For college-bound seniors, the assumption is that—after years of school and countless applications—they will enroll in college the fall after high school graduation. But for some students, the move-in date is not in the fall.
Some colleges choose to admit a number of students for the spring rather than the fall semester either because the admission board feels they are not academically ready for the rigor of the school, or simply because there is not enough room until the second semester after some students have graduated, transferred, or gone abroad.
After acceptance letters were released this spring, senior Logan Peters planned to attend UC Santa Barbara in the fall.
However, a few days after sending out her statement of intent to register (SIR), Peters received an email from UC Berkeley, offering her a spot in their freshman class for the fall semester.
Peters took time to talk with friends and family about her options and ultimately chose UC Berkeley, but by the time she decided, her spot for the fall semester had already been taken.
“I had already sent in my SIR for Santa Barbara, so I had gotten in the mindset for going there,” she said. “But then I [thought], ‘Oh my God, I have to make this decision.’ But I missed [the fall option] and then the other options were to go to London for my first semester or start in the spring.”
Peters chose to join a small group of Berkeley students who will travel to London for the first semester through a new program called “Global Edge London.” She chose the program because she did not want to miss out on the college experience
“I do get to participate in the orientation process and I am meeting people. I think it may be nice for me to get away initially because there are so many students from Redwood going to Berkeley,” she said. “I love all of them, but I think it would be good for me to get that international experience and meet new people who love traveling and are interested in the same things that I am.”
The program was established for students who are unable to travel later in college because of their major or another factor, according to Peters, who is planning to major in mathematics.
“If I get to my junior year and I am really deep in heavy mathematics classes, I may not want to leave [to study abroad], so they are saying, ‘Get it over with, leave for your first semester while you are taking General Education classes and then go deep into your subject after that,’” Peters said.
According to Peters, there was a possibility that she could be enrolled in the fall if she appealed for a spot in the beginning of the year, but she did not want to deal with the stress and uncertainty.
“I know a lot of people [from last year] who were technically enrolled in the spring, but got to go in the fall. So that was a possibility but it wasn’t a guarantee,” Peters said.
While Peters never had a “dream school,” senior Annie Williams has wanted to attend Southern Methodist University (SMU) since her freshman year.
After applying early decision and being deferred to regular decision, Williams received a letter granting her admission to SMU for the spring semester if she studies at Franklin University in Switzerland for her fall semester.
While Peters is not required to travel to London to attend Berkeley in the spring, Williams’ acceptance is conditional. She will need to pass all her credits and maintain a 2.0 GPA in Switzerland to attend SMU in the spring.
“[The program] is for people who really want to go [to SMU], but [the admissions committee] doesn’t think they are ready for first semester, and they think going to Franklin would be better for them,” Williams said. “I think it’s awesome that they want to get more kids accepted, but they just aren’t there with their grades.”
Thirty-one students from SMU were accepted and will participate in the exchange this fall, alongside students from other colleges. The application process consisted primarily of three essays, which were reviewed by administrators, according to Williams.
Williams will live in a dorm in Switzerland, while Peters will live in an apartment and study at the UC Center in London. Both girls will receive credit for the classes they take in the fall.
While Williams is able to go directly to Switzerland in the fall of 2015, Peters has to take classes over the summer to be eligible for participation.
“To take the London program, they make us take classes over the summer at Berkeley. They give you the option of moving into the dorms or not, and I want the move-in day feel, so I’m actually going and taking classes over the summer while living in the dorms,” Peters said. “Some of the classes you have to take are to prep you for London—one is a culture class.”
Peters is anticipating an exciting semester, but is anxious about some difficulties of being so far away from both her family and Berkeley in the fall.
“I don’t think I am going to be disappointed, but I do think that I may miss out on some things, like the Berkeley culture. I may have to change what I’m doing [after the first semester] to fit into Berkeley,” Peters said. “I’m going straight from living with my parents for 18 years to living on my own in a foreign country for four months.”
Williams has similar feelings about the upcoming semester.
“I wouldn’t study abroad if [it was not a conditional acceptance] because I wouldn’t want to miss anything so I’m really excited about it, and I think it will be an awesome adventure,” Williams said. “I get scared at times that I won’t be coming home for Thanksgiving and I will be living for four months without my parents and in a separate time zone.”
Current UC Berkeley student and 2014 Redwood graduate Caroline Fogarty participated in a program called “Berkeley for Spring,” run out of their UC campus this year.
The program allows for students to live in the UC Berkeley dorms while attending classes separate from the students outside the program. The students were still able to rush, join clubs and hold student IDs.
Fogarty said that there were some perks to the program, such as the fact that the class sizes were much smaller than those in the college. However, she also said there were some drawbacks.
Students in the program are unable to compete in sports for Berkeley during their first term in college and may be unable to take classes specific to their major, Fogarty said. Students within the program are also unable to to participate NCAA events within the first semester of their freshman year.
Fogarty saw that “Berkeley for Spring” allowed for better integration into the actual campus that other spring admit programs may not offer.
“I feel like it is the easiest to come in with all the other freshman, like in my dorm everybody else is a freshman, it’s just easier to be with a bigger pack,” Fogarty said.
Williams also said that a downside to her spring acceptance is that she will be starting school after friendships have already been established.
“It’s honestly going to be hard going to school and being the new person, it’s like being the new kid in high school, kind of,” Williams said.
Peters said that while she will have to start new spring semester, it won’t be as difficult as starting new in high school.
“It’s also such a big school,” Peters said. “If it was high school, it would be a different picture. Coming through second semester is a lot different than coming through half way at Berkeley.”
Williams said she is not anticipating a difficult acclimation because students at SMU do not rush into a sorority until second semester, but said that if the rush process were conducted in the fall, it would be harder. Because the majority of sororities at UC Berkeley only accept pledges in the fall, Peters is not going to rush.
Both Williams and Peters will leave the United States in August and return in December.
