Yup.
http://www.middlebury.edu/newsroom/archive/2016-news/node/505707
D19 would love to take a gap semester (she’d like a longer break but not a whole year) …her college has a spring semester but they won’t do a one-semester deferral so fall it is.
My impression on reading various threads is that some colleges do a lot to make spring admits feel welcome and part of the class of 202x, and others don’t really do much at all for them.
USC admits 300-400 every spring, filling the holes the study abroad kids leave in addition to freshman melt. They are flat out rejecting plenty of high stat kids, so spring admits are certainly not a lower caliber stat/score wise, it is also a balance of program/majors. Some love the opportunity to save money and bank some courses at a CC - even doing a CC in LA while living close to USC to be part of it, or knock them out near home; others hate giving up the freshman fall experience. Others start abroad with partner universities. Lots of options for people that are open to different ways to achieve the same end goal. They also do a full orientation with spring admits so they acclimate pretty quickly. I personally wouldn’t have liked the spring option, but for those that a certain school is their dream, they may feel it is worth the wait.
agree. I’ve seen some people here on CC say they are turning down spring admit offers because they don’t want to miss out on freshman welcomes etc. While I can certainly understand that missing out on such a fun start to college is a let-down, I can’t understand why someone would base an entire four year decision, and what college they choose to get their degree at, on what happens in one week at the start of it.
Following on my previous comments, i know some colleges do a lot of welcome events in spring too, for spring admits and spring transfers. Not the same as freshman fall, but something. Others, I understand, just let them arrive without anything special.
@blueskies2day:
“They are flat out rejecting plenty of high stat kids, so spring admits are certainly not a lower caliber stat/score wise”
USC certainly could be rejecting plenty of high stats kids while taking lower-stats kids in the spring. Presumably, lower-stats kids that get in to USC have more qualities that USC desires than do the high-stats kids USC is rejecting. Holistic admissions is holistic. But by taking them in the spring, those lower-stats kids would not hurt USC’s ranking.
“it is also a balance of program/majors”
I agree with this.
@SJ2727 : It’s not just one week; it’s a semester. It can also feel as though you are not valued by that school. I can certainly understand someone basing a four-year decision on those factors – especially when they have other offers.
@AboutTheSame , as I said before, I was referring specifically to those posters who said they were not accepting because they didn’t want to miss out on the freshman welcome activities. I understand there are other students who take other factors into account, including having to do something else for a semester, especially if they are at one of the schools that makes those students feel they are not valued.