<p>I was accepted to Brandeis but for the spring semester. I really don’t know much about it except that I would start in January rather than in the fall, so I’m wondering if anyone would be willing to elaborate on the difference. For instance, what is the difference in qualification between those who were accepted regular and mid year, is it better to be put on the waitlist or accepted for spring, and what do you do in the meantime while waiting to go to school? Just curious!</p>
<p>I was also accepted as a midyear and would appreciate ANY elaboration.</p>
<p>I also got accepted for the spring semester. I don’t really think there is a difference in qualifications. I just think that they want to accept more students while keeping the class size small.
Meanwhile, you can go work, travel, study, anything you want! 
And also you can still graduate with everyone who started in the fall by just studying 7 semesters.</p>
<p>A possibility my mom raised was that they put people into the spring semester who have done a decent amount of APs so that graduating in 7 semesters wouldn’t be that difficult. Not sure though as by the end of this year I will only have 5 APs…</p>
<p>Midyear students aren’t statistically any better or worse than fall students (gpas and grades are similar) Most of the college admissions staff will tell you that as a unique applicant, they thought you would be able to assimilate yourself better in the middle of the year than some of your fall counterparts.</p>
<p>From my observations it’s clear that midyear students, though arriving a semester late, are a predominant part of the Brandeis community. You have all this time to grow during the fall semester that the other students could not take advantage of and therefore you come to campus with a new outlook. </p>
<p>I’m a newly arrived midyear student and I absolutely love it. You have a whole semester to do whatever you please, you get a completely renovated dorm, and you serve as a breath of fresh air for all the fall students. </p>
<p>Yes, being a midyear and coming a semester late is sometimes hard. In order to graduate on time you might have to take extra classes, or spend a semester instead of a year abroad, but these are pretty small sacrifices. </p>
<p>Good luck on your decisions! If you have any questions, just ask.</p>
<p>Wow…thanks for your perspective. If you don’t mind my asking, how did you spend your gap semester?</p>
<p>I spent my semester working full time. I made money and definitely got a feel for the “real world” haha. Really, nothing like a full time job to make you appreciate school. </p>
<p>Everyone seems to have spent their semester differently though. Some people volunteered abroad, worked, went to school overseas, and there were others who traveled and just spent their time relaxing. Your semester is completely yours. You can choose to take classes or not take classes, regardless you have 8 semesters at Brandeis. Whether you want to graduate in 3.5 years or 4 is entirely up to you. </p>
<p>Also, for everyone who is skeptical, you should definitely come to Accepted Student’s Day. There’s a whole Q&A session that you can go to with a board of past midyear students.</p>
<p>Omg, I am so excited- guys I’ve talked to a lot of people and they say midyear is actually not bad at all and I think getting into brandeis even as a midyear is really awesome-- is anyone going for sure?</p>
<p>Thanks and congrats mukster!
And thank you very, very much tehlikeli. It’s always great to hear from current students but it was especially helpful to hear from someone who actually used this option. Your advice will certainly factor into my decision!</p>
<p>Hey kids, I’m another Brandeis Midyear weighing in.</p>
<p>I freaked out when I got the letter too, trust me. There was about a week-long period of “oh my God, why don’t they want me, where’d I screw up, why are all my friends going to graduate before me, omg omg omg!” Did I cover everything? </p>
<p>Alright. So, once I got that out of the way, I definitely started seeing the possibilities of a semester off before heading off to school. Your options are pretty much limitless–I was pretty boring (took classes at a local university to fill some requirements), but my roommate went to Michigan to work on the Obama campaign, my across-the-hall neighbor studied in Germany. It’s a really great experience to get out there on your own and do some pre-college finding-of-yourself, which makes sense out loud but looks kind of awkward when you type it.</p>
<p>One of the things that I was really worried about was not knowing people when I got to school, and ending up arriving in a place where everyone had already made friends and didn’t want any more. For this, kids, Facebook is your friend. There’s probably already a “MIDYEARS CLASS OF 2013!!! :D” group. Join it! Post some wall topics. Stress about the semester off together. Stress about roommates together. Pray the food at Sherman Dining Hall will get better together. (You’ll see what I mean when you get here.) And once you’ve done that, organize a meet-up for midyears in your area. I went to a Boston-area midyear meet-up, and I’m still good friends with every single person who went. </p>
