Pitt’s vacations different from other universities

Any Pitt student who has friends at Penn State University might have noticed PSU’s long… Any Pitt student who has friends at Penn State University might have noticed PSU’s long weekend break from Oct. 6 to Oct. 8. Or they might notice the month-long December holiday that their friends at Ohio State University have.

But unlike students at these schools, most Pitt students spent Oct. 6 in class and will spend the beginning half of December studying for final exams.

The decision to have days off resides with each individual college, said Barbara Heron, the associate university registrar.

At Pitt, the Academic Calendar Committee follows a set of Pitt guidelines to approve which days students and faculty members will not have class.

“If you’ve ever put together a calendar and gone from the end of August to December to determine the number of days [to have class], it’s difficult to come up with a count,” Heron said.

Heron also said that there is no governing body that says students have to have certain holidays off. Colleges can choose to schedule classes even on days such as Christmas and New Years.

Because Pitt has no religious affiliation, Pitt has a winter recess instead of a Christmas break.

“If we had all the holidays off, we would not have class,” Heron said.

As for the month-long break OSU students have during December, it is a reflection of a major organizational difference.

While Pitt students typically attend fall, spring and sometimes summer semesters, OSU students attend autumn, winter, spring and summer quarters. Each quarter lasts approximately 10 weeks, compared to Pitt’s 15 weeks.

Myers said that there are still colleges that run on quarters, but many more that run on semesters. Some of these, including the University of Minnesota, the University of Georgia and Cleveland State University used to run on quarters but switched to semesters within the past 20 years.

“There’s nothing magic about either model,” Myers said.

Although Myers said there was no evidence proving one method to be more effective than the other, some colleges want to model their schedules after high school schedules.

He also said that some people appreciate the longer summer break.

“There are advantages and disadvantages to both,” Myers said.

One advantage for colleges run on quarters is that the students get an opportunity to take more specialized courses. He said that because a quarter only lasts about 10 weeks, the material doesn’t have to be spread out over a longer period of time.

Another advantage is the longer break, which many students seem to like, Myers said.

But Myers also said that students on quarters sometimes feel rushed, especially if they get sick or need to leave school for a period of time.

“Students at schools with quarters will tend to tell you that they feel pushed,” Myers said. “It’s like you have barely started before you need to start thinking about what classes you will take next semester.”

Students attending colleges with semesters will also tend to get an earlier start looking for jobs, with employers increasingly modeling their hiring practices around a semester schedule.