@montyburns My D was offered a spring start at Hamilton - she was an ED2 applicant. I personally strongly believe you should only be offered a spring start as RD, or if you ‘opt in’ (at Midd there is box to check: fall only, fall or spring, spring only). I also think FA should be a factor in the choice of spring admits as most interim programs are not eligible for aid or loans.
I totally agree that is a lousy ‘hello and welcome’ into a school. The letter D got was worded with little sensitivity and was very clear: come if you want but if you go elsewhere we could care less.
That said, since it was her ED2 school it’s high on D’s list and until she gets her other offers (CC expects her to get several other good schools) we are in a holding pattern. Hamilton recommends an affiliate program in London - some we have spoken to loved it, some thought it was extremely badly run.
Schools do it mostly because they have empty housing due to study abroad in the spring, not for drop outs. It is totally about the school balancing their books and the benefit to the college. Some couch it as a kindness in opening up additional spots, but I feel at most schools it’s a rather one sided deal in favor of the school. But I guess in this admissions climate the school holds pretty much all the ships!
Different schools have varying degrees of organization: Midd has a full program with 8 on-campus semesters and a spring graduation ceremony so that Febs feel like they are not getting the short shrift (and students also qualify for aid for all semesters they attend school). D applied to Midd ED1 and if she had been admitted as a spring admit she would have gone. Midd is also super upfront about the program: D’s tour guide was a spring admit and spoke about it (pros and cons) at length during the tour, spring admit was also mentioned in the info session. D’s interviewer at Hamilton was a spring admit and did not say a word, not did her tour guide or the info session - D had literally no idea it was a possibility until she got her letter.
If your son really wants to go I’d take a deep breath and look further into the program they recommend for fall and speak with other spring admits at UVM. Until he has other accepts in hand I would be positive about the admittance when speaking with him to de-stress the process. I am sure he is disappointed too but there is no reason to add to his level of disappointment and stress until you know what his options are.
Students who are uninterested in a January admission can treat any such offer as a denial. Certainly, in these cases, the student is no worse off for having been offered the opportunity to attend a college to which they applied.
Accepted with spring start as well @monty_burns and that was not great because I saw “welcome” and “congratulations” and I started to cry from excitement (it is my number 1 school). After all the excitement I then saw spring 2019. Such a bummer but at least they offered spring and didn’t just deny me. No clue what I will do, I feel like I will miss part of the college experience starting halfway through but it is also my top choice. Hard choice.
@collegehope21 I talked to an alum about what the spring start thing is like for your college experience- she said the community is super welcoming, and the people that start in the spring are the people who love UVM the most. She said it’s pretty easy to integrate into the community going in, but the challenging part is the last semester of senior year when a lot of your peers have graduated. Maybe you could avoid that by squeaking in some extra credits over the summer or with AP?
I will wholeheartedly agree that a spring admit is an opportunity to attend a school you love.
And I will agree that if it is not right for you then you can walk away and choose elsewhere.
But I think calling it a denial is both inaccurate (they clearly think you can do the work and thrive, and they have legally offered you a place at the table) and a bit unfair to kids (and parents) who are reeling from the shock of this type of acceptance.
From CC’s perspective there is a gray area, where the school feels you will matriculate strongly enough to calculate that you will take a spring admit spot. It’s a bit of the chicken game on both sides.
I’m really interested to see how this pans out a decade from now. I feel like spring admits are mostly in a ‘growing pains’ stage and it is not really worked out as of yet.
@4junior : Oh, I regard a January offer as a full acceptance. My point was that a student can elect to treat it as a denial should it not appeal them. Yes, a January offer can be disruptive to expectations, but an actual denial would seem to present an even more consequential impact on a hopeful college applicant. Looked at conversely, a student who has been denied cannot elect to regard this decision as a January acceptance.
My son was accepted for a spring admittance and we are taking it as fortuitous as he was considering a gap year anyway and this gives him a good six months to travel which is less daunting to us than a full year of him being far far away. Yes,initially surprising but it is an official admittance rather than a rejection so we are happy.
@4junior, Thank you for the good advice. Yes, now that I’ve had a chance to digest it, (and breath a little, as you wisely counseled…), I’m realizing it’s not a bad thing. Not ideal, but 100% better than a rejection.
