I graduated high school early in December of 2014. Right now I am taking a gap year to save money, visit family, etc. I’ll be ready to attend college/university in January of 2016 as a freshman student. How can I apply to colleges to start in their second semester? Is there anything special I need to do?
In that case, it wouldn’t be the second semester for you. It would be the first semester of Spring term (yup, Spring starts early in college). You just need to apply for Spring.
Maybe you should explain the reason for taking a gap year off in the application essay.