[NU Sports] Buckeyes to semester system

Mon May 14 10:56:17 CDT 2012

The quarter system has the biggest impact on athletics in the form of the
calendar: fall sports kick off before the fall quarter begins, exams do not
align with most other schools, and school extends beyond most others.

- Fall sports

This has the most visible effect in the form of fewer fans in the seats,
particularly for football.  But, coaches may very well enjoy Septembers
without class as the student-athletes are able to be pure athletes during
that period even while competing (football in particular, which gets in at
least 3 regular season weeks + games during that time).

While we spend a lot of time discussing attendance and with no classes in
session and therefore most students not being on campus, it makes a
difference there, but that would be a bump of at most 5,000 people and I
don't see students being at the game influencing more non-students to
attend usually less-desirable games during that time.

It's hard to tell if playing without worrying about classes has much of an
impact (since NU has some oft discuss upset losses early in the year
despite playing a relatively easier schedule early on), but I'm sure that
the coaches love the undivided attention.

- Exam alignment

This mostly affects basketball in terms of revenue sports, and mid December
is a tough time to schedule anyway given the fact that most schools are
either in exams or are going on an extended break.  Plus, NU basketball has
much larger issues for non-conference scheduling than exam alignment.  Come
March, NU must contend with the tournaments and its exam schedule, but they
have managed that with the Big Ten tourney & NIT the past four years.

This likely affects non-revenue sports more often, but, again, NU has
learned to adjust.

- Finishing late

This largely affects players who decide to go pro - particularly football
players since they typically start mini-camps & OTAs as soon as they are
drafted or signed, while players who are still in school are only allowed
to go on 1 mini-camp until they're done (see: Ebert here:
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4722073/ebert-juggling-classes-nfl-career).
 Basketball isn't as much of an issue given the timing of the
conclusion
of that season and the draft that happens after that (though it does put
constraints on workouts and draft preparation activities).  This only
affects players who are going pro in those 2 sports, and therefore doesn't
have a huge impact, and those players do have workarounds and I haven't
seen the timing affect anyone's status.

And for the other athletes who play in the spring, it may actually help as
they are able to finish their season and then focus on academics for a bit
before the end.

- Non-athletics

It's more of an annoyance for the general student population: yes, it makes
activities with friends who attend other schools more challenging, but it's
not insurmountable.  It may have more of an impact on summer
jobs/internships, but NU has plenty of established programs that work with
its schedule (I did co-op, and that program worked very well as it allowed
me to intersperse 1.5 years of work and graduating after 5 years while
getting a good mix of classes and work).  As long as work is done up front,
most companies can accommodate a late start/late finish.

- Positives

I think there are a lot of positives, as others have pointed out.  Your
course load is more focused and typically allows some openings to take some
other courses of interest from time to time.  The timing also works out
very well with respect to winter and spring breaks; you don't have to worry
about going on break and forgetting everything only to come back to exams a
short time later.

Overall, I don't think the schedule has a significant negative impact on
anything besides student attendance at football games, and since the
student athletic fee began (around 2004 I believe) that won't even affect
athletic revenues.  It is also a huge project to transition the entire
school to a different system, and it's clear that the administration is
satisfied with the current state.

Jonathan

--
Jonathan Hodges
Contributor, HailToPurple
Web: http://www.hailtopurple.com/jhodges/
Twitter: @hailtopurple
Email: j-hodges at alumni.northwestern.edu

On Sun, May 13, 2012 at 2:02 PM, <foady1k at me.com> wrote:

> I was just at an alumni event in SF where President Shapiro spoke.  We
> will not be moving away from the quarter system anytime soon.
>
> Jimmy
>
>
>
> On May 13, 2012, at 10:57 AM, Jim Bendat <inaugurationbook at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>  The main thing I remember about the quarter system was that you're always
>> taking exams. You finish finals, then you're taking midterms again just a
>> few weeks later.
>>
>> Jim
>>
>> On May 13, 2012, at 10:50 AM, hakirsch at aol.com wrote:
>>
>> > Boy do I agree with Scott about the dis advantage of obtaining a summer
>> job. They were all taken by mid June. However I'm told it's very hard to
>> make the switch. Professors need to change their courses to gear for 18
>> weeks vs 12. It might be easy for a year of physics or calculus but not for
>> a one quarter course. Their calender of actually teaching classes changes
>> and would likely need their approval (or union).
>> > There are a bunch of other issues that need to be dealt with. Obviously
>> schools do it, but not without a bunch of dislocations (By the way,my dad
>> ,who was an OSU grad in the 30's and a Chemistry major,used to tell me how
>> much harder he thought the quarter system was,but that it instilled good
>> academic discipline)
>> >
>> > Harry
>> > Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: "Scott Zeller, M.D." <scottzel at gmail.com>
>> > Sender: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com
>> > Date: Sun, 13 May 2012 10:35:14
>> > To: Northwestern Wildcats (nwu-sports at tssi.com)<nwu-**sports at tssi.com<nwu-sports at tssi.com>
>> >
>> > Subject: Re: [NU Sports] FW: Buckeyes to semester system
>> >
>> > Would NU ever consider changing from the quarter system? I remember it
>> > being a drag getting out so late in the year that all the good summer
>> jobs
>> > were long gone, and then being home alone for a few weeks at the end of
>> > summer when all my friends were already back at their own schools.
>> >
>> > On Sun, May 13, 2012 at 4:42 AM, Weinbaum, Willie
>> > <Willie.Weinbaum at espn.com>**wrote:
>> >
>> >>
>> >> http://www.cleveland.com/osu/**index.ssf/2012/05/ohio_states_**
>> move_to_semesters.html<http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2012/05/ohio_states_move_to_semesters.html>
>> >>
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