For some, fall break means four days of study time

College sophomore Francis Udler calls her plans for this weekend "ridiculous."

"I'm going to have to study during fall break," Udler said.

Udler isn't alone. With a number of classes scheduling midterms or assigning papers due on Oct. 15, students say they will spend their "break" studying, rather than relaxing and de-stressing.

"The effect is the same as having a reading week as opposed to having a break," said Wharton sophomore Erik Buischi, who has his management midterm the day after fall break ends.

Penn does not have a policy pertaining to midterm exam schedules because it likes to give academic freedom to the professors to decide their own syllabi, said Joseph Sun, Engineering director of academic affairs.

Dean of freshman and College director of Academic Advising Janet Tighe blames the scheduling problems on the holidays.

"Fall is always complicated because there is a raft of religious holidays that hit the faculty in October and November," she said.

Although students are not going to class, they still need to be on top of things, she added.

Professors also seem to agree with her. Management professor Lori Rosenkopf accepts that although having an exam on the day after fall break is not ideal, she had no choice, as she was unable to secure a room on any other day.

"Our class is graded on a curve, so any effect of fall break on students' grades should not affect the student population at large," she wrote in an e-mail.

Folklore and Folklife professor Dana Hercbergs said it would be easier for students to perform well if they had a break to study. She plans to use the results of her Wednesday exam to decide if she will give post-break exams in the future.

Caught in between administrative rules and professors' choices are many students who had hopes to de-stress by traveling, either home or to meet friends around the country.

Udler said her friend had to cancel his plans to go to Boston when he found out he had two midterm exams on Wednesday.

Students often don't object to this exam schedule because they feel it's a tedious process.

"It won't be of any use to talk to the professors because if they wanted to give the exam on some other day, they would have," said Engineering sophomore Yash Mittal.

And some still manage to see the silver lining of that first-day-back exam.

"The good side is that it gives me more time to study," Buischi said.

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