A lot of text has been typed over the quarter system, and most of his has been negative. I can understand why. If the quarter system was a country, it’s main export would be stress. But regardless of what the system is or what your calendar looks like, who doesn’t get stressed out by college?
I do have the quarter system to thank for a variety of my habits: punctuality, maximum effort, organizational skills, and focus. Not only that, but every quarter provides new classes, challenges, schedules, and vibes that keep things fresh. Every quarter feels different enough, it’s like you have three mini years in one school year.
Of course, the other side of that coin is the unfortunate reality of not two but three finals weeks. Hear me out, though; there are some upsides to that too.
OK, maybe just one: the sense of unity you have with your friends in collective commiseration.
That sense turns into motivation as we believe in each other to get through this tough time and do our absolute best. Try not to think about your friends in semester schools and how they are chilling or going through midterms in two of our three finals weeks though. If you transport yourself to their oasis mentally, you’ll be facing a much more brutal reality when you get your grades back.
For the most part, the non-student population of UC Davis gets our struggles and they are accommodating. My employers at the Activities and Recreation Center and Youth Programs did a good job at providing training and other events/meetings in a way that didn’t impact our already busy schedules. Since work at Youth Programs takes place during the summer, this next point mostly applies to the ARC. The shifts we get don’t always match with what we want, but it usually doesn’t make our schedule worse even though it blocks off a few hours of our time. Worst case scenario, we can almost always rely on our coworkers to switch or cover shifts for us. Again, the quarter system, albeit out of necessity, has primed us into going extra lengths to be helpful and in unison toward each other.
The quarter system provides a more accurate representation of life after college. Life will continue to hit us fast with projects, changes, and challenges, and it will rarely, if ever, slow down. Every student at this school gets stressed out and nervous at times, but if you look at those that are particularly successful: the top interns, student government members, volunteers, and so on, they embrace those challenges, and it improves their overall experience.
Everything comes back to lessons we’ve learned before. From the theories of Darwin, improving through challenging environments and rising to the occasion, to quotes from "Pokemon," such as this from the Elite Four of Pokemon Black and White versions: “It is better to master the cards you're holding than to complain about the ones you were dealt."
Time will tell how soon after writing this article I’ll be frantically trying to study for my next test lamenting not starting sooner, but positivity is a good trait to have. Even for those who are cursing the quarter system, you have to make the best out of the worst situation. Whether or not this is truly the worst all depends on the eyes of the beholder.
It's not just "a necessary evil"; it's our necessary evil.
