So, school starts on August 27. I’m a freshman, and I have all of my classes ready to go, only a few things to do and it’s just about waiting. The dilemma i am facing is that i have 1- A cruise, which will take up 3 days and stop me from going to 4 classes, and a trip to Florida, which will take up my whole week (6 Classes). Should i wait to start college in the Spring semester, or just go this semester, but most likely cut out the family vacation to Florida? I really don’t know what to do, because i REALLY want to start now, because i feel like i can’t trust myself to have the same enthusiasm after all those months of basically doing nothing with my time. Thanks and hopefully some people have some tips!
Go to college. If you have time on breaks and it works out, go on vacation then. Do not delay starting college for this. Your job is being a student, so go to class and skip the vacations.
Why did anyone plan vacations and expect you to go during your college semester? Don’t let whoever thought that was a good idea derail your education.
Skip the trips and start college on time.
I agree. Start school with all the other freshmen. Make friends at the same time, find your way around campus at the same time.
Whoever planned these two trips at the very end of August wasn’t thinking straight when it comes to your education. Even up here in NY, when schools start fairly late compared to the rest of the country, those dates are too late to consider for anyone attending school.
I agree with the others. Start your Freshman year in the fall with all of the other Freshman students. Skip the vacations. It seems crazy to me that anyone would expect you to miss that much class time, especially at the very start of your college career.
Just to play devil’s advocate, maybe his family thought he was going to a school with a quarter system. Flights and vacation spots do get cheaper after the kiddies go back to school.
If these are family trips your parents do not seem to be concerned about your college experience. Show your parents this thread.
If you planned these trips at the start of school then you need to reconsider your priorities.
The simple and obvious solution is to skip the vacations. School takes precedent.
Whoever planned these vacations was not thinking very well.
I’m surprised there is even a decision to make here. You aren’t in 2nd grade when missing a few days of school isn’t a big deal. This is college - the transition time into adulthood and the start of your career path. Assuming that these vacations are all happening right at the beginning of OP’s school year, the only way I give whoever planned these trips a pass is that everyone involved truly thought OP was going to a quarter-system school and things changed. Otherwise, someone is not prioritizing very well.
If your serious about college you need to skip the cruise as well as family trip to Florida. There are professors who lower grades and/or fail a student for absences and if your talking about starting late in the semester you could be withdrawn from the class just for missing the first week. Sometimes it isn’t fun to miss out on vacations but school should be the priority.
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This. And you won’t know each profs policies until the first day- when you also get the syllabus, etc. One of my collegekids had a class in which 3 (unexcused) absences = fail (and vacations are not an excused absence). Many classes will lower your grade a full letter grade for as few as 2 absences. And of course, there is the volume of work you will have to make up- and college typically goes a lot faster than HS.
As for starting a semester late- for a 2 week holiday? for college, there is something about being there at the beginning socially, when everybody is equally new and equally lost and trying to find their way together.
I agree with all the posters above – the beginning of the year is the best time to make friends and where you will have the most guidance. It is when most students will be finding themselves socially. You will feel silly later on in a couple months if you miss all that and may even have to graduate a semester later than everyone else. It is not worth it. We are talking maybe 2 weeks of vacation time, derailing your entire college education and experience.
There is still a chance you might be able to go on one of those if it happens to be close to breaks, but it will really depend on the difficulty of your classes and the schedule your professors have put in place – something that you won’t know until you start school. You won’t feel productive if you are at home all that time, and your parents might be looking at you asking “what are you doing” while everyone is at school.
Basically, like everyone else said go to college. There will be other vacations, just make sure you communicate with your parents so they can plan better. You will look back on this later and think its a silly, no-brainer decision.
Colleges have prescheduled breaks, they don’t work around you family’s vacation schedule. It would be a big mistake to miss fall term. At certain schools or even with certain professors you will see kids with a stomach bug puking in a trash can during an exam because an absence is means a zero on the exam. In terms of social life you will miss the friendship bonding and be bored out of your mind. You will have a better time at school than on the cruise.
Skip the vacation and let your family know that if they would like to go on family vacations, it needs to be during the summer, winter break or spring break.
Like everyone says, it is very beneficial to start in the fall with the majority of new students as that is how it is easiest to make friends.
Also there are some classes that are only offered during one semester, such as introductory courses to biology/chemistry/etc while more advanced courses are being offered second semester. If you miss the first semester, you may find your self having difficulty getting the classes you want/the opportunity to explore those classes and may affect your ability to graduate on time.
OP has not been back since June 23rd.
I have a slightly different perspective.
I agree that you should begin the semester like you planned. But I actually don’t think missing a few classes during the semester is the end of the world, especially if you know in advance and can obtain the work ahead of time. I mean…that wouldn’t be ideal during your first semester.
I’d choose one of the trips to go on, and honestly, I’d probably choose the cruise. Most professors have absences policies that allow you a few unexcused absences in the semester for such things as this. If you do decide to go, the way to handle it is go to your professor ~1-2 weeks in advance, let them know, and do what you need to do to go. If a paper is due, turn it in early; if there’s an exam, you may have to skip the vacation but you can ask to take it early; make friends with someone and get the notes from them, etc.
True story: I began my first semester of graduate school in 2008, when Barack Obama was running against John McCain. My university hosted an event in which both Obama and McCain came to campus and talked about community service (a passion of mine) and a lot other issues. The event was in late September, and it coincided with my first or second session of my epidemiology class, a required course for my degree. I was really torn, and I mentioned it to one of my professors, who said “Are you nuts? Go to the event! You’ll have a ton of epidemiology classes, but this is once in a lifetime!” I did, it was awesome, and I did great in that epi class 
Thanks for all the answers - I’ve made my decision I’m going to skip the vacations.
A mature choice. Hope you have a wonderful college expereince.
That’s great, I’m sure that you will have many more vacations to come. And when you get to college you will be able to make new friends that you might be able to go on road trips or visit during breaks. It’s full of possibilities.