I’m an OOS student admitted off the waitlist for a spring start. I plan on declaring econ as my major. I have until my SIR deadline (in two days) to decide if I really want to do FPF.
Why I’m Hesitant: Basically, it’s a money thing. I’ll be saving 34K by not doing FPF. I’m already going to be costing my parents a pretty penny by going OOS so I would like to save where possible. I will stay at home, live with my parents during the fall, and take community college classes. I am not sure if I can transfer credits since I’m OOS, but if I cannot I plan to moving early to California, signing a short term lease, and do community college there, which would still be cheaper than FPF. Furthermore, FPF allows you to do a maximum of 16 units- if I go to cc, I would want to try to knock out 5-6 breadth requirements if possible.
Why I Would Want To Do It: I’m afraid it will be hard for me to integrate in the spring- finding friends, joining clubs, since the majority of other freshmen will already have a head start by a semester. I’m afraid that I’ll be disorientated and confused about how everything works (esp. since I’ve never been to California before) with even less support because it’s the spring and not the fall, when all the other freshmen are learning the ropes. I’m a generally pretty outgoing and independent person so a part of me feels like I can handle it, but I’ve also never been in quite this situation before. I’m nervous about how housing would work out if I come during the spring. Finally, I would be a little bit disappointed about missing the freshman experience (since I’ll be staying at home) while all my other friends head off to college. I’m not sure how worried I should be about all these things.
TLDR: I want to save money but I also don’t want to be lonely and miserable.
I appreciate any advice you guys could bring. I’m still reeling from the fact that I’m going to Berkeley now!