Quarter Curriculum vs Semester Curriculum: Which One Should You Choose?

PHYSICS and ASTRONOMY MAJORS and MINORS
Should I stay in the Quarter curriculum?
or should I change to the Semester curriculum?
(Fall 2019)

 

       Our new semester curriculum is better than the quarter system.  The more of your classes follow that curriculum, the better.    But if you already took a lot in the quarter system, it might be too cumbersome for everyone for you to change now.  Here are some guidelines that we will adhere to.

 

  • IF A STUDENT IS GRADUATING IN Summer, Fall 2019, or SPRING 2020, then the student should stay on quarters if she/he is already in that curriculum.

 

  • IF A STUDENT ENTERED AS A FRESHMAN IN FALL 2018, OR LATER, then the student has no choice.  She/he is on the semester system and must stay on the SEMESTER curriculum.

 

  • IF A STUDENT WANTS TO BECOME A MINOR, OR CHANGE THE OPTIONS WITHIN OUR MAJOR, then that student must take the SEMESTER curriculum.

 

  • IF A STUDENT FAILED THE QUARTER CLASS PHY309, that student should change to the semester curriculum.

 

  • IF A STUDENT FAILED THE QUARTER CLASS PHY308 OR NEVER TOOK IT, the student should change to the semester curriculum.

 

  • If a large number of the curriculum has been satisfied by TRANSFERRED classes from other schools, then the student should DEFINITELY stay on quarters.   If, for example a student transferred into Cal Poly with many or all of her/his general-education courses transferring-in and fulfilling quarter courses at Cal Poly, that student should stay on quarters. 

 

ADDED 2019

 

  • The department will petition away (liberally) discrepancies from
    • unit deficiencies in upper division courses.
    • BIO and/or CHEM courses missed.
    • Upper-division labs missed.
  • Students in upper-division have nothing to gain by switching to semesters, and everyone has much work to do to accommodate that. It won’t get done.
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