Courtesy: admissions.vanderbilt.edu
An unbiased view on the new three week course schedule makes us wonder about the singular affection of Thunderbird towards the numerical ‘3’. We hear it everywhere, from CMC career advisors advising us to incorporate the ‘magical 3’ skills to our ‘tri’-mester pattern. New addition to the list is undoubtedly the three week term schedules.
With this new trend, trimester is almost like a roller-coaster ride. Most of the first trimester students feel that the first two terms were very hectic while the second two are quite lethargic. There were many sleepless nights and skipped meals in the first terms and in contradictory, the last two terms are comparatively quite free. Though a few support that this could be done on purpose to accommodate the process of applying for internships, some of them complain about their poor grades due to insufficient time. To add to this, core subjects like finance and marketing were taught and shelved during the first term. While the books for these subjects gather dust, we are afraid that the same does not happen to the contents taught.
Shorter periods, easier assignments that can be accommodated, reduced portions – we just hope that the quality is not reduced. Some of the students are worried that the crux of learning is lost in this crash course schedule. Though it has to be admitted that this new learning method is introduced to improve the learning experience, we just try to point out the injudicious dividing of the subjects between the terms. By the way, if you are wondering why I’m writing this article at this point of time, I would simply like to point out that I’m a first trimester student.