I applied to FSU early decision for fall semester and was deferred. Found out today that I am accepted but the spring semester in January. Did this happen to anyone else? Why did this happen? What are the pros and cons of starting college as freshmen in spring, not fall?
wow, I didn’t even know starting in the spring semester was a possibility. I was admitted to the summer term after being deferred. (Which is kind of hectic, only because I live in NY and all this planning is difficult and feels so last minute! So exciting though) FSU was always my top school though, so even with all the changes, I’m still going. Does anyone know the difference between the students admitted for summer vs. spring, that originally applied for fall? @nmarfatia
Spring and summer admits are enrollment tools for colleges. USC and Northeastern use it a lot. I would contact currently enrolled spring admits for their experience.
This also happened to me , I will be attending FSU the next spring semester. I got deferred too from the early decision. I’m thinking it had to do with my gpa/class rank/test scores not making the cut for their freshman fall admittance. I’m just gonna take community college in the fall and then just make the transition to fsu. cons for me will probably be missing football season, and also it might be a lil bit harder to make friends with people than in the fall. I’m excited that I got in though! 
Spring admission is typically for enrollment management – there would otherwise be more students enrolled in the fall than the spring due to early or late graduations.
I didn’t know FSU had started to do spring admission. I wonder if it’s an attempt at raising it’s freshman stats (which only use Fall Admits), since FSU doesn’t normally have much more capacity (housing/classes) in the spring vs. fall. Or perhaps its a very limited program, and housing is available from those that attrit after the fall semester.
@butterflyx Is FSU offering housing or will you have to get an off-campus apartment? Taking classes at a local CC is a great idea, but make sure you get approval from FSU (talk with your advisor). Another popular option is travel abroad (via the University), at schools that do spring admits. If you ever thought of doing it, that would be a perfect time.
Good Luck!
The difference in fall versus spring semester enrollment has apparently been noticed at many schools. Many of them do spring admission; some have other means of managing it (e.g. Dartmouth D-plan). University of Florida proposed a pilot program where some students could be admitted as spring/summer only students (not sure if this got anywhere):
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/09/20/florida
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100915/ARTICLES/100919606
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20110406/ARTICLES/110409677
@ucbalumnus UF put in place the Innovation Academy (IA), where students go on a Summer/spring rotation, and can’t take on-campus classes during the fall.
http://innovationacademy.ufl.edu/
When you apply to UF and you want to be considered for the program, you have to select it as an option. It’s UF’s attempt to increase enrollment over the summer. It’s had mixed results, but they continue to tweak the program. UF has made special housing accommodations for IA students, allowing them to sign up for housing in the summer and spring.
UF and FSU also have a large number of “summer” admits. These enroll for Summer B classes, and then start in the fall as normal. It’s a bit easier being admitted during the summer, than fall(only) at both schools, so it’s a popular option.
This year, UF accepted 13,667 students, of these 3,118 are in the new PaCE (online) program and 346 are in IA. I would guess that at best, 40% of the IA students enroll, so lets say about 130 students will enroll for this term. It’s not a large program.
UF’s is trying a bunch of different tactics with managing enrollment, but simple spring enrollment hasn’t been an option (yet) due to a lack of freshman housing.
FSU is very similar to UF as both recruit from the same pool of students, and have similar capacity issues, which is why I’m surprised by FSU offering spring enrollments. They must be admitting just enough to replace the expected attrition of first semester students (FSU does have a 92% freshman retention rate, so only a limit number of students are leaving that first semester). That could be a few hundred students. UF has a tendency to over-book housing the first semester, with temporary triples (mostly for late housing request by freshman), and then folks move out of the temporary triple, as other students drop out, freeing up housing.
@Gator88NE after they offered me spring admission and I accepted, they sent me an email saying that I should watch the housing and orientation pages for upcoming deadlines. I want to live on campus so I’m hoping they will have housing available. I actually am pretty sure they will. The email also said they’ll update me on spring registration dates when they approach.
FSU’s been doing spring enrollment for many years. I know of a couple people in my year that were accepted starting in the spring.
Normally it’s for those that don’t meet some form of FSU’s fall requirements. It’s to my knowledge also a small step behind summer (so it’s like 2 steps behind fall).
There’s not that many that are accepted for spring. It’s done though so that FSU can balance out those that are going to withdraw for medical reasons, be abroad, or flunk out after fall. I’m sure FSU knows roughly how many of their enrolled students are going to leave in some form, and so the spring enrollment is to counterbalance that.
@Pasbal Thanks, that makes sense…I was thinking FSU may be going the Northeastern University route, where a significant % of admits are pushed back to the Spring.
@butterflyx I’m sure, like any Freshman, FSU will have housing available. Good Luck!
Housing for spring admits is usually dependent upon how many dropouts/move-outs they have at the end of Fall. Usually you’re required to notify housing by December 1 if you’re moving out so that they can notify spring move-ins of their assignments.
It’s scary but you may not get an assignment until early January. With the Spring 2016 semester starting on Wednesday again (January 6, I think?), you could be finding out what your assignment is just a day or two before you move in. I would probably look into a couple backup plans just in case.
I’ve heard of this happening before. I myself am weary about it. My test scores will knock me out of the running for fall and would most likely propel me to spring. Still, I find it unnerving that they operate primarily on statistical lines.