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The Quarter System As you may have heard, The University of Chicago Law School uses the quarter system. While many colleges and universities are on quarters, we are one of only two law schools in the country (that we know of!) to use this system, and prospective students are often concerned about what that will mean for their time at the Law School. Here are a few facts to help you decide if the quarter system is right for you. What is the quarter system? Quarters are shorter academic units than semesters, and allow a school to offer three to four different sessions of classes per year. At Chicago, we hold classes in Fall, Winter and Spring quarter each year, with students off during the Summer. Students will be in class for the same amount of time as a semester school, but they will have three sets of classes (and professors) during a typical year. When do the quarters start and finish? Here is a rough yearly schedule, you will see that classes start much later in the fall, and end later in the spring: What does this mean for summer jobs? Employers that recruit at Chicago are familiar with the Chicago system, and accomodate it in their summer programs. Our 2Ls finish classes at the end of May, so they start their summer jobs only 2 weeks after the program begins. Since our classes start much later in the fall, our students typically stay at their jobs 2-4 weeks after other students leave, often working into late September. How many exams do I take my first year? While you will have more classes and professors under the quarter system, you will not have more exams your first year. Several of your first year classes will be held over two quarters, with only one exam (but often two professors). Your first quarter you will have two exams, which allows you to focus on those classes, and get feedback on how you are doing. Your second quarter you will have three exams, and your third quarter you will have either three or four exams, depending on the elective you choose. So you really only have eight exams, spread over three quarters, similar to semesters, where you have four exams per semester. What about fall on-campus interviewing? Another benefit of the quarter system is that our fall on-campus interviewing program, where over 350 legal employers come to interview our 2L and 3L students, is held in early September, before classes begin. That allows students to focus on their job search, and not worry about missing class. |
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