<p>Hi guys, this is my first thread so please be gentle!</p>
<p>I was accepted to American University’s spring semester and offered the option of attending the Washington Mentorship Program in the fall. I’m heavily considering AU as an option because I really like the school and it was originally my top choice but I don’t know how I feel about starting in the spring semester. My original plan was to take a gap year and defer from school until fall 2015 - do you think it’s possible for me to defer from the spring semester until then? Or are spring admission students strictly confined to entering the school in the spring?</p>
<p>@elfstanboffin - I don’t think anyone here can really answer that considering your case is special based on what you want to do, but I would suggest you ask AU Admissions or the WMP program. Also, don’t think of the WMP program as a spring admission because you’d still be on track to graduate in 4 years. I suggest you think of it as a program and take advantage of its opportunities. </p>
<p>The lack of any financial aid or scholarships makes the WMP much less of an opportunity for many. I find the whole program a bit puzzling. If these students are qualified to graduate in four years and are expected to do so, why put them in a costly special program for a semester and deem them spring admits? I’d love to hear AU’s justification for the WMP.</p>
<p>My kid is finishing frosh year at AU and has loved it and thrived. S/he was in the WMP and all the questions you have s/he had and we the parents also had. In retrospect, s/he says WMP helped her transition, and the internship s/he had as frosh gave her lots of confidence. It has been amazing to watch him/her thrive academically and grow up, certainly as compared to people s/he knew from high school who were not in WMP. The biggest obvious downside is the cost (lack of fin aid). If you put aside the odd feelings about why was I admitted to this program/AU being a bit mysterious about that, and the cost, the program itself was really quite good. It worked well for him/her (I have been coy on kid gender in case s/he might read this and want to murder me). But, I know how you parents are feeling and just want to say the actual program was great in our experience and those odd feelings my kid had are vague memories at best now.</p>
<p>Pretty sure you can defer for a year and enter in fall 2015. They’ll keep your spot, but you’ll still have to talk with the counselors at AU about this. </p>
<p>I’m jumping in a bit late here to the site, but I’m joining in the spring at AU! I love the campus there and I couldn’t pass it up. So I’ve decided to take some summer courses so I’m not entirely lost when I get back and if you want to differ it it’s fine but plenty of people leave halfway through so it’s not like you’ll be stuck in a dorm with 4 people…</p>