I was thinking of starting spring semester but what are the pros and cons? And would my general academic classes be smaller? In my state college one person said that there’s sometimes about hundreds of students in a class, so yeah? Anyway is a good idea? And does applying for spring give better chances of getting accepted?
Probably going to vary by school – got specifics?
Chances of smaller classes are minimal. At state schools many freshman classes have up to 700 students. there may also be less financial aid and no merit aid for spring admits.
I’d start in the fall if at all possible.
Leases in most college towns run in conjunction with a fall start and last one year. So find housing can be more difficult.
Most of the students are starting in the fall and making friends when no one really knows anyone else is easier.
For many majors, the best way is to belong to a study group (whether formal or informal) and being on the same track with others taking the exact same classes is important.
With fewer students starting in the spring, fewer classes may be available, negating your ideas about class size.
Some schools only admit new students in the fall.
I can’t think of any real positives for starting in the spring.
The only positives would be for special situations like:
a. Student wants to take a gap semester between high school and college.
b. After spring admission, the college allows the student to take courses at a community college without losing frosh status, so the student can get one semester of college done at lower cost.
For most frosh, starting in the fall is more advantageous.
Another reason to start in spring is if you can get into a more prestigious college than you would otherwise. Sometime colleges have freshman start in the spring so they can fill in for students who drop out but also those students are not counted in the SAT scores of the incoming fall class.
If you possibly can, start in the fall. The orientation and friend making are the best in the fall.