<p>So before you all start pointing out how it says right there that "Your deferred admission is an indication of the size and rigor of our freshman applicant pool, which numbered more than 67,400 this year, rather than a reflection of your academic or personal performance," but I was just wondering how true that was. </p>
<p>I mean, obviously a significant amount of people got into the fall semester, so how did they determine who that was? Was it simply because they were prioritized since they were "better" than us, or is it by some other weird alphabetical order (which I highly doubt). It's just that this happened with USC for me too, and it's kind of a bittersweet moment. It's like you "kinda" got in. I just want to know if I'm misunderstanding it.</p>
<p>It really does not matter, the only difference between an admission in the fall semester versus an admission in the spring semester is that your admission slot is in the spring semester. If Berkeley did not want you, you would have been rejected.</p>
<p>If you choose to enter Berkeley for the spring, you have three choices for fall:</p>
<p>a. Attend a special Extension program called Fall Program for Freshmen (FPF) with a limited selection of frosh-level courses (no science lab courses). FPF students may live in the dorms in the fall, although at lower priority than regular fall admit frosh and not guaranteed.</p>
<p>b. Attend a community college in the fall. For those in California, check [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) to find transferable courses. If you are trying to cut costs, this may be a way to exchange a semester of Berkeley costs for a semester of cheaper community college costs.</p>
<p>c. Do something without attending any college in the fall.</p>
<p>In my experience, it really was a random lottery. My friends who were just as qualified were spring admits. Some of them had Ivy acceptances. </p>
<p>Don’t sweat it. For some reason which only admissions knows, you weren’t admitted fall. If you love Berkeley, attend. It’s an amazing place. Being admitted spring has little-to-one bearing on your academic merit.</p>
<p>Yes, if you were admitted for the spring semester, you were probably one of the “weaker” candiates admitted (“borderline”, if you like). Only once they fill the fall semester spots with sufficiently strong candidates do they move on to filling the spring semester spots.</p>
<p>(This doesn’t mean it actually matters whether you were a fall or spring admit after the first couple of semesters, though. Nobody really cares.)</p>
<p>Sigh, that’s a bit disappointing, but at least I got in! Plus, like you all said it doesn’t matter after the first couple semesters anyway. Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>Take it from a former transfer student and proud Cal grad, it doesn’t matter…the end result is the same, a Berkeley degree. Congrats on your acceptance and welcome to Cal!</p>
<p>I was accepted as a spring admit last year and I ended up going to Berkeley even over fall acceptances from similarly prestigious schools. Honestly, now that I am at Berkeley, I realize that it is incredibly random who ends being a spring admit. You are not any less intelligent than fall admits and also, once you get to Berkeley, you will realize there are many more spring admits than you expected. That’s what happened to me at least and they are all so brilliant. If you have any questions, just message me.</p>
<p>Engineering spring admits need to be careful about schedule planning if they are considering FPF, since FPF does not typically offer lab science courses (i.e. Physics 7A, Chemistry 1A, Chemistry 4A), math higher than Math 1B, engineering courses (e.g. E 7, E 10, E 28), or CS courses (e.g. CS 61A, CS 70).</p>
<p>An engineering spring admit in FPF would likely only be able to take Math 1A or 1B, English/Rhetoric R1A/R1B, and two (or three if already past Math 1B in math) H/SS breadth courses. EECS majors may apply Molecular and Cell Biology 32 to their major’s science requirement.</p>
<p>I had this experience last year when I was admitted for Spring 2013. I went to a Cal info session and they said something along the lines of “spring admitting is our sneaky way of getting around the system so we can accept more kids than we are supposed to.” I was kind of appalled at my spring acceptance though, since some classmates who didn’t seem like Berk material got in Fall 2012. So I figure it might be a lottery rather than the on-the-fence students getting Spring. I registered for FPF (with a waiver because I was eligible for finaid) but ended up not going and choosing USC over Cal.</p>