<p>Much to my mistaken elation on Thursday afternoon, I realized that I had been deferred, not admitted to Berkeley. I have a few questions to clear up:
1) What are the disadvantages to starting in the spring semester? I know there are definitely many, like not guaranteed to housing, probably second choice in class scheduling...ect. But I would like to get a full picture</p>
<p>2) Do all the UC colleges communicate with each other? I got accepted to UCLA, San Diego, Irvine, and Davis. Is there a possibility the Cal is deferring me because they think I'd rather go to another UC campus?</p>
<p>3) How good/bad is berkeley's biology major(s) compared to that of UCLA's and San Diego's (not related to initial question). </p>
<p>4) Has anyone been deferred? What did you guys do about it? Has anyone been deferred (not only to Cal, but other schools as well), and still attended the school?</p>
<p>Thank you for any comments. I am trying to sort out my options and get my facts straight.</p>
<p>1) What are the disadvantages to starting in the spring semester? I know there are definitely many, like not guaranteed to housing, probably second choice in class scheduling...ect. But I would like to get a full picture</p>
<p>It means you start in spring. You are the same as everyone else. Except you start in the spring. Unless you do FPF, in which case, although you are not gaurunteed housing, you have a very good chance at getting housing.</p>
<p>2) Do all the UC colleges communicate with each other? I got accepted to UCLA, San Diego, Irvine, and Davis. Is there a possibility the Cal is deferring me because they think I'd rather go to another UC campus?</p>
<p>I don't think they'd do that. Seriously, why would Berkeley think you would go to any other college IF YOU GOT INTO berkeley? Spring admit simply means you were on the borderline. Count yourself lucky that you got in. </p>
<p>4) Has anyone been deferred? What did you guys do about it? Has anyone been deferred (not only to Cal, but other schools as well), and still attended the school?</p>
<p>You have three options. Do nothing (fun! But itll be hard to adjust), go to a CC and transfer credits in the spring (you'll get in as long as you maintain a 3.0), do the FPF (you live in Berkeley, take classes in Berkeley with mostly Berkeley profs, you get a Berkeley grade). If you do the CC or FPF route, you'll graduate like everyone else and come spring, NO ONE WILL KNOW YOU WERE SPRING ADMIT. You aren't a second class student. You just happen to start one semester later.</p>
<p>Yeah, last year and (I think) this year, about half the people who get in from my school are spring admits. It's nothing to be ashamed of, nor is it a type of 'deferral.' You're admitted. Just one semester later.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The only thing I can think of, besides what mofmog has said, is that if you go the FPF route, you have a more limited selection of classes, and you can't take a science your first semester. However, the advantage of doing FPF is great MUCH smaller class size (this is from memory, but I believe the classes are 30-90 people large? correct me if I'm wrong; at any rate, WAAAY smaller than regular Cal classes), and generally a more small-school environment (though you're still on Berkeley campus living in Berkeley dorms like a normal Berkeley student), that they hope will make the transition to Berkeley easier.</p></li>
<li><p>Most in-state students apply to, on average, 300 UCs. They probably invent new ones to apply to (like my local UCBC - University of California Behind Costco) just so they aren't limited to the UCs that actually exist. And while you could suspect that had Cal been a private school (I believe WashU does something similar to this?), Cal is public. They don't want to spend any more time on your application than they absolutely have to, nor do they have the resources to. Plus, with the UCs, it's really hard to tell which one you 'want' to go to unless you write your essays about how much you love UCLA or something. </p></li>
<li><p>Not a clue!</p></li>
<li><p>Again, several people from my school; one of my good friends was a Spring admit: she chose to go anyway and do FPF. She got housing, and I believe she liked the program. : )
If anything, I'd think it'd be even better than sitting in 750-person lecture halls your first semester.</p></li>
</ol>