With the increase in applications submitted to popular colleges, some schools have been making ever-greater use of offers of mid-year admissions to students who are clearly a good match, but for whom they just don’t have room. If you’ve received an offer of mid-year admission to one of your top choices for college, you have several decisions to make. Most importantly, decide where that college falls on your own list. If it’s truly your first choice, you’ll need to decide if waiting a semester to enroll meets your needs. Let’s consider the pros and cons of mid-year admissions.
First there’s the “friends factor”. The first few weeks of college are probably the easiest time of your life to meet new people and form close friendships. If you start one semester later than most other freshmen, you’ll need to be more proactive in joining groups and making friends. You’ll also have less choice in housing options since you’ll be occupying the space of a student who may be studying abroad that term. On the plus side, colleges offering mid-year admissions are aware of these issues; ask what your prospective college is doing to help mid-year admits assimilate to college life.
Then there’s the time factor. Will it take you an additional semester to graduate or will your college allow you to take classes for transfer credit at another college during that fall before enrolling so you can be on track for graduation? If so, college may actually end up costing you less if you attend a local community college for a semester.
Another plus is the variety of options open to you during that first semester. In addition to the community college option, you could perform community service (check out americorps.gov) or travel; get a job or internship; or study abroad for a semester. You’ll find ideas for a “gap semester” at sites like dynamy.org or enrichmentalley.com.
