This is How We Do It.

David R.

January 20, 2010 - 8:40 PM

Even being in my third year at the University of Oregon, my friends at home are always in disbelief that we don't start school until the end of September. When all of my friends leave towards the beginning of August, the Ducks all around the country still have another month and a half to wait. All of the schools in Colorado are on the semester system, so none of my friends, the majority of whom stay in state for school, have any familiarity to the quarter system.

I always hear about how dumb it is that Oregon starts so late, and how lame it is that I have to hang around home for an extra month and a half alone. Although this system seems like a joke to some, I find it rather enjoyable, and I can't imagine being at a semester school.

Being at home for that extra time during the summer allows me to spend more time with my family. I spend a lot of time working, so when I have no friends to hang out with, it allows me to hang around with my family more, which is always nice before leaving for school.

One other aspect of the quarter system is that classes in the spring term don't end until the beginning of June. My friends always give me grief about the fact that they get done so much earlier than I do. I really don't mind though because being at the U of O allows me to spend time with all of my Oregon friends into May and June, which is a gorgeous time period in Eugene. Everything is green, and the sun is shining on a day to day basis.

My favorite part about being on the quarter system is the class structure throughout the year. Being on a quarter system means that every ten weeks, it is time to switch classes. This is nice because students don't get burned out from taking the same classes for an extended period of time. Just when students start to get sick of certain classes, it is time to switch again. Instead of taking only two different groupings of classes, U of O students can take over 16 different four-credit classes in the course of a year. This allows students to take an array of classes and gain exposure to many different topics. This is really nice too when trying to pick a major. Students can take significantly more classes to try to find a topic that they are interested in.

The last nice thing about being on the quarter system has to do with that nice little break that comes in the spring time. Spring Break is a yearly highlight for college students. Luckily for Oregon students, that break comes right in between the winter and spring terms. This means that students here will be taking a new set of classes when they return, so there is absolutely no school work that needs to be completed during this time. Students at semester school have the same classes when they return from the break, so it is much more likely that these students will have some academic work to attend to over the break.

The quarter system at the U of O makes school enjoyable. I can't imagine doing it any other way.