Through some research I’ve found that FSU’s journalism school only accepts 40 students every semester into their program, and most people don’t apply/get accepted until their second year in college. I’m assuming this is due to credits but I’m taking pre-college classes to achieve 18 credits during high school so could I apply to their school during my “freshman” year because I will be considered a sophomore? Also does anyone know why they do this? Is it just an extremely competitive program or just a small program so they can’t accept as many students? Last question; if I get accepted and attend FSU’s summer session as a freshman, how long do I have to wait until I can transfer to their fall sessions; one semester or one full academic year? Thank you!
So the whole “accepted” thing is FSU-wide. You aren’t formally admitted to any major (non-limited access or limited access) until you have a certain number of credit hours complete. For a lot of majors it’s in the 52-58 credit hour range. For limited access or majors that you have to formally apply to, there’s of course the additional component of the application. So technically, yes, if you meet the credit hour threshold after your first year, you could apply to the program. The reason there are limited access programs in general is due to their popularity relative to the number of students that the program can hold.
If you attend FSU as a summer starting freshman, you continue on in the following Fall semester, you don’t miss any semesters. The summer admission just gives you the 6-week headstart on all the fall admitees.
I do want to point out one important point though: FSU doesn’t have a true journalism program. They offer similar programs but none of them are a true Journalism major. FAMU has an amazing journalism major, though (which is why FSU doesn’t offer journalism). The programs at FSU are still pretty good but they aren’t your regular J-school.