<p>General question.. what is the rational behind offering a student this option?
If the school accepts say 4800 students and expects to enroll say 12-1300
what is the role of accepting another 30-50 for January? What makes these 30-50
students "different' from the 1000 that are waitlisted? Why are these students not qualified
for Fall admission but deemed acceptable for Spring admission?
Is it housing related?
Is it space related?
Is it "accepted students stats" related?
Does it allow the school to fill slots secondary to anticipated attrition?
Is it reserved for academically " weaker"students and if so, how does
taking a gap semester or going to a local school or Arezzo make that
student suddenly more qualified?
Accepted to WPI, Penn State and Purdue for Engineering and I was wondering if
it might not be better just to start in with Physics,CS, and Math classes right in the fall
Any thoughts or opinions are welcome.</p>
<p>January admission is a housing space available issue. Two things drive this: 1) from past cycles UR knows that certain number of freshmen won’t return for second semester; 2) UR housing also knows how many upperclassmen will be gone from campus second semester (study abroad, internships)–thus UR offers January admission to a small group of students. I don’t know how January admission students are selected. I suspect these are fully qualified students who would otherwise be waitlisted but have no proof. </p>
<p>January admits have their own on-campus orientation before classes start in January and the school makes great efforts to integrate them into campus life.</p>
<p>If you are an engineering major, starting in January may be problematic since the engineering curriculum is fairly lockstep and starting a semester late may make it harder to get on track for graduating on time. Of course, if you will be taking classes elsewhere (make sure to get permission first. IIRC, some colleges prohibit Jan admits from taking coursework elsewhere) or have a substantial number of AP/IB credits, this may not be an issue.</p>