For more than 29 years, St. Thomas has had the traditional Monday to Friday finals week routine, but the university decided to change it for this fall. I think St. Thomas should have stuck with the normal schedule.
The change pushes the free study day to Thursday, Dec. 15, instead of the traditional Monday. Classes will end Wednesday, Dec. 14, and finals will begin Thursday, Dec. 15 and continue Friday, Dec. 16. Students will have a break during the weekend, and finals will continue Monday, Dec. 19, through Wednesday, Dec. 21.
I can’t speak for all college students, but I have enjoyed having a Study Monday in the past. It gave me a three-day weekend to plan, organize and study for the following week of stress.
Although the new schedule is split by a weekend, I will have a final Thursday night. This means during the last week of classes I will also have to prepare for my first final. It seems like a lot more stress.
Michael Jordan, associate vice president for undergraduate studies and academic advisement, said one of the reasons for the change is because Christmas falls on a Sunday. Each year St. Thomas tries to have 70 class days in a semester. If St. Thomas had decided to go with the traditional finals schedule, students would finish finals December 23, which is too close to Christmas, he said.
The new finals schedule gives students 68 class days in the semester and allows them to finish four days before Christmas.
But I believe there is a way to finish sooner, have the necessary number of class days and keep a Study Monday. The university should have started fall semester classes a week early so we could get out of school a week before Christmas
The majority of my college friends already start class a week or two before me and get out earlier than I do. It would be nice to be on the same page for once. I enjoy summer break, I really do, but finals week next semester is going to cut into valuable family time, especially because of the way January term classes are set up.
J-term classes begin Monday, Jan. 2, giving students about a week and a half between the end of fall semester and the beginning of J-term. If I were to study abroad I would leave December 28, which gives me just seven days with my family instead of 11.
I hope this finals schedule change is temporary.
Ashley Stewart can reached at stew1177@stthomas.edu.
I agree. Last semester one of my professors said the university was thinking about either going later into December (as they chose to do) or starting earlier, but that no one wanted to start earlier because they wanted to have that time around Labor Day to spend with their families. If that is the reason, it doesn’t make much sense. Personally I’d much rather have more time right before Christmas to spend with my family. Labor day weekend is also usually our move-in weekend, so students who live on campus and need to move in then aren’t able to enjoy the weekend with their families anyway. If we started the week or so before (as many other colleges do), students would already be moved in and we would have Labor Day Monday off, allowing everyone to be able to enjoy that weekend.