Many students share uncertainty when it comes to converting to the semester system this coming fall. Students will not be able to take as many courses in a year, and they must decide if they want to stay with the current catalog, or switch at the start of the next academic year.
Cal Poly released the official 2026-28 course catalog at the start of November. This information arrived during winter quarter registration, while many students were entirely uncertain of semester conversion’s effect on their majors until now.
Forest and fire science sophomore Allie Treacy still has not received an updated flowchart for the major and is unsure when it will be ready. For most majors, the department is removing some required courses to make the transition smoother.
Treacy is currently enrolled in two courses that will no longer be required.
“I’m a little bit frustrated because I do need to be taking these, but I also hear that you could stay on the old catalog or switch, so I just don’t know which way to go because I don’t know what would be easier for me,” Treacy said.
Architecture freshman Salvador Garcia Medellin saw the tentative semester conversion plan for the first time during a presentation by a department head in ARCH 101, a course required for all architecture freshmen. However, Medellin does not believe class attendance is high enough to ensure effectiveness.
“There’s not much incentive to go [to ARCH 101] because it’s a one unit course, and it’s just four assignments overall. A lot of people don’t show up,” Medellin said. “This presentation really helped me because I didn’t understand.”
The switch to semesters lowers the number of classes a student can easily take in a year, which is a concern for English sophomore Bella Castillo, who is also minoring in biology and taking more courses outside of her major in the hopes of being prepared to attend veterinary school after graduation.
“I was incredibly frustrated and nervous about the switch to semester because I knew I would be cramming so many difficult classes into a short period of time,” Castillo said.
Both Castillo and mechanical engineer sophomore Parker Evans mentioned that the quarter system made going abroad more accessible.
“With quarters, I have more time to catch up on missed units, ” Castillo said.
Similarly, Evans said, “I was never super worried about the switch, but I do think that I’m more worried after seeing the compact schedule I’m gonna have for the spring semester of my junior year since I’m going abroad. I think it makes it a lot harder.”
A common concern across colleges is that the switch may impact graduation terms.
Castillo still intends to graduate on time but does not think the conversion is fair to current students.
“I took classes over the summer to get ahead, just for them to not count towards any credit for my degree,” Castillo said.
Evans also aims to graduate on time.
“I took about two hours to go over all the classes I’ll have to take in the future and planned out every quarter and semester going forward. This helped clarify what classes I’ll have to take in the future and if I’m on track,” Evans said.
Students remain curious about the transition and their future schedules.
“I’m excited and interested to see what it will look like, and I think that the classes that they’re offering look really cool,” Treacy said. “I just feel the information should have come a lot sooner because it leaves a lot of people high and dry.”