This piece is featured in the Jan. 2025 print edition.
John Washington is a journalism senior and opinion columnist for Mustang News. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.
Walking into class one day last quarter, I heard my professor make a bold declaration in casual conversation before beginning the lecture.
“After it becomes semesters, I’m done. That’s it for me,” he said, seemingly announcing his planned retirement date.
Since coming to Cal Poly in 2023, all I have heard about the advent of the semester system at our school is dismissive or contemptuous comments from students and professors alike.
Often, they come from professors offering their sympathy to students who will undergo this big change. Other times, it’s upperclassmen expressing relief because they are graduating in time to avoid the transition.
But, as one of the many transfer students who previously attended schools on the semester system, I feel the urge to say–get over it. You can afford to be a little more like everybody else.
Set to take place at the start of the 2026-27 school year, the change will impact this year’s freshman and sophomore classes, along with all future incoming classes.
Since 2022, each department has been working to reshape class curriculums and overall degree requirements to properly adjust to the California State University Chancellor’s request for Cal Poly to become a semester-based school. Of the 23 California State University campuses statewide, Cal Poly is the only one left on the quarter system.
The unpopularity of the switch to semesters among students, faculty and even alumni is reasonable. I’m willing to concede the quarter system has its merits.
A standard full-time quarter schedule allows for 12 quarter-long classes instead of 10 semester-long classes each year. Focusing your efforts on each class is generally easier on the quarter system because students take four classes on average instead of five planned out with semesters.
That being said, a quarter lasts about two-thirds as long as a semester. Aside from classes, spring break landing between the winter and spring quarters gives students a real chance to regroup without work hanging over their heads (as students often experience over Thanksgiving break).
This is not to say people aren’t allowed their frustration. The actual transition will be confusing and bring up problems, with professors installing entirely reworked curriculums and students figuring out their converted units. But, the decision to make the switch is the best long-term solution for students.
Everything, bar the actual classes, will automatically improve solely because of timing. Not only will the new timing allow for easier access to internships coinciding with a term in school, but it will also allow for easier access to an immediate job post graduation.
It also makes studying abroad more realistic outside of fall quarter, as winter and spring study abroad students won’t have to miss out on an entire extra term at Cal Poly.
For transfer students, it will be a better opportunity to acclimate to their new environment. The shift to quarters is frantic and unpleasant for many transfers, especially considering the likely scenario of many credits being lost in the shuffle with no place for their application.
Worried I wouldn’t graduate on time, I squeezed 20 units into each of my first two quarters at Cal Poly. Although I ended up passing those classes, I was left exhausted and without much room for extracurriculars or social life.
Implementing the semester system at Cal Poly will line up the school’s calendar with all but three community colleges in California. This, in turn, will alleviate that struggle to settle in, as the school would be more able and eager to set course equivalents with community colleges.
Course equivalency is a department I found Cal Poly to be lacking in compared to the other California State universities during my transfer application process. But soon, incoming transfers will be able to step onto campus with their completed course requirements nearer to the level of an average third-year student.
As a student previously at multiple colleges using semesters, I found the longer term length and increased number of classes to better suit my learning style; the 10-week sessions can feel like a race, one where I discover at the finish line that I do not recall as much of what just happened as I’d like. Semesters will do more to ensure we truly process course material, not just regurgitate enough of it to survive a final exam.
The disdain towards change is understandable to a curmudgeon like me, but behavior that falls under the category of panic is a bridge too far in this scenario.
This change will provide great relief to the future students of Cal Poly, and I can’t help but guess that the current underclassmen being wished sympathy will have their needs addressed with enough grace by the university, out of understanding–and maybe, fear of backlash.