I was recently accepted off the waitlist, but only if I do FPF San Fransisco, Global Edge, or wait until January. Has anyone had any experience with FPF? Does it still have the Berkeley feel, or is it so far removed from campus that it feels like a completely different college?
FPF is San Francisco is new - until this year, it was held in a separate location in Berkeley. You’ll be living in the dorms with all of the other students, and commuting to SF (http://fpf.berkeley.edu/housing).
I’m not really sure why FPF exists - I used to think it was to mitigate housing demand (since a few students will more out of the dorms after fall), but since you get offered fall housing, that can’t be it. Overall I think that, if you live in Unit 3 as recommended, you’ll still get a good first-semester experience.
Spring admission probably exists to balance the enrollment in the fall and spring semesters. Otherwise, fall semester will have higher enrollment than spring semester, since students who graduate a semester early or late usually have an extra fall semester.
FPF is a great program. You have all the benefits of being a Cal student. And you have small class sizes and a tight knit cohort to ease the transition to college. The commute to SF doesn’t seem ideal, but you could look at it as an adventure. I’d go for it!
FPF exists for many reasons, but mainly to limit classroom size. Berkeley has very little space left for seats in classrooms as well as space for classes.
FPF presumably exists to give spring admits some option to be at Berkeley (as opposed to attending a community college during the fall or taking a gap semester off school in the fall) without overcrowding the main campus classes.