CGS is getting rid of fall enrollment
Students note that being in CGS carries a stigma with it and that having a delayed start on campus doesn’t help students fit in.
As you may or may not have already heard, BU’s College of General Studies plans to end their fall enrollment program in the coming years.
As it currently stands, half of CGS students are admitted during the fall semester and half take a gap semester and start in the spring. In order to stay on track, those who do start in the spring study abroad in London with their classmates and professors.
To those who participate in the Boston-London program, the experience is a valued one. However, some students note that being in CGS carries a stigma with it and that having a delayed start on campus doesn’t help students fit in.
Surina Mehta, CGS ’17 COM ’19, highlights the complicated relationship some CGS students have with the Boston-London program.
“On one hand, it was a really rewarding experience and it taught me to have thick skin,” Mehta says. “But even before I started spring semester I knew people wouldn’t take me seriously because I was in CGS.”
Mehta also notes that it’s hard to dive into campus life when other students get an earlier start.
“Three weeks after I stepped onto campus I had to go through recruitment,” says Mehta. “I was still trying to find the dining hall at that point.”
Other former CGS students who were part of fall enrollment are sad to see it go.
“I don’t think I would have gone to BU if I couldn’t have started in the fall,” said Yesenia Arango, CGS ’17 COM ’19. “I loved my experience, but I think it would be hard to take a gap semester and integrate into BU after everyone else.”
According to CGS Dean Natalie McKnight, the gap semester offers a unique option for students wishing to take a break from academic life and pursue other passions.
McKnight told the Tab, “Students have used the gap to work full time and save money for London, to do internships and service projects, [or] to take a course or two at a college near them while also interning…”
Since Boston-London students complete their second freshman semester during the summer, they get the benefits of a gap semester while still staying on track to graduate with their peers.
McKnight said the Boston-London program is a successful model for CGS and that the switch makes sense. Options were discussed over the course of a year after assessments for student learning, satisfaction and retention were made.
At the end of the day, this move is sure to transform CGS and its role on campus. Future Terriers will experience college in a way that is very different from what their predecessors experienced, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.