<p>I think the whole spring admit phenom is interesting. It’s something I’d never heard of until my niece “was Januaried” at three different schools and waitlisted at two. She chose to September-attend a school that was lower on her list, but at least she had a choice. </p>
<p>I’d mentioned the spring-admit deal at the dinner table, but apparently i was talking to the wind as my son and my husband had never heard of such a thing!</p>
<p>Some of the fall programs for spring admits are pretty cool … and it’s just a different way of going to college. I know if my son gets a London for the fall offer … he’s outta here!</p>
<p>I’ll also say I am hoping one or two of my star employees that are graduating this spring from high school get one of those gap semesters and I can promote them for the fall! (Their title will change from sales associate and pet care counselor to Assistant Manager.)</p>
<p>I think a lot too much is made of the benefits of those September orientations. They seem completely out of hand, and from my perspective lots of kids seem to spend a good portion of the rest of the year separating themselves from the random “friends” they acquired the first week of school and finding the people they really want to hang out with.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that I would prefer a January admission, but I don’t think it’s so horrible.</p>
<p>As for whether colleges “let” you pay January tuition in December – my kid’s college requires it, although they don’t penalize you if the money doesn’t get there until the first week of January.</p>
<p>The son of some good friends did the Hamilton-January-admit thing, and spent Fall in London w/ other Hamilton-January-admits. They did not have college housing; they lived in flats and cooked for themselves, etc. He enjoyed it and flourished; mom and dad had a good excuse to go visit London. Went to Hamilton, did extremely well. Probably wouldn’t have been the right thing for my son, but YMMV.</p>
<p>Speaking of January admits, I just got Januaried for Mount Holyoke. I suppose it isn’t too bad, but I’m still disappointed. I think I’m going to call on Monday, and that I get a better offer from the three schools that I’m waiting on.</p>
<p>As the parent of a student who was given a January admit for USC-Annenberg two years ago, a couple of thoughts:</p>
<p>1) as an East coaster, possibly relocating to the West coast, this didn’t work…for a number of reasons…it would have been a double adjustment without the comfort of many others…we subsequently found out that alot of Jan admits who decided to take the option were California residents and a number of them were eventually offered Fall when the dust settled…</p>
<p>2) If the schools in question had programs in place for all of their January admits, they would be easier “sells” in my opinion…if USC had a program (anywhere) in place and sent the info with the admissions package, my daughter may have not thrown the whole thing inthe garbage (as she did)…in addition, these Spring admits are often not even allowed to attend accepted student days in April to decide; that, in my mind, really defeats the purpose…bad move</p>
<p>3) If any of the January admits were to “dream schools”, the first call should be made to the admissions offices to see the “chance” of being bumped to fall during summer melt…</p>
<p>4) finally, if any of the January admits are “dream schools”, do your hw; how many are january? can they all put together a trip to travel in the fall? community service?</p>
<p>I think that if this becomes as commonplace as is evidenced by this thread, colleges who want to increase the number accepting this option need to examine what it takes to “lure” these students (and their tuition dollars) in…if not, why bother with it?..this is the marketing opportunity of a lifetime IMO…</p>
<p>justmy 2c got it here first: Middlebury is well known for its February admit. I have a friend whose son started last Feb 2009 and he totally loves his school. He never felt like a second-place citizen and the school makes a big effort to assimilate the kids. Middlebury actually asks applicants on its application if they would consider a Feb admit.</p>
<p>In addition, Dartmouth has a different solution: ALL sophomores are required to go there for a summer session and then take a subsequent semester off or abroad. I assume this is to address the study-abroad / housing issue, but I don’t know.</p>
<p>The D plan is a bit more complex than that: students are supposed to be in residence fall/winter/spring terms of freshman year, sophomore summer, and fall/winter/spring terms of senior year. The rest of the terms they can be in residence, study abroad, do internships, take a classic summer vacation…whatever works. I say “supposed” to be in residence because some kids are apparently excused because it is the only time they can pursue some significant opportunity. Kids who want to study in Russia can only do so in the summer, for example, so they either have to miss the sophomore summer–which most kids look forward to–or postpone it to the summer between junior and senior year.</p>
<p>At most schools, I think that the January admits are a way of maximizing the use of the facilities, which certainly makes financial sense. In fact, more schools should look at something like the 4 quarter system, IMHO, for just that reason. And of course, it also enables the school to fit in kids whom they would like to admit but don’t have room for in the fall.</p>
<p>Skidmore starts a freshman group in London, and all students are asked whether they are interested in the London term. </p>
<p>D looked at it and decided not: for one thing it was significantly more expensive than a full semester at Skidmore even though it was three or four weeks shorter, and secondly, there were only a hand full of classes offered. </p>
<p>I don’t know whether some students are only offered London, though I did have that impression.</p>