<p>can someone give me their impression of the trimester system at UO? </p>
<p>I can see the advantages: only three classes at a time and being done with classes you don't enjoy faster. What else? </p>
<p>I can also see some disadvantages: faster pace in classes might leave some students behind, starting late in Sept, and three midterms and three finals each year What else?</p>
<p>How does it effect things like study abroad and internships? Wouldn't you be out of sync with most college students?</p>
<p>My son is in a semester school, my daughter was on trimesters at UO.</p>
<p>I think which you prefer depends a lot on the temperament of the student. I know the semesters do feel like they go on and on, and perhaps trimesters move too fast for some (although I think the professors consider the time constraints when they put their syllabuses together.)</p>
<p>From the outside, I think the trimesters is a great option because the student gets to take so many more classes by the end of their four years (or however many years.) My D got to take a lot of different classes, the college could offer more narrowly focused classes. For example she (a lit major) had a full class on Virginia Woolf, another one on TS Eliot, another one for James Joyce. In my son’s semester college, it would more likely be something like “20th Century Lit” and have more of a survey feel. But this is a generalization, of course. I do know that my D enjoyed most those classes with a very specific focus. </p>
<p>When my son is done he’ll have taken 32 classes. My daughter always took four in the trimester system (although 3 is considered full-time), so she ended up 48. It just feels like being able to study more widely to me. And maybe appeals more to my tempo, I guess. Thinking about it, though, I think the trimester system might feel too intense for my son who has a more leisurely rhythm.</p>
<p>I don’t know about study abroad, except that many students in trimester schools do it.</p>
<p>There’s some discussion of studying abroad as a trimester student here: [When</a> to Go | International Affairs](<a href=“http://international.uoregon.edu/studyabroad/where-to-go]When”>http://international.uoregon.edu/studyabroad/where-to-go).</p>