I guess what bothers me is that I didn’t even know a Spring start was possible, or “a thing.” I obviously knew some kids transfer for various reasons after first semester. I also knew some kids get waitlisted during the application process. But I’ve never heard of a Spring start. Ever. It was just a rude awakening to find out that colleges offer this thing, when I’m reading my son’s acceptance letter…
The fact that it’s offered at great schools like UVM & Hamilton & Middlebury make me feel somewhat better.
I suppose what bothers me most as a parent is that after all the years of getting your kid ready for college, this just seems like yet another tap dance, yet another hoop to jump through. But I suppose it’s a good “problem” to have…
Good luck to your daughter this coming year. It sounds like she really has her stuff together, and will do great wherever she decides to go.
@collegehope21, Congrats on your acceptance to UVM! I’m sure you earned it.
If UVM is your number one choice, then you should try to make the Spring start work for you. My son was (surprisingly to me, anyway) not really that disappointed about the Spring start. He was just very happy that he got into UVM.
…and my earlier post was really just venting. I just didn’t know a Spring start was even a possibility. I’m just like most old people; I hate surprises.
Good luck this coming year, wherever you decide to go. It’s a very exciting time in your life!
@JJay the merit notifications come later and FA after that. I believe my son got his Merit letter a day or two after his acceptance in December and then FA not for several weeks
Question about posting of merit aid/awards… My daughter was accepted Friday, and we saw the link on her application page that says “view award starting in early March.” When I clicked on it over the weekend, it didn’t go anywhere helpful. This morning when I clicked on it, I got to a page set up for her that says to click on the links below to view the award(s). There are no links, but does this indicate that something may be coming for her?
I’m starting to see that there are little clues out there ahead of time in this college process (lol), and I’m wondering if this is another one that indicates that she may get a merit scholarship. We won’t qualify for need-based aid.
Just curious what the experience was for the EA people…
@mistreshijas the posting above yours said the got EA merit info a few days after acceptance. My S friend in December EA round also got his merit a few days after acceptance as well. I am hoping same here but did call FA and they said to expect FA info mid March. We are hoping for merit as well based on the EA info awards I saw we are above some of the stats but who knows - we do not expect any FA so we would love the merit!
@Momtofourkids Thanks, I did see they mentioned that. I was curious if the fact that the page is now set up means that something good is coming. This has been such a funny process with our daughter–she’s the first. For URI, they sent out a crazy video in an email the Friday before EA came out, and we guessed (correctly) that she would be accepted. Then the work-around with UVM last week! So I guess I’m looking for signs everywhere at this point. lol
FYI - regarding the MERIT aid versus FINANCIAL AID - to clarify above. The Merit Aid my son received was posted as an UPDATE to his admission status. We clicked on it and it and it was a letter informing him of his award (a copy came in the mail later). He was admitted on December 14 (Thursday) and this letter was posted 5 pm on Friday the 15th. It was NOT in the VIEW FINANCIAL AID AWARD section, however, when he get his FA award notice (several painful weeks later) it was also included with the total FA award. Please note that in order to be considered for the merit scholarship, you have to have completed the FASFA, even though it is not need based.
@momof2boys2 That’s not true about having to fill out FAFSA to get merit. My daughter earned a merit scholarship of $18,000/year for 4 years, and we never filled out FAFSA.
My daughter got accepted EA on 12/14 and got the merit letter the next day, 12/15. Both showing up in her portal under the “view status update”.
Well, I’m probably splitting hairs, but I was assuming that UVM’s “financial aid awards” notice includes merit, because technically it is a financial aid for us parents. But maybe the “view financial aid awards” section is only for results of the FAFSA, in which case, it won’t be anything for us. I’ll expect it in the status update if in fact it comes. Thanks, @MomOutWest
@MomOutWest you are correct! I just re-read the scholarship section on the website and it says they ENCOURAGE students to fill out the FASFA because SOME scholarships consider need. @mistreshijas , as I mentioned in my post above the Merit scholarship is included in the total Financial Aid award package when it comes out (along with need based grants and loans), but initially the notification is in a separate letter as an update to the application status. Good luck everyone!