Was this common in the last few (test optional) cycles? Seems from the CC threads that NYU, BU, Middlebury, Hamilton, and NYU made this type of offer. Any others?
William and Mary has started offering that. For the students who may need to prep their academics a bit more. And it helps fill the spots that open up at the college when students drop.
Thank you. I understand the second part (the college wanting to fill vacancies), but not the first. If you start in the Spring, what would you be doing in the fall to prep your academics?
USC and UC Berkeley also offer Spring/January admission to some who apply for Fall.
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I believe Northeastern and UMD also offer a spring start.
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UGA also offers this. Although some who accept end up traveling or working in the fall, many go to community college or University of North Ga and then transfer those credits to UGA.
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My son was offered Northeastern’s spring start (NU in) but it isn’t exactly the same as spring start, as the students are enrolled in a specific fall program at some other Northeastern location. They take courses and are theoretically on track to graduate in the same timeframe as a regular fall start.
I’m not sure how many of these other spring start offers include a built-in fall program?
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This is the WM version. Offered to waitlisted students who really want to attend. Spring Pathway Option for Waitlisted Freshmen | William & Mary
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UNC CH has Global Launch and Tulane offers Spring Scholars. In some cases you can check a box on the Common App that you would be interested in applying directly to those programs. Not what the OP is asking but intriguing for some students.
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Colby has had that option for quite a while. (France ans Spain).
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It is quite common and becoming more common with each passing year.
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Admitting some students to start in the spring balances the student population across fall and spring semesters. When all students start in the fall, students who graduate one semester early or late typically have one extra fall semester versus spring semester (i.e. 4 fall + 3 spring, or 5 fall + 4 spring).
Balancing the enrollment across fall and spring semesters means less likelihood of being overloaded in the fall and less waste of capacity in the spring.
Colleges trying to game the USNWR rankings also may choose to start their admits with lower test scores etc. in the spring, since only fall start students are included in the frosh profiles used in USNWR rankings.
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Colorado College offered that option for this admission cycle.
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This benefits colleges and students in several ways.
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Students who might not get in for the Fall still have an opportunity to get into a school they really want to attend.
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Colleges don’t have to include the stats of students in their data sets who start in the Winter or Spring.
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Colleges can fill seats of students who study abroad or who transfer out.
It is becoming more common to offer these options. Northeastern has been very aggressive in that, offering not only study abroad for first semester freshmen (D’s good friend did this back in 2016), but also at their other campuses. It’s a good idea overall as long as it doesn’t diminish quality in any way.
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Just to give a sense of the number of students admitted to these alternative programs for Northeastern, this is what I have been able to determine for the past admission season (students entering in Fall 2022). The number admitted to the alternative programs is not published anywhere, but probably would be at least as high as the number admitted to regular Fall Boston start, assuming similar or lower yield. (My guess would be lower yield, as this is not the first choice option for most applicants.)
| Location | enrolled | admitted |
|---|---|---|
| Boston | ~2500 | 6179 |
| NUin / NUBound | 2416 | 6000+? |
Note that the number of students starting in Boston was lower in Fall 2022 than usual, to make up for an unexpectedly high yield and subsequent overcrowding from the previous year. This year, the target for the Fall 2023 Boston entering class is thought to be more like 3000-3500. However, at the same time there also may be more students admitted to the alternative programs this year, since these programs have expanded and now there are full degrees offered in London and Oakland (with many students being admitted to these degrees even though they didn’t choose that option). So it’s possible that Fall 2023 will again have a relatively even split between Boston start, and alternative program admission. We’ll see…
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Univ of Maryland offers a Spring admission. Anyone who receives that admission has the option to matriculate in the normal fall semester under a program called Freshman Connection. Freshman Connection students are like normal fall admits in just about every way EXCEPT they take classes that start after 3pm on Mon-Thurs (classes can be 8 am to 4 pm on Friday).
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Program Overview | University of Maryland Extended Studies says that there is a special set of Freshman Connection courses; it is not like Freshman Connection spring admits can register for any regular course within the specified time periods.
Fall 2022 Freshman Connection offerings were Schedule of Classes . Note the absence of more advanced courses in subjects like math that students with AP credit may want to take with advanced placement. Foreign languages were also not offered.
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Emory offers spring admit to Oxford and CWRU offers spring as well.
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My older DS20 was admitted to UMD for spring admission via freshman connection (mentioned above). It was spring of 2020 when he made his decision and he went in a different direction. He’s thrilled with where he landed (UVM), but in hindsight, I’m sure uMD would have been amazing, given all that was going on at the time.
My youngest ds2022 was admitted to College of Charleston for what was essentially a spring admit. They have a program called I-Charleston where students do fall abroad in a choice of a few cities in Europe, then spring on campus with the same cohort in a more supportive situation:
https://acadexperience.cofc.edu/featured-programs/ichs/about-the-program/index.php
At the end of the spring semester, if they meet all GPA requirements, they are given full admittance to CofC. It was not a good fit for him in terms of maturity, nor was it financially comfortable for us since kiddos admitted to this program get zero merit $, so he passed. However, it could be amazing for another kid who is ready for that responsibility and really wants CofC.
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True but the courses they can take still support the ability to graduate in 4 years.