<p>I'm an accepted student trying to make my decision and one thing (maybe the only thing?) I have reservations about with Carleton is the trimester system. I worry about never being home when my friends from high school are, and not being able to pursue summer opportunities because of the later end date. Do any current Carls or alumni have any thoughts on pros/cons of the trimester system? </p>
<p>Thank you so much in advance!</p>
<p>I saw the trimester system as a big advantage. You’re home from Thanksgiving until after new years. For students who live far away(California, New York, International, etc.) this is hugely positive and saves them loads of money. The later end date is annoying, but I was still able to find a nice summer internship between my junior and senoir year. Most companies or govenment labs don’t care about the late start time…they don’t care at all.</p>
<p>At one point the faculty wanted to get rid of the trimester system and go to semesters. There was a huge outcry from the students to keep the trimester system. The faculty wanted to get rid of the trimester system to let them better focus on research and to decrease thier workload. I didn’t completely understand the argument…perhaps there is more chance to shorten the semester a week or two here or there like what sometimes happens a bigger school with semesters. I remember some of the faculty members were very strongly for a semester system…I keep remembering an opinion article in the Carletonian by Martha Paas(an econ prof) about switching to the semester system. She really wanted the switch and her opinion article was about the roughest thing I’ve ever read. Luckily the switch never happened. Personally, I think Carleton Students would be out of thier minds to let the school switch to a semester system.</p>
<p>I found the trimester system was a little less stressful in the sense that you’re not hit with four or five finals(like you would be in a semester system) at the end of the semester that you may not have time to study for.</p>
<p>I definitely like the trimester system overall. You have time to go home for Thanksgiving and Christmas even if you live far away and you get to start new classes before your interest wanes. However, even with less midterms and finals during each term there are more of them each year because of the trimesters. Also, once I hit junior year the pace has become a bit tiring as you are pretty much fitting fifteen weeks of material into ten. As a science major you definitely can’t fall behind or you most likely won’t catch up in a 300 level class. That being said I think that it is fun and engaging. It is great to take three classes at a time and really focus.</p>
<p>The Carleton winter break overlaps by a couple of weeks with semester schools’ winter breaks. They usually get out in mid December and go back in mid January, while Carleton students are out from Thanksgiving through New Year’s. Spring break is iffier because even semester schools do it at different times in March or April.</p>
<p>On net, I think the trimester schedule was good. It does have certain drawbacks that you’ve identified, but taking 3 classes at a time feels so much better than 4 or 5. You have more homework for each of those classes, but you don’t have to divide your mind and planning skills among lots of smaller assignments and readings. (Bonus: 3 classes also means lugging fewer sets of books around campus at a time.)</p>
<p>I did a study abroad that was on a semester schedule, and I felt like the classes went too slow and really dragged on for the last month. At Carleton you don’t waste time spending the first couple of weeks of the term on review of old information, either.</p>
<p>Another plus about the trimester system is that vacations happen after the term. A friend at a semester school wasn’t able to go on a school-sponsored spring break trip because she had computer programs to write and couldn’t hike with a laptop, LOL. It’s wonderful to go home or away on vacation and really be on vacation - no papers to write, projects to research, catch up to do, etc.</p>
<p>^ TRUTH. Aside from comps research for seniors over winter break (but only in some majors), Carleton places no academic burdens on its students between terms.</p>
<p>There was a long comment thread on the Carleton Facebook page about this topic, and a lot of students & alums weighed in on it. You can see it here:</p>
<p>[Carleton</a> College Our prospective students often wonder about the pros and cons of Carleton’s trimester system vs. the more common semester system. Alums, would you care to share your experiences with them? | Facebook](<a href=“Carleton College | Northfield MN”>Carleton College | Northfield MN)</p>