Fall Semester VS. Spring Semester

Which semester to prefer, Fall or Spring? Often students find themselves in an impasse while making their semester choice for their schools and things get only worse when you don’t find a correct guidance. Skill Maestro comes to your rescue and provides you with basic insights on the Fall semester VS. Spring semester confusion.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Lesser Choices of Programs in Spring

Most students prefer a Fall Semester primarily because not all universities have a Spring batch. This typically restricts the choices of programs or courses that you can apply to in the Spring semester. Also, some universities have Spring applications just to fill their empty seats of the Fall season. Some universities that have a Spring batch include NYU, Syracuse, Cornell, CMU, University of Wisconsin Madison and UIUC. However, it cannot be concluded all together that all the mainstream courses are offered in Fall. There are certain courses that are offered typically in Spring and some typically in Fall. Although more popular courses might be offered preferably in Fall and that’s because most students apply in Fall which renders it a common intake period.

• Base your Decision on the Program Design Rather Than Blindly Applying for Fall just because a Majority of Applicants do that

It is always advisable to examine the curriculum of courses offered in Spring before assuming that you will not find good enough courses in Spring. It might turn out that you might be more interested in a particular program that’s offered in Spring than the ones that are offered in Fall. So, base your decision on the program design rather than stereotypes.

• No CPT for Spring Students to Intern Off-Campus During the First Summer

Curricular Practical Training (CPT) is designed to provide work experience directly related and integral to a student's degree of study.  CPT can be typically received only after 9 months of your arrival in the US. Thus, it is not possible for Spring students to intern-off campus during their first summers. In their second year though, they can do a full-time summer internship but after finishing the internship they also need to attend one more semester at the college. This also means that they cannot do a summer internship in the second year if they are planning to graduate in 3 semesters only.  You should be definitely going for the Fall semester if you think a summer internship is crucial to you after your first year.

• Myths about Scholarships

A lot of people erroneously believe that the availability of scholarships are low in Spring than in Fall. But it’s just a fallacious belief. The availability of scholarships only depends upon the availability of the scholarship funds with the universities. So there is no conclusive proof to corroborate the argument about less scholarship in Spring session. 

Having read this, take your decision wisely after properly weighing the pros and cons of the Spring and Fall season each.  Don’t just assume things or be misled by erroneous beliefs. Skill Maestro wishes you all the best for your application!

What do you think about this topic? Do let me know in the comment section.

About Skill Maestro At Skill Maestro, We guide prospective students about the entire application process as well as suitable universities as per their profile/test scores. We have consulted dozens of prospective students for MIS across the globe. We have a physical presence in Indore where we also help students prepare for GRE, GMAT & SAT Follow Us  on Google+!