How to do pre-reqs on the quarter system?

Started by gbvan
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gbvan

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This may seem like a bit of a silly question, but throughout my 7 years of undergrad (ouch), I've always been on the semester system. However, the place I intend to do my postbac work at is on a quarter system, and I'm not entirely sure how pre-reqs work on the quarter system (as in, what constitutes "a year" of a class, or, more importantly, "a semester," since I'll be taking Calc as well).

I'm also wondering how many credits someone should take on the quarter system, since that seems to be structured differently as well.

All in all, though, I am looking forward to the quarter system, as semesters always drag on for so long. It'll be a nice change of pace.
 
pkwraith said:
2 quarter = 1 semester, in most cases
Click to expand...
I've not seen that conversion.

What I've seen from my own 6 mixed transcripts, and GPA calcs from 3 AMCAS apps: 1 semester = 1.5 quarters...which adds up for 3 quarters = 2 semesters = 1 year.

If a quarter-system school has a 2 quarter course for a prereq (example: U of Washington has only 2 quarters of ochem lab to go with 3 quarters of ochem lecture), there's some expectation that you'll fill that quarter gap with something else (such as a biochem or micro lab).

Best of luck to you.
 
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DrMidlife said:
I've not seen that conversion.

What I've seen from my own 6 mixed transcripts, and GPA calcs from 3 AMCAS apps: 1 semester = 1.5 quarters...which adds up for 3 quarters = 2 semesters = 1 year.
Click to expand...

This is my experience as well.
 
DrMidlife said:
I've not seen that conversion.

What I've seen from my own 6 mixed transcripts, and GPA calcs from 3 AMCAS apps: 1 semester = 1.5 quarters...which adds up for 3 quarters = 2 semesters = 1 year.

If a quarter-system school has a 2 quarter course for a prereq (example: U of Washington has only 2 quarters of ochem lab to go with 3 quarters of ochem lecture), there's some expectation that you'll fill that quarter gap with something else (such as a biochem or micro lab).

Best of luck to you.
Click to expand...

You're going to take 1.5 quarter of classes?

If there is a semester preqreq, you're going to take 2 quarters. But then, again, I'm fairly sure you're arguing the same thing as me.
 
pkwraith said:
You're going to take 1.5 quarter of classes?

If there is a semester preqreq, you're going to take 2 quarters. But then, again, I'm fairly sure you're arguing the same thing as me.
Click to expand...

All the normal prereqs are year long sequences.

Med schools that are looking for a semester of biochem or stats or whatnot aren't going to kvetch about 10 weeks vs. 14 weeks. By "semester" they mean "term".
 
I went to a quarter-system school too. Each quarter was 10 weeks followed by a final exam week. The conversion went like this (I transferred from a semester school to my quarter school).

1 semester class translated to 1.5 quarter classes.

The other way around, 1 quarter class was 2/3rds of a semester class.

So, if you need one year of chemistry for medical school you would take Chem 1, Chem2, AND Chem3 at a quarter school (each class would be 10 weeks plus a finals week) whereas at a semester school you would take Chem1 and Chem2 (each class would be 16 weeks plus a finals week).
 
DrMidlife said:
All the normal prereqs are year long sequences.

Med schools that are looking for a semester of biochem or stats or whatnot aren't going to kvetch about 10 weeks vs. 14 weeks. By "semester" they mean "term".
Click to expand...

I went to a quarter system school. I applied to a medical school that wanted one semester of psychology. The medical school refused to accept only one quarter of psych, because that translated into 2.67 credit hours, and they wanted 3.00.

Luckily the school eventually rejected me, or otherwise I'd be spending my summer taking a psych class at a community college.
 
MT Headed said:
I went to a quarter system school. I applied to a medical school that wanted one semester of psychology. The medical school refused to accept only one quarter of psych, because that translated into 2.67 credit hours, and they wanted 3.00.

Luckily the school eventually rejected me, or otherwise I'd be spending my summer taking a psych class at a community college.
Click to expand...

Ick. What school wants psych? I ask so I can cross it off my list.
 
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