Sometimes it seems like the more you learn about the college search, the less you actually know.

Not to arbitrarily add to that pile of “things to know about college”, but you should probably know what it means for a school to be on academic trimesters. There are different ways to break up the year, semesters, quarters, and trimesters! A trimester system divides the academic year into three terms, roughly 14 – 16 weeks each. Let it be known that these things vary greatly among schools, so always check with the schools you’re interested in to learn more about their academic calendar.

Often, colleges and universities that run on trimesters start around mid-September, which is considerably later than schools on semesters, and they often end later in the year towards the middle of June. Similar to the advantages of the quarter systems, many people believe trimesters give students more flexibility and diversity in their class choices. This means that you can take more of the classes you love, and the more frustrating classes are shorter in length–it’s kind of a perception thing.

Disadvantages of trimesters can be that your academic schedule might wind up conflicting with summer job or internship scheduling. Students also sometimes feel that finals rush up on them very quickly.

Atlantic College

Augustana College

Brandman University

Briar Cliff University

Bryn Athyn College of the New Church

Cambridge College

Carlos Albizu University – Miami

Cathedral Bible College

College of the Atlantic

Franklin University

Golden Gate University – San Francisco

Granite State College

Hodges University

John Dewey College – University Division

John Wesley College

Knox College

Lawrence University

Mercyhurst College

Nazarene Bible College

Northwest Missouri State University

Northwestern Polytechnic University

Nova Southeastern University

Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology

Parker University

Rockefeller University

Samuel Merritt University

SUNY Empire State College

Union Institute & University

United States Merchant Marine Academy

University of Michigan – Ann Arbor

University of North Carolina School of the Arts

William Cary University