“The Sizing up Survey” in the Fiske Guide to Colleges asks a number of preference questions to help students figure out good college matches: location, setting, size, cost, athletics, extracurricular, public vs. private, campus culture, academics, and ‘other factors.’ Unfortunately, in certain areas, especially ‘academics’, many students not only don’t have any answers, they don’t even have a clue what they’re looking for, nor do they have much time to contemplate what an ideal learning experience might be. One area to get a grasp of ‘academics,’ beyond whether the school has general education courses, a core curriculum, or distribution requirements, is to know how colleges divvy up their school year, and how these various divisions might jive with learning styles.
The traditional curriculum, found at most universities-including 7 of the 8 Ivy League schools, is the semester system. Typically a semester is 15-17 weeks with each semester containing 4 to 5 courses. A number of these colleges start the academic year in mid to late August, but they do end the year earlier, usually around mid-May, allowing students to get a jump on internships or summer jobs. There also is a 2-3 week break around Christmas. A key benefit of the semester system is if students get behind in their classes, there is sufficient time to catch up. However, for procrastinators, the semester system can cover up a lot of waste and inefficiencies.
The quarter system, which is also known as the trimester system, divides the school year into three quarters, and usually has a summer quarter as well. Each quarter is around 10 weeks, and usually includes 3-4 classes. The quarter system, however, moves rapidly. Within weeks of starting a class, students are already preparing for mid-terms. Get behind or mess up an assignment, and there is not much time to compensate. All the University of California campuses, except Berkeley, are on the quarter system. Stanford and Dartmouth are as well, with Dartmouth requiring all undergraduates to attend at least one summer quarter sometime in their career.
The 4-1-4 program is the traditional semester program with 4-month semesters on either side of January, which is 1 month set aside to take one or two classes, study abroad, or perform an internship. A number of schools including Middlebury (VT), MIT, Williams (MA), and the University of San Diego have 4-1-4 academic years. One concern, which some students voice, is the costliness of the January term for, at the most, only two classes.
The Block Plan allots 4-5 weeks for students to immerse themselves in one subject. Cornell College (Iowa) adopted the block plan in 1978. Colorado College is also a practitioner. While some subjects such as computer science (particularly programming), social sciences, and humanities, are well attuned to block study, for math, science, or foreign languages, should students not understand a concept, or miss a day, they can get seriously behind, and with only 3-4 weeks, never catch up.
Kalamazoo College’s K-Plan is a special course of study that features experiential learning, or "learning-by-doing." Nearly 20% of all classes, a significant portion of the coursework, are: internships and externships, study abroad programs, senior projects, and in service-learning, which is volunteering and working within the community. This takes what is learned in class and immediately applies it to the real world. Some students learn best through application—this is a good program of study for such learners.
There are many approaches to curriculum at the university level. By the way, a list of the colleges which use these various curricula can be found at http://www.internationalcounselor.org/archives/1877. Considering which might best fit your learning style: semester, trimester, 4-1-4, block plan, or a more hands on approach to learning, where classroom theories are constantly being put to the test, warrants thought. If you find a university that acknowledges your learning style and builds upon it, you’ve probably found a good place to learn and succeed—and that’s what good college matches are all about.