Conversion to Semesters

JWU’s transition into a semester system comes at a time when more colleges have implemented this change; in fact, today a large majority of U.S. institutions of higher education, including community colleges, operate on a semester calendar. The conversion to semesters will positively impact the quality of Johnson & Wales’ educational experience in many ways:

• Students will have more time to interact with their faculty as they learn the content and skills of each course and participate in projects.
• Internships will be longer so students will gain additional experience in their professional field.
• Students will have more time to pursue summer work and study abroad opportunities.

• Undergraduate, continuing education, and master’s level education programs will follow a semester calendar starting in fall 2020.
• Graduate degree programs, except for the master’s level education programs, began following a semester calendar as of fall 2018.

The term system divides the year into three, 11-week sessions in the fall, winter and spring. The semester system divides the year into fall and spring sessions, each spanning approximately 16 weeks of instruction. Summer sessions will also be available to students. Please review FAQs for students enrolled in the College of Online Education.

This change will mainly impact

• undergraduate students who complete their degree requirements after August 2020
• students considering accelerated JWU master’s degree programs
• students graduating in 2019 who are interested in pursuing a JWU master’s degree

All students are encouraged to meet with their faculty advisor or assigned academic counselor in Student Academic Services (SAS) to review a plan that will keep them on track toward graduation.

How Can I Prepare for Internship?

• Contact Experiential Education & Career Services (EE&CS) to discuss your options, semester availability and eligibility requirements as well as receive guidance on searching for possible internships.
• Contact Student Academic Services (SAS) to discuss course sequencing and progress towards graduation. This is an important step in determining your internship semester. Contact SAS at your campus or schedule an appointment with your academic counselor using uSucceed.
• Start planning for your internship at least 6 months ahead of your internship semester.

What Internship Credit Options are Available?

• Meeting with EE&CS will help you determine if you have a required internship or the ability to participate in an optional internship.
• Credit options include 3, 6, 9 or 12 semester credits. Internship credits vary by academic program.

How will internships fit into my progress towards graduation and full-time status?

• You must enroll in 12-semester credits to maintain full-time status and 15 semester credits to maintain progress towards graduation.
• In addition to internship credits, you may need to take additional courses. For example, if you are completing a 12-semester credit internship, you will still need to be registered for 3 semester credits to keep on track for graduation

Can I do an internship outside of the campus area?

• Yes, but you would need to register for online residential (ONL RES) courses as needed to maintain full-time status and/or progress towards graduation, as noted above.
• It is important that you meet with SAS to discuss course options. Note: ONL RES courses fill quickly.

Operating under a semester calendar will only benefit students’ access to study abroad. Many of the university’s exchange partners run on a semester calendar. This will make it easier for JWU students to go on an exchange program without having to take a term off. In addition, more study abroad opportunities will be available through our exchange partners.

Similar to the academic programs, all study abroad program credits will be converted using the same calculation. Students may still be eligible to apply scholarships and financial aid to study abroad semester, year-long and summer programs.

Yes, accelerated master’s programs will continue to be offered. Students who have been accepted into an accelerated master’s program may take up to three graduate-level courses during their senior year of their bachelor’s degree program at no additional charge, and then continue on to complete their master’s degree. Please see the Admissions Requirements section of the catalog for more information.

View and download (PDF) the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic calendars.

Undergraduate students: Undergraduate academic courses will continue to be scheduled Monday – Thursday under the semester calendar. Courses will be delivered over 16 weeks. Most classes will meet twice per week, each over a 75-minute class period. 

Graduate students: Master’s level courses are delivered over 8 or 16 weeks, in standard and hybrid formats*. The majority of courses will be offered in the evening from 6-8:45pm, with some scheduled during the afternoon.



Standard courses must meet at least 15 times during the 16-week semester. Course content is delivered in a traditional classroom through face-to-face instruction.

Hybrid courses must meet at least 8 times during the semester. Over 50% of the course work is delivered in a traditional classroom through face-to-face instruction. The remaining course work is completed online.

*Please note: all variations are not available for all master's level programs. 

Course workload will be distributed over a 16-week period instead of 11 weeks, providing students more time to complete course work.

*This example does not apply to lab hours.

No. The annual cost will be the same as it would be under a term calendar. Students will see that billing is different—twice per year instead of three times per year. The university offers several payment options.

