Dartmouth Quarterly System
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Anonymous
| Kid thinking of applying but concerned about their quarterly system. Can somebody elaborate? |
Anonymous
|
Students are required to be on campus and enrolled fall, winter, spring of first year, the summer following sophomore year, and fall, winter, spring of senior year (unless they have completed the graduation requirements early).
During sophomore or junior year, students take one traditional academic quarter off and pursue any number of opportunities. The normal course load is 3 course per quarters. It can be disruptive to friendships and relationships as it is possible to not see a classmate for a year at a time if your off terms and abroad terms don’t align. However, I found it advantageous for multiple reasons. First, courses are over in 10 weeks. If you happened to take a course you didn’t like or you don’t get on with the professor, it is such a short period of time to get through. Second, being able to take an off term at a time when many other students are not available to do internships increased the scope of opportunities at organizations where summer internships are increasingly competitive. Third, leadership opportunities are more abundant due to students being off campus, permitting you to get involved early on in campus activities. In the summer term, with only sophomore students on campus, the students are able to lead all the organizations. Finally, summer in Hanover is gorgeous. Best time to be on campus and enjoy New Hampshire. |
Anonymous
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It is really the same as a trimester system that many schools have except that almost all sophomores are on during the summer term which is actually a big highlight for most.
Same advantages and disadvantages of a trimester system. My kid loves it, but if you are STEM or science oriented - be prepared, the pace is fast and furious. If you get sick and miss a week or two, catching up can be difficult. |
Anonymous
| My child is at a different school with a similar schedule. When courses are only ten weeks, they move very quickly. But, you pick classes three times a year instead of twice, so you can explore new interests more quickly. Also, as a parent, it was nice to have them home pretty quickly after that first trimester. |
Anonymous
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My partner went to Dartmouth; I to Penn. The sophomore summer thing is a big bonding experience. Penn is obviously much bigger 10K undergraduate compared with 4k. But being on campus with just the 1,000 students in your class for the sophomore summer allows you to form new friendships.
At Penn my best friends were either 1 year above or below me; I met them through an activity. I was close with just 2 ppl from my year, which was evidenced by knowing only a friend from high school at my recent Penn reunion. I think i might have enjoyed spending time with just my class or an opportunity to reset with ppl after you have a year of school under your belt. |
Anonymous
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Another thing to note is that the summer break (and graduation) are usually at different times than other schools. I remember starting school in the fall well after all of my friends at other schools. And we got out for the summer much later. Oh, and I just double-checked the calendar. Exams for the fall term are before Thanksgiving. So you're all done and can completely rest over break which runs past New Year's. No classes hanging over your head during the holidays.
I went to Dartmouth a while ago, so things may have changed, but I don't think it's truly mandatory to be on campus for sophomore summer. It may be necessary to be enrolled, but I had friends who studied abroad their sophomore summer. It definitely is different, but I chose to focus on the positives (of which there are many). Sophomore summer is a blast. The weather is great, you really get to bond with your class, and I also used it to explore a different living arrangement that was harder to coordinate during the regular school year (greek house instead of dorm). I had a lot of options for internships during my junior fall off campus. The workload is intense and I found it easier to juggle the demands of three classes instead of four. |
Anonymous
| I went to a trimester school for undergrad, and Dartmouth for grad (which was on the same academic calendar as the college but without the required summer). I like the trimester/quarter system. Fewer, more intense, classes, a little more schedule flexibility with 9 classes rather than 8 in the typical semester system. Easier to do a term abroad because you are only missing 1/3 of the year. Easier to get an interesting sophomore internship if you are looking during the year rather than summer. I visited friends there sophomore summer and it was an awesome time to be on campus. The only downside is that you get out much later than other schools in summer, which can make summer jobs a challenge. I guess another is that it is intense - midterms come up within a few weeks of the term starting. |
Anonymous
| At Dartmouth, workload is usually not an issue. Those who choose to take 3 classes per quarter and up having a lot of free time. There are other schools with quarter systems like Stanford or UChicago where most students take 4 classes per quarter. |
Anonymous
| At Dartmouth, workload is usually not an issue. Those who choose to take 3 classes per quarter end up having a lot of free time. There are other schools with quarter systems like Stanford or UChicago where most students take 4 classes per quarter. |
Anonymous
Yep. My sister went to UChicago and said the quarter system was brutal. |
Anonymous
The student ethos at UChicago is to go for 4 classes a quarter either because curiosity drives them or for early graduation due to financial reasons. Those that do 3 have plenty of spare time for ECs or to pick up internships in the city. A quarter system suits kids who like to dig very deep into fewer classes at a time. It is true though that the pace is so fast, getting seriously ill is tough to recover from. On the other hand, the kids rack up classes so fast, they conceivably can graduate in 3 years so there's room to take a quarter or two off. |
Anonymous
The sick thing is true. Mono knocked me out my first winter and I had to withdraw. But the good part of the quarter system was it allowed me to catch back up doing an extra summer and I graduated on time. |
Anonymous
True - my DC is an athlete there and takes 3 classes. DC says non athletes have lots of free time. |
Anonymous
| What I like about Dartmouth - they are done w school at Thanksgiving. I don’t know why U Chicago doesn’t do this - they start later than Dartmouth - they should move their start date up so kids can just leave for winter break at TG rather than come home for TG and then go back to school for 2 or 3 weeks and then break for winter break. Costly for poorer families to afford airfare. |
Anonymous
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Sophomore summer was awesome. I spent a ridiculous part of it floating around on the Connecticut River goofing with my friends and enjoying the NH summer.
Honestly, it just seemed like a normal college experience and I didn't know anything different and didn't give it much thought. Yes, people came and went, but there were always plenty of friends around and it was just how it was for all of us, so it didn't seem weird. I would not base my college decision on this in any way because it was largely inconsequential to my experience. |