Expert: Bruce - 11/28/2006

Question
I am attending a university that is on the quarter system and would like to transfer to a nearby college on semesters. I have 70 credits and was told that I may lose them if I transfer to semesters. I am really not happy where I am but do not want to lose what I have. Thanks for any information you can send my way.

Answer
Carol,

I'm guessing you are in Ohio or Washington somewhere. Last I knew, that were about the only states still using quarter hours.

In my experience, you will "lose" some credit going from a quarter based program to a semester based one. That's only because quarters are shorter, as I'm sure you well know.

There's a second issue that you may also run into - if your present school requires for example 3 quarter hours of Western Civ, that might transfer as 2 semesters credits. If your new school requires three, that could get sticky.

Keep in mind a couple of things - you don't really lose hours, the QH you have will be prorated based on the number of them you have. My guess is that 70 hours will give you something like 54 semester hours - so you're one third plus through your college program, maybe the same ratio you are at your QH school.

Also, most colleges are customer service oriented enough these days that you may find some real flexibility with regard to credit transfer, especially if your grades and all are good. You can always shop around at a few schools and see who is most generous in dealing with the QH you have amassed.

Hope this helps.

Bruce