Berkeley Fall Program for Freshemen (FPF) is Full - Now What?

FPF isn’t available any more, all filled up. I was accepted off the wait list. Does that mean I’m just more on my own more and grouped less often with other frosh? Less guidance on navigating Berkeley? Has anyone on here been through FPF? What will I be missing if I can’t get in via the FPF wait list?? “The Fall Program for Freshmen is now full. If you would like to add your name to the wait list, first submit your Statement of Intent to Register (SIR). When you are finished, click on the “Register for the Fall Program for Freshmen” link again.”

Finding most of my info http://fpf.berkeley.edu/faq. It looks like there are only 700 slots for FPF students. So it would seem that the large majority of freshmen don’t participate in FPF. The smaller classes and the better access to profs and advisors would be nice. But probably not a deal breaker. Any other insights are appreciated.

@CollegeBargain
What do you mean “the large majority of freshmen don’t participate in FPF”? It is because the large majority of freshmen start in fall as fall admits.

Here are some numbers:
“Of the students recently admitted for the spring 2016 semester, about 750 will join FPF in August, and about 200 will wait until January 2016 to begin classes on campus, according to Jarich. Global Edge will be a third option for 50 incoming UC Berkeley freshmen.”

@James111 Note:

Is it true that FPF is for students admitted for the spring semester?
Previously, yes. However, effective Fall 2015, students in the Fall Program for Freshmen have been admitted for fall and are considered fall matriculants at UC Berkeley when enrolled in FPF.

@CollegeBargain
that doesn’t mean they are regular admits - only the name has changed. What used to be called “spring admission” in previous years is now called “enrollment path admission”. Basically the same thing except for a few things like guaranteed housing.

There are off campus apartment if you miss FPF.

For January start, you may enroll in a community college in the fall. You can use http://www.assist.org to check for course equivalencies so that you can get a head start on your major and breadth requirements.

http://admissions.berkeley.edu/januarystart

@ucbalumnus Thank you - that clarifies things. Community college, or the London program still has a few spots.

They should change their wording. What is now says is “You’re admitted! Welcome to the College of Letters and Science for fall 2015” But then they go on to say your options are FPF, London or start in January 2016. They should say is:

“You’re admitted! Welcome to the College of Letters and Science for spring 2015” but here are some possible fall 2015 options for you …

Check out #13,
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/319367-ask-vicissitudes-spring-admits-faq-included.html

The Global Edge program requires the following course selections:

Summer at Berkeley: College Writing 4A and an elective from various normally offered summer courses
Fall in London: College Writing 4B, Math 1A, and two courses from History of Art 15, Political Science 2, and Theater 20U.

If your R&C placement is other than R&C A, or your math placement is other than Math 1A, then Global Edge would be a mismatch for you in terms of courses.

http://globaledge.berkeley.edu/courses

@ucbalumnus Thanks for pointing that out. I definitely place out of Math 1A and probably 1B. I intend to major i Comp Sci. The local community college looks like a good option I’d save the $$.

For L&S CS, you also need the following courses as prerequisites to declaring the major:

Math 54: may be two courses at some CCs, so don’t take just one if that is the case.
CS 61A: appears to be available only at Laney
CS 61B: some CCs have it; some CCs have a partial course that requires taking CS 47B later (probably not worth the bother)
CS 61C: appears to be available only at Diablo Valley
CS 70: does not appear to be available at CCs

In addition, at least one of EE 16A, 20, 40, or 42 is needed for graduation in L&S CS; a few CCs may have a course equivalent to EE 40 or 42.

You can preview the Berkeley courses at http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/classes-eecs.html .

You can also take courses equivalent to English R1A or R1B if you need them, or courses fulfilling the L&S breadth categories described at http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirement/7breadth.html .

See http://www.assist.org to find the course equivalencies.