<p>Typical college “year” is either (a) a semester system where the semester is 16 weeks (classes during 15, final exams in the last week), one beginning in August (fall term), ending in December and the other in Jan ending in May (the spring term); or (b) a quarter system (sometimes referred to as a “trimester” system) where you go for three 11 week sessions (classes for 10, finals in last), the first usually beginning September and the last ends in in June, although some with quarter system begin in August and end in May. Colleges generally also have one or often two summer sessions where you can take some courses but when they refer to a “4-year” program, they are not including summer school, which many students take to either accelerate their graduation date or, if, particularly in engineering, to actually have a chance of even graduating in four years.</p>
<p>You take courses during each semester or quarter. In a semester system a typical course is 3 (and some 4 or 5) “hours” of credit meaning, essentially, that is the number of hours you get counted toward a degree and is also the number of hours you attend class for that course per week (although for some, such as science and engineering classes you may have to attend more hours per week to get that 3 hours credit). A typical semester course load is 15 hours, which is often 5 courses, but it can range from 12 to 18 hours and still be considered a full-time student. You usually need 120 or more (and often 10 to 20 more for engineering) semester credit hours to graduate. In a quarter system, you often get 3 hours of credit but go 4 hours a week for a course, and as a result have fewer total credit hours in the quarter than for a semester system but by end of year the count ends up being about the same because you are going three sessions rather than two. There are variations on these – colleges may count each three hour per week course as only 1 credit toward graduation, but of course require a lot less total credits to graduate, or, particular in a quarter system, colleges may count a course that is 4 hours per week as 4 credit hours and the result is that the number of total credits needed to graduate will be significantly higher than that 120 range for the semester system. </p>
<p>You get graded in each course (although you may have some pass/fail options rather than a grade, e.g., at MIT that applies to your freshman year). Your grade often depends on one or two exams during the session plus a final, but often some portion of your grade also depends on quizzes given, homework assignments, and in labs the lab work done. You fail any course and you get zero credit for it and may have to take it again if it is a required course for your major; if you fail or even get D’s in enough courses, your GPA will fall below the minimum required, usually a 2 on a 4 point scale (where an A is 4, B 3, C 2, D 1, F 0), and you will be put on probation, or if it falls low enough, you will be told to leave. </p>
<p>Majors (sometimes called something else like “concentrations”) are your chosen principal course work, e.g., chemistry, physics, history, a couple hundred others. What that means is that during the four years, you will need to complete a lot of required courses in that chosen major to get a bachelors degree at graduation, but usually you will also have to complete a lot of other courses; for example, colleges usually have a “general education requirement” where, besides courses for your major, you must take a variety of courses in humanties, social science, sometimes language, and science and math. Minors are a concentration in another area, e.g., if a physics major, you might minor in math, and generally require a certain number of courses to be completed in the minor which is fewer than what is needed for a major.</p>
<p>Community Colleges are generally colleges that have two-year programs, which would be the first two years of a 4 year college, are spread about so that you can usually find one near where you live so you can attend while living at home, and many desiring a four year degree go to one of those first and then attempt a transfer to a four year college effective third year. Many try the community college route because of finances, because their high school record may not be good enough to be admitted to a four year college they might want to attend (community colleges generally have very low minimums for admission), because they just want to try taking courses first to decide whether they want to continue with college, and a variety of other reasons. Also, community colleges usually have their own two year programs such as in health services, technical jobs, others where employment does not depend on having a four year degree. Going to a community college does not guarantee you will be accepted as a transfer to a four year college after you complete your two years at the CC.</p>
If you have anymore questions, just ask</p>