I’m not saying that there aren’t any; I just don’t know of any. Even Harvard has semester exams before Christmas. [Harvard</a> University FAS Registrar’s Office](<a href=“http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/fasro/common/calendar.jsp]Harvard”>http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/fasro/common/calendar.jsp)</p>
<p>My niece complains that she has to buy more books because she’s on the quarter system. I don’t know if that’s true or not in the long run. Maybe so.</p>
<p>Whatever the system, you get used to it.
I was used to the semester system, and now that I’m in the quarter system, I kind of appreciate the short time frame compared to semesters.
I appreciate it because classes don’t drag on for weeks on end(especially if you dislike the material or a professor). I also appreciate it because it forces me to better time manage.
With semesters it’s easier to slack off.</p>
<p>RIT is switching to semesters. They evidently think semesters are better. I think you learn less on the quarter system.</p>
<p>I’m currently at a community college on a semester system. I’ve never been to a quarter system school save once during the Summer.</p>
<p>None of the semester schools I went to ended after Christmas. Semester schools here generally begin the last week of August or the first week of September and end the second week of December or the week before Christmas.</p>
<p>On a semester system you get a longer Christmas holiday. You’re usually on holiday until the Spring semester begins the last week of January of the first week of February. In fact, in the time between when quarter schools go back to Winter Quarter vs semseter schools’ Spring Semester there is a Winter Intersession where you can get an entire course (or two if you’re brilliant) done in 3-5 weeks.</p>
<p>The only advantage to a quarter system I can see is if you’re brilliant and take on 15+ units each quarter plus 2 classes in the Summer you can graduate from a two-year school in one year.</p>
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<p>I feel like the kids at Caltech and Chicago would dispute that.</p>
<p>I think it’s odd that the majority of the UC are on quarters, but Berkeley is on semesters. Merced is the only other UC on semesters. </p>
<p>*
None of the semester schools I went to ended after Christmas. Semester schools here generally begin the last week of August or the first week of September and end the second week of December or the week before Christmas.*</p>
<p>True…I think the person who wrote the post above stating that semesters end after Christmas was thinking that colleges follow the same semester schedule that many high schools do. I don’t know of any colleges that end their fall semester after Christmas. There may be some, but I doubt there are a significant percentage.</p>
<p>“I think it’s odd that the majority of the UC are on quarters, but Berkeley is on semesters. Merced is the only other UC on semesters.”</p>
<p>Also all CSU schools are on semesters except for Cal Poly and I believe there may be one other CSU.</p>
<p>Just a note: Union college is on trimesters, not quarters! (I applied because I think trimesters are the way to go!) </p>
<p>I’m a person who likes to really focus. Trimesters offer that better than semesters. yes, it’s intense, but also focused</p>
I am currently attending a community college and take classes strictly online. My preference are the short sessions because the 16 weeks take too long. That’s when I start to procrastinate and stall on classwork - the fast sessions keep me on my toes. Plus I like being able to take more than one class. Yes you have to study and the book purchases can be a pain, but that’s just me. This semester I carried 9 units (back to back) and work full time as well. Just my opinion…
I went to undergrad on quarters and presently teach on semesters. I think semesters are much better . . . here’s why:
12 semester hours is considered “full-time,” thus requiring 18 quarter hours to be full-time. [1 qtr hr = 2/3 sem hr]
So, while a semester school requires you to take 4-5 classes per semester, a quarters school requires you to take 6-7 classes. That is one or two extra classes each quarter. 2 more midterms, 2 more finals, 2 more reports, 2 more different subjects to learn, 6 more hours in the classroom/wk, and
18 more hours of homework each week.
I was an engineering major and during senior year had 5-7 different concurrent science and engineering classes for 3 quarters. There was an unreasonable amount of work required. It’s impractical and many school have changed to semesters for that reason.
Two good features of quarters: spring break came between Winter and Spring semesters, so you could really relax. Summer quarter was only about 2 weeks shorter than a traditional quarter.
Huh?
Since there are three quarters in an academic year, three quarters of N quarter hours is the same amount of class / credit as two semesters of N semester hours. If a student takes 1.5**N* quarter hours per quarter, s/he will complete as much class / credit in 2/3 the time (two quarters instead of three).
While N = 12 is typically full time for financial aid purposes, N = 15 or 16 is typically needed to graduate in four academic years (8 semesters or 12 quarters); sometimes high credit majors like engineering majors may require N > 16 to graduate in four academic years.
@ucbalumnus N=12 is for semesters and is not true for quarters. However, federal financial aid will typically accept 12 quarter hours as full-time thanks to a new level of flexibility. The vast majority of states convert the way I listed above. Ironically, my own state has changed to 1 qtr hr = 3/4 sem hr.
The number of credit hours a course is assigned is, for purposes of accreditation and graduation, determined by hours required inside the classroom and outside of the classroom along with “rigor” of material (though I detest that use of the word.) These are referred to as Carnegie Hours.
Think of it this way: a college student taking a full year of calculus takes two semesters. At a quarters school, they also take a full year - but it is THREE quarters. I do not dispute your last paragraph - it adds to my point that STEM programs are quite challenging on the quarters calendar. However there is not necessarily a one-for-one course comparison between the two types of schools. Again, there is flexibility.