Can anyone help me with whether or not I should go to London for FYE? Is it just because it sounds cool or it is really practically good?
IMHO, its a marketing tool in order to open up enough beds for freshman coming in. Because most students do their study abroad during the spring semesters, they offer FYE in the fall. It is probably a good way to bond with a small group of students but more difficult to integrate into the large student body when you get back. If you make friends easily, it shouldn’t be an issue and I might consider it a good option. If you are more introverted, it might be difficult to break through the cliques that will inevitably be formed during the first semester.
My daughter is at Skidmore and knows quite a few “London” kids. They all say it was amazing experience. When I told her that her brother was accepted for the London FYE, she practically insisted he do it because she had heard such great things, and was impressed that he had gotten in to the program. After he spoke to one her friends who had done London FYE, he put in his deposit right away.
Her impression is that it is more selective than a general acceptance, but since all London accepts can choose to go or to stay in Saratoga, it is really what feels right to the individual.
This may not be the case at Skidmore but freshman first-semester starts at foreign schools are one way that a school can keep it’s freshman statistics high for USN&WR purposes, as the students officially start on campus is in the spring. See page three of this article: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/article/2014/08/26/how-northeastern-gamed-the-college-rankings/
This is not the case for Skidmore. The London kids are not a separate data point. They get accepted, and choose whether or not to accept the London experience. They are included in the number of acceptances for fall.