On a college academic calendar, quarters are typically 10 weeks long, plus one additional week for finals. A full academic year, not including summer, is 3 quarters.
So if one does not go to summer school, 7 quarters would be 2 full academic years, plus one additional quarter. If you do go to summer school, 7 quarters would be 2 full academic years, plus the summer quarter between those two years.
Most full time students take 3 to 4 classes at a time on the quarter system.
Meanwhile, in a semester system students typically attend classes for two “semesters” each year, typically a fall semester and a spring semester. Length of these terms can also vary and in many cases a shortened 3-4 week session is held in the month of January, often called “J-Term”.
Both academic systems enable students to graduate in two or four years depending on the school, course load, and program of study. With these scheduling differences the amount of credits earned per course may differ within the two academic systems. This subtle difference often causes the most confusion during the transfer process.
Converting quarter credits to semester credits is easy for the sake of making approximations, but it is advised that you speak with an admissions officer to verify your calculations.
Semester credits are worth 1.5 times more than quarter credits. Thus, a 120-credit-hour bachelor degree under the conventional system is equal to a 180-credit-hour degree under the quarter credit system.
Read more at www.thebestschools.org and www.rasmussen.edu for additional info.