Timing Your Study Abroad Trip: The Trimester System

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Universities in the U.K. are designed differently than schools in the United States. One major difference: Many universities still operate on a trimester system, which means that you won't receive a full semester's worth of credit for fall study abroad because you'll be there for a term, not a semester. Although most trimester universities accept students for just one or two terms, studying abroad for less than a year may be easier and less confusing at British universities that have adopted semester schedules. In addition, some universities require full-year study in certain disciplines such as English, science, and engineering.

When a school has adopted a semester schedule, you need to be very careful about when to go. Remember the following caveats:

• If the fall semester, including exams, ends before Christmas, you can return to your home university in January.
• Universities that formerly followed a trimester schedule often have a second semester and a mini semester in the spring. You should plan to stay for both.
• Some universities that have switched to a semester schedule have a fall semester that begins in late September and ends with exams in late January, which often makes returning to your home university in time for the start of spring semester impossible.

  Some universities (and this is the exception here, not the rule) have an arrangement in which international students studying in the fall semester can submit essays in place of final exams given in January (details must be worked out between professors and students) so that international students can still study in the fall, but return to their home university in time to start the spring semester in January. If you must study abroad in the fall, you may want to find out if this is possible at your potential host university.