It is Ed Ruch's ninth semester at Hopkins this fall, and he's ready to kick back and take it easy. "This semester has been really easy compared with the others," said Ruch of his course load. "I'm only taking seven classes."
Like the 29 other students working toward a double-degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music and either the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences or the Whiting School of Engineering, Ruch is at the center of a scheduling clash between Peabody and Homewood undergraduate programs.
"They all want to finish in five years," Homewood Campus Associate Registrar Betsy Paul, who registers all the double-degree students, said. "So most of them take 20 to 30 credits a semester."
Both double-degree students and music minors have expressed discontentment over scheduling constraints between Peabody and Homewood.
According to some students, scheduling credit hours is made difficult by the fact that Homewood and Peabody operate on two different class schedules. In addition, double-degree students cite their dependency on a shuttle bus to travel to and from classes as an academic impediment.
Classes on the Homewood campus are scheduled on a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday and Thursday-Friday schedule. Peabody courses follow a Monday-Wednesday-Friday and Tuesday-Thursday schedule.
"It doesn't work very well at all," Peabody Registrar James Dobson said. "It's very difficult to fit things together. Hopkins likes the Monday-Tuesday- Wednesday schedule, and we like [Monday-Wednesday-Friday]. It's always a struggle."
According to Dobson, the schedules are different to accommodate each school's different needs.
"[The Peabody schedule] is more regular and it's more useful for music training to have it that frequently," Dobson said. "Things like theory classes and foreign language classes like to meet on that basis."
On the other hand, Hopkins' schedule caters to its research focus.
"I've always heard anecdotally that research faculty like to teach Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and dedicate the rest of the week to other projects," said Dobson.
Ruch expressed frustration about the overlapping courses at both institutions, but saw little potential for change.
"I don't see how they could change both schedules just to help the double-degree kids," Ruch said. "I mean, they're such a minority."
Despite the low number of double-degree students - currently, three members of the freshman class plan to pursue majors at two schools, out of a university-wide total of 30 - administrators at Peabody worry that the Homewood campus is failing to recognize a growing need.
According to Dobson, attempts to convert both campuses to one schedule "have failed miserably because the Hopkins faculty always says no. They've dug their heels in on this issue."
Peabody Associate Dean of Student Affairs Emily Frank added that the Homewood campus has gone against recommendations to change its scheduling policies.
"I can tell you that over my 21-plus years at Hopkins, every committee - three at least, the most recent being [the Commission on Undergraduate Education] - that has studied this issue has recommended a change to the Homewood schedule to the more typical [Monday-Wednesday-Friday] format," said Peabody Associate Dean of Student Affairs Emily Frank.
"But... the recommendation gets voted down at Homewood - the resistance, reportedly, has been from the faculty and students," said Frank. "After one such experience, Peabody seriously looked at whether it could change to the Homewood schedule, but from a pedagogic standpoint we couldn't justify the change."
The problem, according to Dobson, is not only one of convenience for students studying at both campuses, but an issue of the University's image as well.
"Anytime we get a site visit from an accreditation team coming to accredit Hopkins, they ask why is this not consistent, why we have two different schedules for schools that are part of the same university," Dobson said.
As a result of the schedule conflicts, many students take classes out of sequence or supplant a preferred course with one that fits a schedule.
"I only had one class that I couldn't fit, but it doesn't really matter," freshman Peabody-Whiting double-degree student Andrew Burgess said of the Keyboarding Skills class he had to leave out of his 28-credit schedule.
"Students have to sacrifice more desirable courses for courses that 'fit' their schedules," Frank said.
Due to the difficulties they face in scheduling all of their courses, many double-degree and cross-registered students have become masters at juggling their time.
Burgess enrolled in two different sections of the same class to fit his schedule.
"I've taken classes where I'd have to leave in the middle of one class to get to another," said Ruch.
Students without cars also complained about having to rely on the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute shuttle to get from Homewood to Peabody.
