With the transition to university status, Mercyhurst has faced many changes. One of the biggest, occurring just one year after attaining university status, is the shift from the trimester system to 4-1-4 semesters. Teachers and students have had to adapt to the new system. Classes are shorter, but they require students to take more classes at the same time.

It has not been an easy transition, as it seems like we are having the same amount of work with multiple classes. Junior student Lauren Smith said, “It feels like a trimester system with a fifth class, I have so much work to do.”

Students seem not to be adapted to the new system. Contrary to what was expected of a semester system, students believed that by having longer terms, work was going to be distributed over the term and workload would be more reasonable. Senior student Chelsee Cool said, “It feels like stressful for both students and teachers and we haven’t adjusted well to it.”

We are a step away from midterms, meaning that by this point we should be well adapted to the system and it should not feel as stressful, but it seems like it will take more than just the midterm to fully adapt to the new system. Junior student Cady Schneible said, “When they first proposed the idea, it seemed like workload would be more spread out, but it seems as more work is due and we have more classes.”

The pace at which classes are going might be different than in a trimester system, but the fact that we have to manage more than three or four classes as it used to be makes it seem like there is no difference in the amount of work that is due for each class. Time management is key in the process of adaptation, but when there are other activities other than classes it makes it harder to manage all at the same time.

Hopefully, by the end of the year students and teachers will feel more adapted to the new system and success in the purpose of it that is to enhance choices and opportunities for Mercyhurst students.