The academic calendar shift’s implications on law, med schools

Graduating students wishing to pursue further studies in medical or law schools have expressed concerns over the implications of the recent academic calendar shift implemented last year. Because of the said shift, the start of classes in some medical and law schools will fall much earlier than the end of classes for DLSU.

As per the latest directive from the President’s Council, the final examinations week for term 3 of academic year (AY) 2015-2016 will be from August 22 to 27. Commencement exercises are set to happen in October. In contrast, classes in some medical and law schools are set to start as early as June or July for AY 2016-2017.

An “overlap”

For many, choosing DLSU for their undergraduate studies can be beneficial because the trimestral system employed by the University allows for an earlier graduation. For instance, the Biology and Legal Management programs (courses usually taken by students who go on to enroll in medical and law schools, respectively) can be finished in three years’ time.

“As soon as we found out about the overlap in the calendars, we were all lost,” laments James Cuevas (III, BS-LGL). “Some of [my friends] felt cheated, after [choosing] La Salle because of the one year advantage we could get from it. With this problem, we would have to wait an entire year before entering law school,” he expresses.

A third year student majoring in Biology, also graduating, who wishes to remain anonymous, shares the same sentiments. “The professors just tell us that ‘we have to deal with it,’ and that nothing can be done, that our choices will just be limited,” the student shares, pointing out that their professors only have words of encouragement and hardly any concrete solutions to offer in solving the issue.

On the other hand, students who will not be able to enroll to medical or law schools in time for the AY 2016-2017 opening of classes have also been advised to make use of their time by taking a gap year. For instance, Cuevas shares that their professors have advised their batch to use the possible gap year for gaining work experience.

Petitions, negotiations

“In behalf of the Biology department, we’re still going to talk about it with the College of Medicine in Dasmariñas,” Biology Department Vice Chair Dr. Michael Ples explains, referring to the De La Salle Health Sciences Institute (DLSHSI) in Cavite. “The administration is still doing its very best [to negotiate],” he shares.

The start of classes for DLSHSI, as projected, will fall on the first or second week of August, but even then, DLSU graduates will not be able to enroll on time. “The initial agreement [from what I know] is that students from DLSU [will] still be allowed to enroll, but [they will be asked to catch up],” Dr. Ples states. However, he describes that students have other options if ever they are not allowed to enroll in DLSHSI.

On December 10, the University Student Government (USG) circulated a petition addressing the concern of graduating students planning to enter medical or law schools for AY 2016-2017. The said petition was forwarded to the University administration, in particular to the University Registrar and the Vice Chancellor for Academics (VCA).

On January 10, the USG through its Business College Government page, released an update regarding the petition. During a meeting with the VCA, possible solutions to remedy the issue with the academic calendar were discussed.

“After discussions in the meeting, there are no concrete solutions yet as of now for those graduating by the end of this academic year. Also, the solution of possible change in our academic calendar is already too late at this point for it to happen,” the statement said. However, it was stated that the University administration is still looking for other means to address the issue.