Semester system at Cal

KevRus
Fri, 31 May 2013 21:46:03 +0000

I’d pick a semester system over a quarter system any day.

Quarter systems feel clunky (so-called quarter systems end up behaving more like trimester systems because of the optional summer, often times), confusing, and too fast-paced.

Thanks to our semester system, we get out for the summer really early, and we have a much longer school-free winter break (this past year it was five weeks). Also, students are not required to leave the dorms during spring break (often times they are at quarter system schools).

Furthermore, when attending a large public school, it’s nice to keep the number of times you have to deal with class registration to a minimum…

I wouldn’t be surprised if more UCs began moving away from the quarter system in the future.

Neither system is academically ‘harder’ than the other, in my opinion…claiming the quarter system is easier because classes don’t “count as much” makes no sense, because you could also argue that a semester system gives you fewer opportunities to receive bad grades on your transcript. I’ve taken quarter-system courses that had multiple midterms. I’ve taken semester-system courses that had one midterm. It all varies.