Xatal

Typically, most colleges divide their academic year into semesters, trimesters, or quarters. However, there are a few other ones out there. When explaining the difference between quarter and semester system and then what system the CSUs/UCs use, I mentioned that CSU Stanislaus uses a different academic system altogether, known as the “4-1-4″ system.

CSU Stanislaus isn’t the only school on this system — MIT actually uses the 4-1-4 system as well.

So what is the 4-1-4 system? Is it any good?

A year in the 4-1-4 system

In the 4-1-4 system, the year is again divided into three sessions. The first and the last session are pretty similar to a semester, though they only last 13 weeks instead of the usual 15.

The middle session, however, only lasts about a month, providing a distinct opportunity to travel abroad, dabble briefly in another subject, or work on a large project.

A typical student might take 4 courses in the first term, 1 course in the second, and another 4 in the third (thus the name “414″).

What’s the advantage?

Well the basic advantage of a 414 system comes from that term in the middle — you have a lot of different things you can use it for, ranging from getting a general education requirement out of the way to holding an internship. However, the term is short enough that it’s pretty forgiving and you won’t miss out on other essential class time by trying something different.