What About Starting in Spring?

“Where there is an open mind, there will always be a new frontier.” ~Kettering

In the ever-evolving world of college admissions, a new admissions option has emerged in recent years that has raised completely new questions and decision options for high school seniors – the Spring Start time.

When most students think about college, they are thinking of the “traditional” college experience – graduate from high school in May or June, have a great last summer with high school friends and family and start at your dream college in August or September.  The Spring Start time admissions option has thrown a curve-ball to many students who were thinking of this more “traditional” path.  What if you gained admission to your dream college, but were not able to start there until the following January?  This Spring Start option begs the question – just how badly do you want to go to your dream college?

For students entertaining the Spring Start admissions option, they need to quickly get creative with alternate plans for the fall when most of their high school friends will be starting their college experiences.  These alternatives include options such as pursuing employment and internship opportunities, looking into travel/education/volunteer abroad options, and even community college courses that will easily transfer to that dream college.

Depending on how you look at it, the Spring Admissions option can be seen as either an excellent opportunity, or a tormenting curse.  No matter how you look at it, this option is changing the way many high school students look at their potential college futures.  As a professional college planning consultant who has seen this option work out very well for some students in the past, I encourage HS seniors to keep an open mind if offered Spring Admission and to at least consider the possibility rather than considering it an effective rejection.

“Where there is an open mind, there will always be a new frontier.” (Charles Kettering)