UC Berkeley First Year Pathways: Traditional vs. Global Edge vs. FPF?

I couldn’t find a discussion with exactly this topic: my daughter just got her acceptance letter with invitation to interview for Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholarship (hurray!). Anyway, if she decides to enroll, she’ll need to choose her “pathway”. The First Year Pathways gives new students three choices:

  • Traditional (start in fall)
  • Global Edge (summer classes in Berkeley, fall in UC London, spring in Berkeley traditional)
  • Fall Program for Freshman or FPF (Berkeley or SF), whatever that is - I can’t reach the details page.

In other discussion threads, I see people saying they received letters only for the last two, implying they were not admitted for fall but were given a chance to accept an option for delayed admission. Is that basically what Global Edge and FPF are? Options to delay starting traditional coursework? Is Global Edge essentially a Berkeley Study Abroad program? Since my daughter is already in a gap year, she will not want to delay starting any further, so I assume she’ll choose “Traditional”. But I wanted to see if she would be losing out on a valuable experience. Thanks in advance.

Global Edge is basically study abroad for first semester. FPF is basically taking breadths or other basic classes for first semester on an off campus location – not enough room to accompany Spring admits; many complaints about the latter on Reddit. I’d recommend just going with traditional, though if your daughter wants a good transition to college, tell her to sign up for seminars and decals.

Global Edge (study abroad in fall) and Fall Program for Freshmen exist mainly for spring admits; spring admission exists because otherwise fall is more heavily enrolled than spring (due to some students graduating one semester early or late). Spring admits also have the options of taking courses at a community college in the fall or taking a gap semester off school. It looks like they are now giving fall admits the option to start in the spring, according to http://admissions.berkeley.edu/januarystart .

FPF is disadvantageous in that the selection of courses is much more limited than for traditional fall start students (particularly for more advanced students who will take higher level courses from the beginning, or students who want to take lab science or CS courses). The classes are smaller, but not necessarily that small. FPF costs $2,000 more than a traditional fall semester.

GE would be for those who want to study abroad first semester, but course selection is quite limited for both summer at Berkeley and fall in the abroad location. For example, those going to London must take College Writing 4A and 4B (losing any AP English credit), Philosophy 2, and a choice of 3 electives out of 4 offered. See http://globaledge.berkeley.edu/locations/london . The GE London program is substantially more expensive than a traditional fall semester.

One of Ds roommates two years ago accepted FPF. I’m not sure about her classses, but she lived in the dorm with fall start students, joined a sorority, and participated in all the activities a fall start would.

Thanks, everyone. Looks like traditional is the safest way to go, and it makes the most sense for someone who is chomping at the bit after a gap year.

My daughter met someone this spring who was admitted under the FPF program. Had to take classes in SF. Hated it. If it’s the only way to get into Cal, you do what you have to do. If your daughter is an RCS candidate, not only do they want her there in the fall, SHE is going to want to be there in the fall.

Received the letter with the same three pathways (including traditional fall, 2017, start, FPF and Global Edge). I’m assuming everyone who was accepted for Fall 2017 (traditional) got this same letter? Also got a phone call from a current student who was in Global Edge, asking us to consider that program. Odd.

@kibbles - During an overnight at Cal, my D met some Global Edge students, who have formed their own tightknit community of sorts (naturally). They told her that although it was exciting for some of them to do a semester abroad - some had never been abroad - they spent much of the time drinking and visiting places, but didn’t feel like they got a lot out of the experience academically. If you are serious about academics, want to get going with your college plan, and intend to study abroad later through a program with better structure and focus, I recommend sticking with traditional path. Don’t put things off at Berkeley. It’s also a harder adjustment if you enter halfway through the year. That’s why the GE people are happy that they have each other to bond with.

How is FPF different from Traditional, if both are starting in Fall ?

FPF students take classes off campus, near unit 2 dorms. The classes are smaller with more support built in. It’s a transition to ease the students in slowly and get them acclimated at Cal. There isn’t a ton of classes to choose from but should be plenty for incoming freshman. It’s one semester and costs an extra $2050 for the Fall semester. We are going to enroll my son into FPF.

Thanks @CaDadof3. I’m OOS. I’m on waitlist right now. But, just in case I get FPF, would I be still living in UCB campus, but take classes off campus? If so, where ?

FPF sounds better than Spring Admit through GE as I can at least take classes in Fall and still join rest of the students who got admitted in Fall.

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Correct, you would be living in a dorm on campus. The only difference is the location of classes. With FPF, all your classes will be in the same building, near Unit 2 dorms.

Are you a transfer student?

I’m not a transfer student. I got in UCLA, but not going there for sure. I would commit to Ross if I don’t hear back from UCB today.

FPF and GE exist to make spring start at UCB proper more attractive. Spring start exists to balance the enrollment across semesters (fall semester is otherwise more heavily enrolled than spring semester, due to some students graduating one semester early or late and taking one more fall semester than spring semester).

The selection of courses at FPF and GE is much more limited than at UCB proper. In particular, students who may want to start in more advanced courses in math or English, or take foreign language courses or science courses with labs for science majors, may find the offerings inadequate compared to UCB proper.

http://fpf.berkeley.edu/berkeley/berkeley-courses
http://globaledge.berkeley.edu/locations/london

@ucbalumnus, looks like, the courses are pretty limited in fall of Freshman year for FPF and GE. However, starting Freshman Spring semester, I should be able to take same courses like the regular Fall admits that join this year. Right ?

That is correct. After fall semester, you can take regular courses just like anyone else during spring semester.

Yes. However, some course sequences may only be offered starting fall semester, so you may have to wait until the following fall to start those sequences. You may want to check whether that is the case for any courses needed for any major that you are considering.

I am an intended cs major who has the option for fpf instead of traditional fall start. Will this be bad for intended cs majors? Will I still be able to declare my major if I receive a 3.3 GPA in CS61A, 61B, and 70?