Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I went to a Univ. of Calif. campus in the early 80s and they were using 10-week quarters. In 1983, they switched to 15-week semesters and never went back.
I also attended a Calif. State Univ. campus in the 90s and they were always using quarters. I think it saves money in administrative costs to have semesters.
All my high schools used semesters.
Quarters are actually good if you hate stress. The long buildup to the finals is shorter. You can take more different classes. Of course, you will learn only 2/3 as much.
Most colleges in northern California and the Northwest are on the quarter system.
I don't really like it. The classes are long slogs - an hour and 40 minutes twice a week is tiring for the teacher and the student, jam-packed with information from start to finish.
The advantage from the student perspective is that if you play your cards right, you can gradate in 3 years pretty easily.
When I attended college in the late 1990s, you could take a traditional semester (three hours per week per class, if I remember correctly?) or a shortened quarter (six hours per week per class). You'd still get your three credits. I did some of both, but I don't remember liking one or another better or if there was any rhyme or reason to why I took them that way.
I went to a Univ. of Calif. campus in the early 80s and they were using 10-week quarters. In 1983, they switched to 15-week semesters and never went back.
I also attended a Calif. State Univ. campus in the 90s and they were always using quarters. I think it saves money in administrative costs to have semesters.
All my high schools used semesters.
Quarters are actually good if you hate stress. The long buildup to the finals is shorter. You can take more different classes. Of course, you will learn only 2/3 as much.
I don't know any colleges now that use quarters. Ten years ago, yes, but all the ones that I knew that did quarters (including my daughters) switched to semesters. Some of the reasons for switching may have been that it's difficult to transfer into (or out of) a college that has quarters and probably stopped some students from enrolling, knowing they were locked into that school. Colleges that have quarters generally end later than ones with semesters which can hurt when students are competing for internships. It's also harder to do a co-op as most businesses that do a lot of co-ops can't have students starting and ending weeks apart. Academically, I think it's better to have a longer length of time to study material longer and in more depth.
The only good thing about quarters was the holiday break. At my daughters college she was off from the day before Thanksgiving until around January 3rd.
High Schools are totally different and don't really have to match up to other schools except for sports and tech school schedules.
I don't know any colleges now that use quarters. Ten years ago, yes, but all the ones that I knew that did quarters (including my daughters) switched to semesters. Some of the reasons for switching may have been that it's difficult to transfer into (or out of) a college that has quarters and probably stopped some students from enrolling, knowing they were locked into that school. Colleges that have quarters generally end later than ones with semesters which can hurt when students are competing for internships. It's also harder to do a co-op as most businesses that do a lot of co-ops can't have students starting and ending weeks apart. Academically, I think it's better to have a longer length of time to study material longer and in more depth.
The only good thing about quarters was the holiday break. At my daughters college she was off from the day before Thanksgiving until around January 3rd.
High Schools are totally different and don't really have to match up to other schools except for sports and tech school schedules.
My son's university in Illinois still uses quarters.
The quarter system certainly never hurt his opportunities at internships or at an excellent first job (which he had secured at the beginning of his 4th year).
He had 3 internships, 2 of which had him starting the week following his last spring quarter final. The final internship started 2 weeks before finals, but the university worked with him and he simply took his final (he only had one actual test; the others were papers) early. Not a big deal at all.
As far as holiday breaks....my son had 4 days off at Thanksgiving, had to return for 2-3 weeks for last week of class, study period, and finals, then had to return for winter quarter by the first week of January.
Been on both systems and much prefer the semester. Quarters just crammed too much in too fast. Pretty much every week that turned around was an exam or paper due in one class or another so you were in a mad rush all the time. I found there was really no difference in the material covered in the academic year -- whether two semesters or three quarters, just broken up differently.
Since they covered the same material over the same total time period, it would seem like the pace would be the same, but with the extra cycle in there, there was also an extra exam week and extra break week and you've lost learning time. Add the fact that some subjects just take time to understand and long hours of homework, and the extra pace becomes killer.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
