Why Should I go to Berkeley as a Spring Admit?

<ol>
<li>Why should I still consider Berkeley if I got in as a Spring Admit?<br></li>
<li>Is it hard to sign up for classes during spring semester?<br></li>
<li>Where would I be able to live in the fall if I am enrolled in the FPF?</li>
<li>How hard is it to find housing for the spring?</li>
<li>Am I not notified until after I submit my SIR if I am enrolled in FPF? (If this happened to you, what did you do? Community colleges are filling up fast due to budget cuts..)</li>
<li>How was your FPF experience? Would you make the same decision again to attend Berkeley as a spring admit, or do you wish you went to a different school?</li>
<li>What are the reasons why I should go to Cal as a spring admit? (Reasons to convince my parents, who are against it because of the chance of not finding housing, signing up for classes, as well as the pre-Haas major in itself).</li>
</ol>

<p>If you could answer any of these questions, I'd really appreciate it as I make my decision in considering Cal and sending in my $100 for the FPF this week.</p>

<p>I've been accepted for Spring 2011, Pre-Business L&S major.</p>

<ol>
<li>You should not let one semester make or break your college decision</li>
<li>Everyone gets shafted their first term. Fall admits get shafted that first fall, spring admits that first spring.</li>
<li>Most FPF students end up living in the dorms or privately owned dorms located near campus</li>
<li>99% of FPF students who don’t get dorms in fall get dorm assignments for spring</li>
<li>You get notified if you have a seat reserved for you in FPF after they receive your FPF $100 deposit.</li>
<li>FPF was great. I am extremely glad I picked FPF over UCLA.</li>
<li>Because Berkeley is a great school, you will find housing, you will get into your classes just fine, being a spring admit does not make it harder to get into Haas.</li>
</ol>

<p>Send in your $100 deposit ASAP. Send it in priority mail to be safe.</p>

<p>Why not? Being admitted for the spring sounds like a perfect excuse to find a job during the summer or the fall and start working full time and save up to help pay some of that college expenses. That’s what I would do, and I think it would be a great idea. You have the entire fall for yourself, no school, nothing, so why not make up for that free time and start working and save up?</p>

<p>To offer a different route compared to Fendi, what I know some spring admit students do is instead of do FPF, they attend a community college where they live and take a full course load there. Since in your first year most of the courses you take are breadth, you can find transferrable courses elsewhere. Plus since you plan on doing business, there are a lot of requirements that you can take care of at community college. Not only does this save a boatload of money, but will help you take care of your requirements you need, the same as if you were to have your fall semester at Cal. Or an alternative to get the best of both worlds, you can take only 1 or 2 courses at a CC over the fall and work too, if that’s what you prefer. FPF can be great, but if you don’t find it suiting you, there are many ways to stay on track and being productive.</p>

<p>i find the advantages of being a spring admit to negate all the negatives of not being a fall admit (fall admit advantages being that you are there when everyone else is, you can share in that unique freshmen in college feeling, being in a new place away from home in such a way for the first time. the social aspects in other words)
I didn’t get fpf so here’s my experience:
as a spring admit, you can easily knock out so many more requirements at a jc than if you were at berkeley during the fall(certain core requirements as allowed by their majors respectively, and also the breadths). the JC workload is much lighter so you can handle more classes/units. they can even be easier than high school loads…
JC fall semester can make your transition from HS to college smoother
plus you save alotta moolah</p>

<p>i think for this past semester, spring admits got a better telebears date than the fall admits? i dont remember
::quick rant in efforts to avoid writing a paper::</p>

<p>Yes, trying to figure this one out myself…</p>

<p>FPF (Pros):

  • Better chances of getting my preferred housing in Fall than in Spring?
  • Although it’s over at UC Berkeley Extension, I will be able to start Freshman year with everyone else, and won’t be the only completely lost person if I arrive in Spring.
  • Meet new people along with everyone else. If I arrive in Spring, won’t it be more challenging to make friends - as everyone would have already developed many core relationships by then?
    -Overall, the transitions seems like it would be more seamless if I start in the Fall? Am I wrong?
  • Wondering if I would be able to participate in any of the Music Department’s offerings as a Spring Admit (ie, Choir, music room and library)? I believe I read somewhere that I could.</p>

<p>CC (Pros):

  • Wider range of transferable courses to choose from.
  • More time to do some traveling and last minute preparations before heading off to college.
  • And the obvious, save TONS of money</p>

