Sample Student Scenario
Sally Reed is pursing her BSGS degree at Northwestern's School
of Continuing Studies with an Organizational Behavior major
and a Political Science minor. Since Sally transferred from
Harvard, she wanted to apply her Harvard coursework to her
SCS degree. She called Harvard to request an official transcript
be sent to Northwestern. However, to find out how many semesters
hours she had completed at SCS, she ordered an unofficial
transcript using CAESAR at http://www.northwestern.edu/caesar/
(logging in as a student with her NU NetID). Nine semester
hours of credit in science were applied to her degree from
Harvard.
With her transcript information in hand, and adjusting for
her planned class schedule up to fall 2005, Sally now knows
she will have 81 semester hours of credit at the start of
the fall 2005 quarter. After checking online at the SCS Conversion
Calculator, she learned that her total hours convert to
30.45 units, or 30 classes. After quarter conversion, 45 units
(courses) will be required for graduation, or 15 more than
Sally has. Therefore she will need an additional 39 semester
hours to complete the degree - which converts to 14.66 units
under the quarter system, or 15 classes.
Sally's pattern of enrollment is two classes during the normal
semester and one class during the summer session. Using that
pattern the chart below shows that Sally can graduate at the
end of the 2007 summer session by taking two classes during
that summer. (This assumes that all the classes Sally needs
and wishes to take are offered over this period of time.)
If Sally could continue under the semester system, she would
not be able to graduate until spring 2008 at the earliest,
presuming she maintained her typical course load.
Sally's BSGS degree with an Organizational Behavior major
and a Political Science minor carries the following requirements:
| Requirement |
Hours Needed |
Units Needed |
| English |
6 |
2 |
| Humanities |
12 |
4 |
| Science |
12 |
4 |
| Social Science |
12 |
4 |
| Electives |
27 |
21 |
| Major |
30 |
20 |
| Minor |
21 |
0 |
| Totals |
120 |
45 |
As of the end of August 2005, Sally's coursework will
give her the following hours/units earned:
| Hours Earned |
Hours Remaining |
Units Earned |
Units Remaining |
| 6 |
0 |
2.25 |
0 |
| 12 |
0 |
4.51 |
0 |
| 9 |
3 |
3.38 |
1 |
| 6 |
6 |
2.25 |
2 |
| 24 |
3 |
9.02 |
1 |
| 15 |
15 |
5.63 |
6 |
| 9 |
12 |
3.38 |
5 |
| 81 |
39 |
30.45 |
15 (14.66) |
After conversion, Sally's course load will give her a 2007
graduation date, versus the 2008 graduation date she would
have had on the semester system:
| Semester Classes Remaining |
Term |
Quarter Classes Remaining |
|
| 2 classes (6hrs) |
Fall ‘05 |
2 classes |
|
| N/A |
Winter ‘06 |
2 classes |
|
| 2 classes (6 hrs) |
Spring ‘06 |
2 classes |
|
| 1 class (3 hrs) |
Summer ‘06 |
2 classes |
|
| 2 classes (6hrs) |
Fall ‘06 |
2 classes |
|
| N/A |
Winter ‘07 |
2 classes |
|
| 2 classes (6 hrs) |
Spring ‘07 |
2 classes |
|
| 1 class (3 hrs) |
Summer ’07 (finished under quarters) |
1 class |
Degree under quarter system completed in Summer
'07. (Convocation in June of '07) |
| 2 classes (6 hrs) |
Fall '07 |
None |
|
| N/A |
Winter ‘08 |
None |
|
| 1 class (3 hrs) |
Spring ’08 (finished under semesters) |
None |
Degree under semester system would be completed in Spring
'08 (Convocation in June
of '08) |
| |
|
|
|
| 13 classes (39 credit hours) |
<< TOTALS >> |
15 classes (units) |
|
|
