<p>There are 4 ten-week terms. Undergrads typically take 3 courses per term for 3 terms per year. Class time and frequency varies (65 mins 3x/wk, 50 mins 4x/wk, or 110 mins 2x/wk). They require you to be on campus during fall, winter, and spring of your first and last year, and summer after sophomore year. The rest is up to you. Spend any term doing whatever works for you–classes on campus, internship, research, study abroad, employment, vacation, etc.</p>
<p>By having the flexibility to do internships any time of year, there is an advantage over the typical summer-only student.</p>
<p>Au contraire, sentiment. Dartmouth’s D-Plan IS unique. For example:</p>
<ul>
<li>how many colleges offer a full term (quarter) over the summer?</li>
<li>how many college REQUIRE their Soph-Juniors to be off campus during the regular year (Sep-Jun) for at least one term?</li>
<li>how many colleges require all of their Sophomores to REMAIN on campus during a summer? (great fun, btw)</li>
<li>how many colleges cram a year’s worth of material into 20 weeks? (Frosh Chem, for example?)</li>
</ul>
<p>Yes, a ‘quarter’ system is not unique – about 20% of all colleges are on a quarter, including Chicago, Northwestern and Stanford – but Dartmouth’s program is significantly different.</p>
<p>Okay, so say you are an “engineering science” major at Dartmouth, and won’t be able to take any accredited engineering classes unless you go for a 5th year. Wouldn’t that make all those D-plan quarters a moot point as far as internships go? Because companies usually don’t take on the engineering interns until they have taken a few actual engineering classes, and the Dartmouth students won’t take any until their 5th year. Wouldn’t they have to be in school for fall, winter and spring quarters for both their 4th and 5th years? So their only chance for an engineering internship would, again, be in the summer with everybody else.</p>
<p>All the UCs except Berkeley and Merced are on the quarter system, but the D-plan is quite a bit different from the regular quarter system the UCs use. For starters the D-plan has required summer school attendance during the sophomore year. I’ve never seen any other undergrad quarter program with that requirement.</p>
<p>No. The number of courses varies by what sort of engineering one wishes to study, but the Engineering majors take plenty of Engineering courses in the first four years, See sample schedules:</p>
<p>The get even more if they continue to the 5-year B.E. program (which can be completed in 4 years if the kid shows up with enough of the right AP credit in hand).</p>
<p>The “D-Plan” merely forces its students to skip an arbitrary quarter of the year but it does not make it fundamentally different from other quarter systems, which could all do the same. As a matter of fact, the D-Plan is just an ordinary quarter system with more restrictions and less flexibility.</p>
<p>There hasn’t been another college on the quarter system that I am aware of that doesn’t offer a full 10 week summer quarter and attending one of these quarter schools, we cram a year’s worth of material into 2 quarters ALL THE TIME. -.- (If you do the math it’s actually nothing impressive. 3 classes x 3 quarters = 9 classes. 5 classes x 2 semesters = 10 classes.)</p>
<p>I never said it was impressive, nor did I imply same. I just posted the D-Plan is unique. Yes, students at other colleges might be able to create a similar plan for themselves, but as you clearly agree it is not mandatory. By its vary nature of being mandatory, the D-Plan is unique.</p>
<p>And since no other quarter college requires ~100% of the Sophomores to stay on campus in the summer…wouldn’t you agree that is a “unique” feature? And since it is a key aspect of the D-Plan…</p>
<p>And no, other quarter colleges do not cram Frosh Chem (as an example) into two quarters – they teach it over three quarters. Again, a unique feature. </p>
<p>Whether the D-Plan is good or “impressive” is not relevant to the definition of ‘unique.’</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ahem, Stanford does not - max is 8. Chicago does not - max is 9. (That’s just the first two I checked.)</p>
<p>Coureur, what are the “right” AP credits? What does Dartmouth allow/disallow? I’m under the impression that the Ivies rarely accept AP at all. Anyone with experience here?</p>
<p>^^The school could tell you better than me exactly which AP credits are best, but the idea is to complete enough of the A.B. requirements through AP that the B.E. required engineering courses can all fit into the first four years. And Dartmouth does allow at least some AP credits.</p>
<p>Dartmouth does give credit for 5’s in AP courses. But, D does not generally provide distribution credit for that same course. For example, a math major with a 5 in APUSH (or Euro )would receive a graduation credit for a ‘history’ course (against the 35 required), but that credit would not fulfill the distribution requirement for World Cultures. (At least that was policy in previous years – it’s reviewed every year.)</p>
<p>Any idea how they would handle Project Lead the Way credits? This is a program at certain high schools where students take engineering courses sponsored by an affiliated college (including Duke, Purdue, and many others). Pass the test at the end (like an AP exam) and get transcripted credit from the affiliated college. Over the four years of high school, PLTW students take a progression of engineering classes taught by instructors trained at the sponsoring college. For example, our school’s program is run by RIT. After passing all four tests, students will have 12 credits from RIT for these four engineering courses. Might this be something that Dartmouth would accept?</p>
<p>Depends, Chardo. Unless it is their own course (i.e., Duke will accept Duke credit, obviously), top schools generally do not give credit for dual enrollment courses, i.e., courses taken while in HS with other HS students on the HS campus. OTOH, if you are taking the course at the college campus, with other college students, then D (and other top schools) will generally provide credit for the course. But in D’s case, again, no credit for fulfilling distribution requirements.</p>
<p>… are you talking about offering 10-week courses during the summer or the whole term being 10 weeks? At UCLA, engineering classes and other science oriented stuff are 10 weeks.</p>
<p>Yes, Dartmouth is certainly a bit different. I like the idea of interning during the regular term, etc. Not too crazy about the rigidity of going having to go to summer term in soph year. </p>
<p>Many students want summers off to be with their friends from other colleges. There’s enough of a difference in quarter and semester schools for mismatch in spring break, and when school begins and ends.</p>
<p>I have other questions, about classes per term, units, cramming year-long classes in two terms instead of three, and you can answer if you wish for those interested in a D education. </p>
<p>One would be: the more advanced calculus is done over four quarters rather than 6?</p>
<p>Dartmouth’s summer term is a full 10-week ‘quarter’. Unlike the UC’s which offer several different summer sequences (4-10 weeks), Dartmouth’s summer plan is only 10 weeks.</p>
<p>Yes, D does compact a full year of say, science or math, into two terms, or ~20 weeks. (UCLA would offer same over 3 terms, or 30 weeks, for example.) But to offset that condensed curriculum, Dartmouth ‘only’ take 3 courses a term. At other quarter colleges, students would take ~4 courses per term.</p>
<p>The real plus about interning during the year is that there is less competition for those internships. (Nearly everyone else is in school!)</p>
At UCLA at least, this is untrue. Students have the option of taking 4 courses per term but they may take 3 or 5 courses as well. The bulk of degrees at UCLA only require 3 courses per term for a 4 year graduation. </p>
<p>Engineering students may require 4 courses per term to graduate in 4 years but they have 1 extra unit to toss around (for a unit cap total of 20 units) and a lot of their courses are only 4 units so they have the option to take 5 classes a quarter.</p>
<p>15 credits x 3 quarters x 4 years = 180 credits
minimum credit required to graduate = 180 credits.</p>
<p>Nope, a student has exactly enough credits to graduate in 4 years. </p>
<p>That is not to mention that, in this day and age, a lot of students walk in with ~40 AP credits like you brought up. 4 years 3 classes has become very doable. </p>
<p>(In case you graduated many years ago, you should note that AP classes have become extremely commonplace and most UCLA students have at least 5 or 6.)</p>