Farrand Field in the fall (Rhett Kaya/CU Independent)
The University of Colorado Boulder’s campus is starting to get full, the lines at the C4C are getting longer and the recreation center is consistently full, which can only mean one thing. A new school year and semester are dawning here in Boulder. Now that welcome week is done and classes are starting, people are already looking forward to the future and wondering which is better: the spring or fall semester?
Some people are excited to get out of this heat and to be able to walk around holding a pumpkin spice latte (which I think has been put out way too early this year, but that’s just me). Others are already blowing up their floaties and getting ready for that spring break trip to Miami. The semester system has created a divide between students everywhere.
Most people here are just looking forward to the weather shift, but there are so many other factors that play into each semester and make them unique.
We can’t talk about the school semesters without discussing academics. When the student body begins to occupy the campus in the fall, there is a certain shininess to it. Everyone is excited about the new habits they’ll create. These resolutions are things that everyone has thought about. Some people vow to make the dean’s list and run for president of a club, while others just want to stop spending so much money on coffee, which is no easy task because we have some of the best coffee shops on campus (I’m looking at you, Foolish Craig’s). No matter what your goal is, people are always looking to better themselves in the beginning.
And hey, I think this is great. New habits have to start somewhere- the only problem is how realistic some people are.
Once the work starts piling up, people tend to throw their habits out the window and only get enough done to survive the day and leave everything else for tomorrow. This sense of fight or flight gets heightened during the fall semester as we get into winter.
The winter weather in Boulder can lead to other problems. Seasonal depression rates skyrocket in the winter months due to less sunlight, colder weather and even feelings of homesickness. On top of that, college students are particularly affected.
That being said, the spring semester is a breath of fresh air.
After the winter break, students come back to campus with a different perspective. Once students see how they reacted to their workload and are able to see what worked versus what didn’t, the spring semester is a factory reset.
“Spring semester is an easier adjustment,” said Oliveria Olsen, a senior at CU Boulder. “You can see students getting in a good headspace following having more adjustment to being in an academic environment from the semester before.”
Minds are cleared out and relaxed, but with a sense of awareness. And yes, the spring semester comes with its own trials and tribulations, like looking for a summer internship or thinking about life after graduation, but this feeling is almost like putting a bow on the school year.
Overall, spring’s feeling is that of satisfaction about what was accomplished during the year.
“When it comes to academics or personal growth, I gained so much more in the latter semester,” said Anthony Cortez, a sophomore at CU Boulder. “I learned what strategies worked for me and how to set myself up for future success. But, to be fair, those were lessons learned from the first semester.”
We also have to look at the social aspect of the two semesters. Students on campus are very social, like, crazy social.
In the first week of classes, you meet what feels like a million people a day. At first, it may seem overwhelming, but it’s also exciting.
Everyone is also trying to establish themselves at the beginning of the year, so people are more friendly and outgoing. Now, I’m not saying that during the spring semester, people turn antisocial, but as friend groups form and people get used to being around the same faces, people feel like they might have met enough people.
There’s also something about coming back onto campus that gives people that fear of missing out. After a summer away from campus, people are more willing to go out and maybe try new things. That adds to the CU Boulder culture. CU Boulder is known to be full of people who are outgoing and extroverted.
“Personally, I enjoyed my spring semester more. By spring, I felt like I got the hang of college and was growing as a student and as a person,” said Luis Carale, a sophomore student.
So in the end, which one is better, the fall or the spring semester?
I would have to go with the spring semester.
The anticipation of spring break and the warmer weather makes the population way happier. As much as I love the fall aesthetic and the fall semester, I think that there is something truly special about the spring semester. The spring semester is also a time for reflection, where we look back on the school year and get ready for the summer. Even though the fall semester does bring in a new wave of CU Boulder pride, with new students and football, the spring semester is easier because everyone is getting into the groove of things, getting used to college life and getting further adjusted.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Frida Montes at frida.montes@colorado.edu.
