<p>Probably sounds ridiculous, but I have no idea how my "grade" system is going to work, haha. I got accepted for the JanStart program as a freshman and will be starting in the Spring... So does that mean that I will be a sophomore next January, or do "grade years" run by credits?</p>
<p>So… Don’t really understand this question. I’ll just say a bunch of stuff and maybe one of them will answer it.</p>
<p>There are sort of three kinds of ‘grade’ systems. The most important one is how you pick your classes, which is done by the Registrar and only has four levels. It’s something like under 30 credits, 30 to 60… I don’t really remember, but it’s entirely based on credits. Once you get bumped up to the next credit level (which would be called a sophomore) you get to pick before all the “freshmen”. However people who don’t take summer classes, come in with a lot of transfer credit, take a massive amount of labs, etc won’t follow the exact same order as everyone else. Even doing co-op in the fall of your third year instead of the spring of your second year will make it look like you have more credits. It really doesn’t matter though because it all evens out in the end, and personally I’ve never had a problem getting into a class even when I picked dead last my first semester.</p>
<p>Next would be what ordinary students call themselves. Starting the fall of your second year (so in your case, it’d only be your second semester), you are a sophomore. Next fall (or summer, depending on how desperate the person you are talking to is to sound older) you are a middler. Then you are a junior, then senior. If you are doing a four year program, then you go from sophomore to junior to senior. If you are graduating in the fall, then you’d only be a senior for one semester (it’s not like starting the spring before you are suddenly a senior because you have only a year left). Starting as a second-semester freshman doesn’t affect that at all. Absolutely no one is going to care after your first semester, probably not even during it. As soon as you can get upperclassmen housing (which would be your second semester in the fall) you are an upperclassman- end of story. Fun fact: six year students in the pharmd program are sometimes nicknamed super-seniors.</p>
<p>Third is what admissions likes to use to not confuse people. It’s just first year, second year, third year, fourth year, fifth year, and sixth year. Next fall you’d be a second year even though you’ve only spent half a year here. The line people usually give to explain that they are doing the four year program instead of five is “I’m a third year junior” or “I’m a fourth year senior”.</p>
<p>Seriously don’t worry about it. People take such different schedules here and start at different times and graduate at different times and take semesters off… And don’t worry at all about not “fitting in” with friends on “normal” schedules. Every student here will change their mind about their future plans at least once.</p>