36 Comments
Then we have great news! If you thought this fall’s exam schedule was right up your alley, then you’ll be pleased to hear that Columbia will be getting not one, but two sequels. First, next fall will have almost the exact same structure as this year: once again, students will get two “study days,” and will not finish their exams until December 23rd. The only difference is that exams will return to a Friday-Friday schedule. And while the blessed three day study period will finally make a return in 2011, exams then will still end on the 23rd.
Now, it’s likely that these dates won’t change; the calendars, students were told last year, are set years in advance, and Columbia administration prefers that concepts like “hope” and “change” stay with alumni. But when every single other Ivy League school has managed to end classes earlier (including Cornell, which is subject to the same New York state education laws as Columbia), then maybe, just maybe, there’s glimmer of hope for the Class of 2011. In the meantime, West Coasters may want to start booking flights.
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36 Comments
@But seriously Can we at least fix this for next year? I realize it’s inevitable for this semester, but a repeat isn’t… petition, please?
@Shut up First of all, I am not going to let you all misinterpret the facts of the other schools’ schedules so blatantly. We end the fall semester after every other school because we started the fall semester after almost every other school. Look at the calendars!
Harvard, Yale and Brown all start a week before us. Cornell, which does have the same NY State laws, starts TWO weeks before us. Dartmouth has its crazy quarters. Princeton starts late but has its exams after winter break which means studying over Christmas which sucks. The only Ivy with a comparably better schedule is Penn: it starts ONE day later and finishes ONE day earlier. But it has fewer days off for fall break. Also, lest we not forget that most of these schools have classes every single Friday.
Second of all, where were all you people who are now bitching last spring? The Senate and Councils discussed this so much it was annoying.
@We assumed they would be able to solve the problem. I’m sorry I trusted them.
@Agreed Princeton’s schedule is MUCH MUCH worse to have. You go back to school right after New Years, and you still have those nasty Fall Semester finals and papers due. It’s very cathartic to get that last final done before winter break.
Also, this isn’t the first year this has happened. Never mind things like, you know, the REAL WORLD where you don’t get the 23rd off.
@European Yeah, nothing better than flying overnight and arriving on the 24th in the early afternoon. At least I will be right home for lighting the xmas tree… And I cannot even book my flight yet as the exam schedule is not yet finalized…. they could at least get that done early so people can plan accordingly.
@um yes where is the petition!!!!
@SEAS Senator We discussed this at the Senate last year. Traditionally Columbia starts the Tuesday after Labor Day. Labor day was late this year.
Look on the bright side, we still got 3 study days vs 2 as had been planned.
The only way to change the start date for Columbia would be to have a massive undergrad petition. Talk to Whitney and Sue about that.
Most of the professional grad schools start 2 weeks earlier than us so unless there is really an outcry that can be physically shown on a document nothing will change and this will happen again in I think 7 years.
@i am not american so screw this. flying red eye on the 23rd? HA HA. flying domestic? oh wait – they dont fly christmas eve. fml.
@blah I’d like to add myself to the list of people who find this policy completely exasperating and inconsiderate. Just when all the good weather was beginning to delude my brain into liking Columbia. Meh.
@anonymous WHATTTT
CAN SOMEONE WHO IS ON STUDENT COUNCIL PLEASE STOP THIS?!?!?!?
@clg yes. Because of this godforsaken schedule, my family had to pay an extra 200 bucks or so to fly me home on the incredibly pleasant travel day of CHRISTMAS FUCKING EVE. Even the stuff that they don’t control, they make more expensive. This place is ridiculous. I love it, but it’s ridiculous. Cut me a fucking break.
@It's Still bullshit. Still ridiculous.
@Charlotte If you book your flight now, tickets won’t be that much more expensive. Besides, having a a shorter study period only gets rid of the procrastination period.
@umm i don’t know where you go to school, but as a dedicated procrastinator, I can tell you right now that between watching tv and studying — tv wins EVERY TIME, regardless of time crunch
@false. The 20th-23rd is like the Wednesday before Thanksgiving of Christmas travel. Airfare on that day is often more than double the price of days on either end of that period. It’s not the end of the world but when you live far away having to travel during those days means spending the equivalent of another round trip ticket that I could have used to go home during Spring break, or Fall recess. To some extent if we live far away and choose to come here, that’s just part of the burden, but come on Columbia…you have all the rest of my money. just let me go home.
@This... …is fucked.
@... i don’t understand. why exactly did they choose to start the academic year one week late this year?
@HUH? the days on the graphic are wrong. the 13th is on a sunday
@thats the calendar a few years into the future. also note the friday-friday finals, which arent happening this year.
@PURELY and utterly unacceptable that i have a final on my 21st birthday .. at 9 am
@there goes my birthday….
@whoa what happened to that last article?
@James Just an accident – we’re reposting it.
@Bwog I’m sorry, I don’t believe it was an accident, because the title of the post is MUCH less controversial now.
@Harmony Hunter i don’t get what this has to do with harmony hall
@go away I don’t get what you have to do with being funny.
@seriously shut up.
and also…. 2010!! YAY! GRADUATION!
@Don't worry! Columbia is canceling Christmas.
@From Alaska I won’t get home until Christmas day this year. I literally cannot get home any sooner and still be able to take all my exams. Fuck the Administration.
@dammit do they have any idea how much it costs to fly anywhere on Dec. 23rd? Not to mention the aggravation of traveling anywhere on that day.
@It's practically a crime to arrive home on Christmas Eve in a lot of countries. This sucks.
@STOP COLUMBIA STOP THEM!!!!!!!!!!!
@why can’t we get this changed?
I realize that it fucks with the end of the summer classes or something, but this affects so many more people. Bwog should make this a bigger deal.
@I second that motion Is there any way that we can draw some attention to this? Getting home the day before Christmas Eve is a nightmare for those of us who don’t live in the surrounding area. It also seriously minimizes the time we are able to spend with others back home (i.e. siblings) who start Winter Break much earlier and end up going back to school soon after we Columbians get home.
I understand that the situation can’t be changed for this year, but if every other Ivy can do it, why can’t we?
@............... FUCK THIS. FUCK YOU COLUMBIA.
@ditto... FUCK YOU COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. I am paying double for my flight home, and I already have an exam the day of and the day after my birthday. I also get to spend less time with family. columbia=anti-family