Why is that UC Berkeley, ranked the most rigorous UC, run on a semester system?

[ucbalumnus]

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@liek0806

I’m not sure if it’s like this at other quarter schools, but at UCLA, a full time schedule which is anywhere from 12-18 units is usually 3-5 classes. At a semester school, 12-18 units is usually 4-7 classes. At UCLA, I think most students take 3-4 classes on average, while I imagine at a semester school 5-6 is the average.

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<p>Actually, a typical course load at Berkeley is 4 courses per semester, since most courses are 4 units, some are 3 units, and relatively few are other unit values like 0.5 (PE activities), 1, 2, 5, or 6. The “normal” load is 15 units per semester; 120 units are required to graduate.</p>

<p>At some semester schools, or in some majors, it is more common for courses to be 3 units, so the “normal” load of 15 units would usually need 5 courses per semester.</p>

<p>This appears similar to quarter system schools. A quarter unit is 2/3 of a semester unit, and an N quarter unit course theoretically has 2/3 the material as an N semester unit course. E.g. freshman calculus is usually two semesters or three quarters of 4 unit courses (i.e. 8 semester units or 12 quarter units). Same material, same class time, just divided differently.</p>