<p>@Derek, lots of valid points, thank you. Is that what you did? Attended a CC in the fall before starting Cal in the Spring? Was it challenging once you got there? What is a Telebear date?</p>

<p>Seen some good feedback from former FPF students, but are there any previous Spring Admit students that chose to go the CC route that can provide some further insight?</p>

<p>HISbeloved -</p>

<p>Housing is tough either way. I was in FPF and I put the Units for all my choices, but I got placed in Foothill. My friend who came in the spring applied for Unit 2 and got Unit 2, but others didn’t get an offer at all. It’s luck basically. </p>

<p>You can participate in anything the Music dept. offers except their courses. If you want you study in their library, you are free to do so. If choir is some sort of club, you could do that too.</p>

<p>Don’t forget that CC grades don’t transfer over to your GPA. But if you do FPF, most of the classes you take are breadth courses but if you do well on them, their grades WILL transfer to the campus. Also, breadths are usually easier courses (there are a handle of easy breadth courses @ FPF, if you want more info, let me know) which means if you do well, you can transfer over a pretty nice GPA.</p>

<p>Hey GoBears2013 - you’ve been extremely helpful in a few of the other newly admit threads. Thank you!</p>

<p>Yes, from what I’ve read here, housing seems to be a crap-shoot, but this link provides a little more hope? But only if I get there in the fall?
[Living</a> at Cal - Fall Extension](<a href=“http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/fallextension.html]Living”>http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/fallextension.html)</p>

<p>Did your friend that came in Spring adjust as quickly as you did as a FPF?</p>

<p>For Haas - what does it mean when it says Economics 1 or 2? I don’t have to take both? I’m a bit confused here. If I do have to take both, how should I plan this in my schedule since I am a spring admit?</p>

<p>I would say yes. We both live about 30 minutes away, so she was able to get involved on campus in the Fall although she didn’t start until Spring. Not a lot of people do this but she thought it was a good opportunity to start making connections and what not. Once she got here she already had people she knew and stuff.</p>

<p>I think generally spring people are able to adjust quickly once they get to campus. There’s Spring Welcome Week hosted by the ASUC. I think a lot of floors in the dorms are excited to get a new floormate. Generally, people are friendly and open to meeting new people. I don’t think making friends and stuff like that would be that much of an issue.</p>

<p>@collegebound111: You only have to take 1 of the two courses.</p>

<p>How does AP Credit work? Do I have to get 5’s on both Micro and Macro in order to earn credit for Econ 1 or 2? (i.e., fulfill Econ requirement for Haas)</p>

<p>@HelloAll - that was something else I was wondering about too. I really don’t understand the Breadth requirements at all.</p>

<p>Read - [Degree</a> Requirements-Summary of Degree Requirements](<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirements/intro.html]Degree”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirements/intro.html)</p>

<p>If I’m reading it correctly, I was able to fulfill the University Requirements (Entry level writing and American History), and L&S Requirements (Reading and Composition, Quantitative Reasoning, Foreign Language) in high school.</p>

<p>Under the Units Requirement, it states, “120 total units, including at least 60 L&S units.” So does that mean I need to take 60 units worth of breadth classes, if I’ve already met the other L&S requirements? How many breadth courses are FPF students allowed to take in the Spring?</p>

<p>So another advantage of going the FPF route -vs- the CC route is that its possibly a GPA booster?</p>

<p>Guess this warrants an appt with academic advising?</p>

<p>Am I allowed to skip Math 1A and just take Math 1B at FPF? Or do I have to take both Math 1A and 1B? Does any AP credit get rid of Math 1A so I can skip to Math 1B?</p>

<p>You can skip 1A and take 1B at FPF. It depends on your major whether or not you can use your AP credit for 1A.</p>

<p>Well, I’m pre-business (I think you said somewhere that used to be your major?), so would it be okay just to take math 1b?</p>

<p>Yeah I used to be pre-business. Haas requires only 1 semester of Calculus, so it would be okay to take 1B. BUT, you need to consider a back-up major as well. Let’s say you want Econ as your back-up (similar pre-reqs). Econ requires two semesters of Calculus, and I don’t think you can back track and take 1B and then 1A (I might be wrong on this).</p>

<p>Ohhh, well that’s annoying. I heard Math 1B during Spring semester is death. And I’d like to delay my death as long as possible.</p>

<p>Haas accepts the Math 16 series too. Math 16A-B is much easier than 1A-B</p>