What are advantages and disadvantages of the semester vs. quarter system?

Question

In my academic life I have mostly dealt with the semester system. I felt the quarter system tended to squish and cram things in too tightly (as well as the fact that it seemed people in the semester system finished sooner than those on the quarter)

Thoughts?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Depends on what you are covering.

Ideally, it takes 3 quarter classes to cover the same information in 2 semester length classes - but I'm afraid it doesn't usually work out perfectly. It also gets messy when you are trying to transfer units from one system to the other - unless you only take year long courses.

I really enjoyed the quarter system because you never were bored. I like getting the highlights and moving on. I do understand what you mean about feeling "squished", but I prefer that to the dragged on bored feeling. It doesn't necessarily give you the same depth of information if you are taking a one quarter course versus a one semester course, but if they were year long, you actually would spend MORE time in the 3 quarter courses on a class versus the 2 semester courses.

I think that they are both good systems and appeal to slightly different thought patterns. It just depends on personal preference.

Source(s):

Just my opinion :-)

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Thanks!

Answer 2

well in a quarter system is a little different , you take 4 classes for 12 weeks. i use a quarterly system and did a assicates in 18 months instead of 27 months , so i depends on if u want and can handle allot of work a one time .