UC Santa Cruz I believe is still on a quarter system. Each quarter class is a semester equivalent in terms of the number of contact hours in class, so students typically take one less class each quarter because of the greater hours in class. I am not sure if this would result in more electives. They don’t have a lot of engineering but what they have is very strong, especially in computer engineering and computer science. They are world leaders in computational biology, which comes out of their engineering division.
When we toured Union, the guide explained that things like Organic Chemistry would still only take two semesters and would cover the same material as in a semester, but in a shorter time. My son decided he did not like the quarter system or the school so we did not find more information. Thus, UCB, not sure the 2/3 is true. If that were the case, then 2-semester science classes should take 3 quarters to complete.
What I don’t recall is whether students take fewer classes per quarter than per semester.
OP: I hope that your son will use the quarter system as only one part of his college check list.
Most UCs (except Berkeley and Merced) are on the quarter system.
OP here, DS4 is celebrating. He got a 35 ACT score today! He’s pretty much set on Biomedical Engineering. His list is still fluid but Northwestern is at the top. -got to give credit to their rep and presentation. With a 35, he should get a good look there.
You guys have mentioned some other solid possibilities; a couple have made it on his list. Thanks so much to this community!