I got accepted to UCB (Letters and Science) off the waitlist earlier today.
However, there seems to be some kind of condition. It says that “You have been admitted with the condition that you choose one of three specific paths to enrollment.” These three paths are listed as
Fall Program for Freshmen in San Francisco,
Global Edge - London, Madrid, Rome, or
January enrollment.
I’m not going overseas and I don’t plan to laze around at home this fall, so I basically need to know if this FPF thing is legit. Since they’re actively requiring me to do this secondary program in place of a normal enrollment, I am quite worried about its quality.
If anyone has taken FPF, what was your experience like? Is it actually rigorous? Is it worth it? What’s the level of separation from the main campus? I live on the East Coast and I really don’t want to go to California just to get marginalized by some second-rate program when my current school is fairly solid as is.
Thanks.
Hi nordicPotato, I just got accepted today as well and I’m faced with the same options as you. It’ll be great to know more about the FPF San Francisco as that looks the most promising choice of the three.
FPF is an extension program with a limited selection of courses:
http://fpf.berkeley.edu/berkeley/berkeley-courses
http://fpf.berkeley.edu/san-francisco/sf-courses
Note that the January start allows enrollment in a community college for the fall; use http://www.assist.org to determine transferability of community college courses.
http://admissions.berkeley.edu/januarystart
This is the first year Berkeley is trying FPF across the bay in San Francisco. There will be 300 students taking classes in one building.
It’s great that now Berkeley allows January enrollment to take classes at community colleges.
Decades ago, this option wasn’t available.
Same FPF crap here. Basically they just saying there’s no room for the wait listed students at Campus. Come back in January . I totally misread this FPF crap. They don’t want us there. eaither stay home or pay them money for FPF (or global edge)
I think your most important decision is whether you want to go to Cal. It sounds like you may have already decided to stay the course with your original college course. But if you really want to go to Cal, I think FPF is an excellent choice. My son was in FPF his first semester at Cal. He had all the benefits of being a Cal student. And he had the bonus of small class sizes and a tight knit cohort in FPF. He is now a junior and top CS student at Cal. The SF commute doesn’t sound ideal, but it could be quite fun if you love the city.
Sorry I know this is the wrong page but i got my offer on the 10th and I can’t find the deadline to SIR? How much time do we have before we make a decision?