No. Your financial aid eligibility will not change as a result of JWU transitioning to a semester system, but financial aid will only be disbursed twice per year instead of three times per year. 

NOTE: Your enrollment status, being full time or less, is one factor in determining your eligibility for financial aid.

Undergraduate students (starting fall 2020): Students enrolled in a minimum of four 3.0 credit courses, or 12 semester credits, may qualify for full-time financial aid. Students enrolled at least half-time may qualify for financial aid at a reduced rate depending on eligibility (cost and need).

Graduate students (as of fall 2018): Students enrolled in a minimum of three 3.0 credit courses, or 9 semester credits, may qualify for full-time financial aid. Students enrolled at least half-time may qualify for financial aid at a reduced rate depending on eligibility (cost and need).

What is SHARP?
The Special Honors and Rewards Program (SHARP) is designed to allow qualifying undergraduate day program students to accelerate the completion of their degree requirements in less than the normally prescribed time.

New SHARP Standards
As of fall 2020, students who have a GPA of 3.60 or higher will be able to register for up to 21 semester credits with no additional tuition fees.* SHARP eligibility is determined after the completion of each semester (no application is required).

Students currently in the SHARP program as of spring 2020 (under the term calendar) will be permitted to register for up to 21.0 credits for fall semester 2020. Thereafter, all students will fall under the new SHARP standards at the completion of the fall 2020 semester.

For questions about SHARP standards, students should speak with their SAS academic counselor.

This program does not apply to continuing education and online students.

Starting with the fall 2020 semester, full-time undergraduate students who demonstrate academic excellence by achieving a term grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.50 while also earning a minimum of 12 or more credit hours, receive dean’s list commendation.

Eligible undergraduate degree candidates receive cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude recognition according to their GPA.

Students graduating by May 2021 are eligible to receive Latin honors as follows: cum laude, 3.40–3.60; magna cum laude, 3.61–3.80; and summa cum laude, 3.81–4.00

Students who complete their degree requirements in the fall semester of 2021 or after receive Latin honors at graduation as follows: cum laude, 3.50–3.69; magna cum laude, 3.70–3.89; and summa cum laude, 3.90–4.00.

No. Your credits will be converted to the equivalent number of semester credits. (4.5 quarter credits = 3.0 semester credits)

Students registered for 12 to 18 semester credits will be considered full-time.

For timely completion of a bachelor’s degree program (four years), the average course load per semester for undergraduate students is 15 semester credits (5 courses). A minimum of 120 semester credits is required to complete a bachelor’s degree.

Requests to enroll in more than 18 credit hours must be approved by the college dean. If approved, students will be charged for each semester credit over 18. Permission will not be granted to enroll in more than 21 credits in a semester.

See "Honors Programs" FAQs above to learn more about SHARP. 

The conversion of credits for all course work completed at the undergraduate level and for the master’s level education programs will occur after summer 2020 classes have ended.

All courses on an academic transcript will reflect semester credits regardless of when those courses were completed. The conversion of credits will be noted in the legend of the official transcript. 

The standards to determine eligibility for transfer credit will be the same as current protocol at JWU: 1) coursework taken at an approved institution; 2) the course must be similar in level and content; and 3) student must have a grade of C or higher for an undergraduate course; B or higher for a master’s level course. Learn more about our transfer credit policy in the JWU Catalog.

Changing to a semester calendar will make transferring to JWU more seamless for students, as the majority of transfer students come from the semester system.

No. Only the transcripts of students who are currently enrolled will be converted. 

How will semester credits appear on my degree audit?

For currently enrolled undergraduate and MAT/MED degree students, both degree audit requirements and earned credits are still designated as quarter credits. This will evolve within the following timeline as semester conversion takes place.

Starting with Fall semester registration; course credits will reflect semester credit (a 4.5 quarter credit course converts to a 3 semester credit course).

This will result in the audit having mixed calculations and stating that additional credits are needed.

Starting in June 2020, SAS will begin to convert audit requirements to reflect semester credits. This process will be completed by the end of August. Students’ academic history (course credits previously taken) will be converted from quarter credits to semester credits over the weekend of June 21, 2020.

The credits taken on the audit will then reflect semester credit.

Summer registration will still be in quarter credits.

Summer course credits will be converted to semesters the weekend of August 21, 2020.

Degree audits will represent earned credits, registered credits and required credits in semester credits on August 24, 2020.