The quarter system seems to catch a lot of flak here at the University of Oregon. Many compare our short 10-week quarter system with the longer 15-to-16-week semester system, which most universities in the United States use.

I have changed my major three times while attending universities with quarter systems. I started as a communications major, then switched to sociology and not even a quarter later, I was a journalism major.

This is thanks to the quarter system, which allows much more flexibility and exploration than the semester system.

The quarter system allowed me the freedom to figure things out without derailing my graduation timeline.

A semester system would limit me to two sets of classes per-year, while quarters offer three, creating more opportunities to explore.

Students have fewer chances to explore majors in semesters, and taking extra time to decide on a major can become costly.

This is important for freshmen who don’t have a plan. Not everyone enters college knowing their passion.

Roland Armstrong, a junior accounting major at the UO, is completing his first year in the quarter system. He transferred from Boston College, a semester-based school.

He agrees that more classes are a plus but said, “A semester class is almost the same as two-quarter classes when you account for syllabus week, midterms and finals.”

A rushed curriculum is something Armstrong felt affected his education. Semester systems offer a deeper dive into classes. However, I like to think the quarter system prepares students for the work environment, which often means meeting deadlines on short notice.

Another common complaint is the misalignment of our academic calendar with summer opportunities. Many agree that the quarter system makes it difficult to lock down summer jobs and internships.

“People are limited when they can only do internships in Oregon that are curated to the quarter system,” Armstrong said. “If the state was more unified with the whole country, more students from Oregon could go out of state for internships, and students from other states could come here.”

The quarter system does interfere with many companies’ internship schedules outside Oregon. However, UO mitigates this with internship programs that work around the quarter system.

While multiple factors impact graduation rates, a paper by the IZA Institute of Economics suggests that students who switch to the semester system reduce their graduation rates by 3.7 percentage points.  

According to the paper, “The cost to students of this increase in time-to-degree is substantial and includes both the added tuition and the lost earnings from the additional time spent enrolled.”

This is valuable information for students fond of switching to the semester system considering the impacts this transition could cause.

Diego Mauricio Cortés, an assistant professor of media studies at UO, has a similar take. He’s taught in both systems.

“I’m happy with the quarter system,” Cortés said. “I don’t think the quality of education will change a lot if we go to semesters.”

Cortés pointed out a fix for the fast-paced learning that many complain about.

“This could be resolved by providing classes in a sequence system, so you have theory one quarter and then apply those theories to practice in the next quarter,” Cortés said.

Switching to a semester system would also be difficult. A term system is more than just a calendar. Universities would fall victim to significant costs, updating schedules, websites and course structures.

The quarter system needs improvement, but I enjoy its fast-paced rigor and the ability to explore different areas of study. I hope it’s here to stay.