<p>Once you get to school–don’t worry about fitting in. Yeah, you’re a little apart from the rest of the freshmen (the midyears are all housed in one dorm, rather than integrated with the rest of the class), but that’s not a big deal. They’ll be in your classes, you’ll see them at the gym, you’ll see them at meals and in the campus store. My friend group right now is mostly midyears, but it’s like a 2/3 split. The other freshman aren’t actually afraid of you, so long as you’re not afraid of them. It’s kind of like bees. :)</p>
<p>So, the midyear experience is pretty awesome. I say go for it. It’s not for everyone, but all of this year’s midyears seem to be loving it. </p>
<p>Plus, you know the only reason you’re a midyear is because you’re so awesome that the rest of the freshman class needed an entire semester to prepare for your arrival. Right?</p>
<p>Okay, somehow my previous post got kind of screwed up in its order of paragraphs. I’m having a bad day with the internet. -_-; You get the basic idea, though, yeah?</p>
<p>After receiving a mid year acceptance, our son called admissions to find out if there was any possibility that between now and September he might be moved to fall admission.</p>
<p>He was told that this is never done. He then asked if it might be possible that Mid Years would be admitted in fall if spots became open as people declined their admissions. He was told that those spots would go to wait listed students.</p>
<p>This is the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard! Why would you give these preferred fall spots to students not considered good enough to merit first round admission rather than to those already admitted for Mid Year? Why not allow Mid Years to take the fall spots and give the Mid Year spots to the wait list?</p>
<p>The University makes a big deal about Mid Year admission not being any kind of ‘second class’ status yet this treatment with regard to the wait list issue contradicts that entirely. If the Mid Year admits are truly considered to be as qualified as the fall admits, why this shabby treatment? </p>
<p>I’m extremely disappointed in my alma mater.</p>
<p>^^interesting…some of the other schools that use midyear admissions DO NOT have waitlists, so that what you proposed is likely…</p>
<p>It looks like Brandeis is using midyear admissions for other purposes; as in to fill spots they anticipate being vacated by juniors studying abroad or students transferring out…it is a way for them to guarantee a latter tuition stream while not having enough room for that stream in September…or even to fill spots vacated by seniors graduating in January…</p>
<p>midyears are handpicked because they show they will be able to acclimate quickly to the Brandeis community based on their past experiences so a student on the waitlist for fall acceptance cannot be compared to a student accepeted for spring admission. it’s like comparing apples and oranges. your s should be proud to have been accepeted to Brandeis and deemed so socially able that he’d be able to integrate quickly into Brandeis in the spring. midyears report their fall semester away provided a great experience that they wouldn’t have gotten had they been a traditional admit.</p>
<p>Nonsense.</p>
<p>They have no valid way of making that kind of judgement about students unless they have personally interviewed each one.</p>
<p>My child is exactly the opposite of what you claim is the school’s target for Mid Year admission. He does not want to delay the start of his college career and, most likely, will not attend Brandeis specifically because of this issue. He wants to start when all of his friends are starting.</p>
<p>Let’s be honest here. The real reason for this gimmick was stated by a previous poster, “…to fill spots they anticipate being vacated by juniors studying abroad or students transferring out…it is a way for them to guarantee a latter tuition stream…”</p>
<p>If Mid Year admission is such a wonderful experience, and it may be so for certain students, then let prospective students know about it upfront. Allow those students for whom this would be a welcome opportunity to choose to apply as Mid Years. Don’t spring it on unsuspecting kids and parents at the end of the process.</p>
<p>louis: in defense of Brandeis (and I have absolutely no connection to the school), many schools do the spring admit without any notification upfront (other than heresay on CC)…</p>
<p>Oh…I know that now, after we received the acceptance letter I saw that there are quite a few schools that do this.</p>
<p>My point is they should at least make students aware, upfront, that this is a possibility! Nowhere on the Brandeis application does it mention that there is a possibility that the student may be offered admission at mid year. I don’t believe it is even mentioned on the website at all or , if it is, it is in a quite obscure manner.</p>
<p>My first reaction to the mid-year thing was pretty negative too, but…I had a couple of experiences that changed my mind.</p>
<p>First of all, you can take the opportunity to get 2 required classes out of the way over the summer and get to know the campus at the same time. Also, some students transfer in for Spring semester and some return after travel or illness or internships, so there really is a sizable group of people starting together. It is also an opportunity to earn and save some money. </p>
<p>I guess it really depends on what your other choices are and where a mid-year acceptance stands in comparison to the other choices.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>