For the first time during their time at Notre Dame, many students will begin sitting for final exams this Saturday, Dec. 14, due to a schedule change announced Aug. 12 in preparation for the possibility that Notre Dame could host a college football playoff game.
Instead of the typical Tuesday through Friday schedule, finals will take place Saturday, and Monday through Thursday, with reading days on Friday and Sunday.
According to assistant vice president and University registrar Chuck Hurley, the decision to adjust the finals schedule was made “because we had to try to help our students.”
Hurley shared that the administration decided to be proactive even as they were unsure whether the playoff game would take place Friday or Saturday or if the team would make the playoffs at all. The final decision, based upon Notre Dame’s high pre-season ranking, aimed to inform students and parents of the finals schedule well in advance so they could plan accordingly.
He cited accommodating students who might choose to go home rather than stay for the playoff game as another reason to make the change.
“In order to make those end of semester plans, it just seemed fair to make the adjustment as early as possible so that families and faculty students can make those plans,” he said.
Freshman Faustine Errecade shared that she’s grateful the adjusted schedule will enable her to travel home early to France. The early change meant she could purchase these tickets far in advance.
Hurley also noted the difficulty for students and faculty to focus on exams in a game day environment.
“Just trying to put those two things together in your head and say game day and final exams … how would that marry up? It just wasn’t going to work for anybody,” he said.
Notre Dame freshman Kara Gallagher said she does not believe the trade off was worth it. She said her Applied Calculus II exam on Saturday will likely be her hardest exam and wished she had more time to dedicate to studying for it.
“People say that it’s good to get it out of the way, and I understand why they changed the schedule, but I know my grade would be better if I had more time to study,” she said.
On the alternative solution of having a final on a game day, Gallagher said, “I feel like the environment would make me excited, and the game would be something to look forward to, but I would still be able to focus on my finals if they were on Friday morning.”
Errecade disagreed, saying she would “absolutely not” be able to focus on a game day. She believes Notre Dame made the best move for students by rearranging the schedule.
Hurley noted that consideration of student athletes was part of the decision, as football players with Friday finals would also have a game that same day, but emphasized that the overwhelming concern was for all students and faculty.
Notre Dame freshman quarterback CJ Carr wrote in an email that football students were able to reschedule exams which conflicted with their football schedules. Nonetheless, he noted the struggle balancing his football and academic pursuits during finals season.
“I think we are in a difficult situation because we want to do well with our academics but at the same time we are playing in the biggest game of our season and we want to represent Notre Dame in the correct way. This is the first year that this problem has come up … I hope we can get through finals, and also be able to play well,” Carr wrote.
Hurley shared that a number of factors went into choosing which exams would take place on Saturday. Larger classes and sections were chosen so that the changes “would create a nice buffer for a healthy set of students, where they’ll have a reading day on Friday, exam on Saturday,” then another reading day on Sunday.
He said he believes that having Saturday finals will be beneficial to students due to the break it creates between reading days, allowing students to better separate which exams they’ll be studying for and when. He expects finals week to run similar to those in the past, with typical quiet hours in the dorms and a continuation of “the best practices that we’ve developed over the years.”
Hurley said he had received generally positive feedback on the schedule change.
“I don’t think it will surprise anybody that students said they were happy to not have final exams on a game day,” he said. He noted that faculty would have an additional day to grade exams with the changes.
Saint Mary’s did not make the decision to adjust their finals schedule with the playoff game in mind. Finals will take place between 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Friday at SMC.
According to the Indiana University Office of the Registrar webpage, Indiana’s exam schedule will remain the same, with finals beginning on Monday and continuing through Friday. The latest listed time slot on their webpage is on Friday from 7:40 p.m. to 9:40 p.m.
Indiana did, however, make the decision to move their winter commencement ceremonies to earlier in the morning at 9 a.m. and noon “so students graduating this December will have the opportunity to attend the IU football team’s historic appearance in the College Football Playoff,” according a statement made by Mark Bode, IU’s executive director of media relations.
Penn State University’s academic calendar lists finals as happening from Monday until Friday, but their home playoff game does not take place until 12 p.m. on Saturday.
The other schools with teams participating in the first round, including University of Tennessee at Knoxville, The Ohio State University, Clemson University, The University of Texas at Austin and Southern Methodist University will all be done with finals before the first CFP round.
