The short and simple answer to this question is YES! There are no rules that prohibit anyone to start college at the beginning of the spring semester and it does happen. And to be honest, in most cases this can also be the only option because of eligibility issues or maybe because of a family emergency that kept someone from starting in August. So, even though starting in the fall is the more common and “normal” way to start your college career, it can definitely be done.
Now, there are some rather significant disadvantages that we need to mention here though, that everyone should consider when they make their decision on when to start college in the US. The biggest issue is arguably the fact that there are just less scholarship options available at that time. Scholarships are typically given out for the entire school year (from August till May), so that most coaches just don’t have any scholarship money available at the midway point of the school year. This is not always the case and things can definitely change, for example if a player unexpectedly decides to leave his or her team or if there are some other reasons for a player and the team to part ways. So while there definitely still are scholarship opportunities for student-athletes who wish to start in January, there are just not as many as in August.
The second issue with starting in January is that in a lot of sports you are joining a team midseason, which means that the team might already have an established nucleus and the coach might have a pretty good idea of who his or her most important athletes will be for the rest of the season. So, in this case, it can sometimes be a bit tricky to make the lineup and to get fully integrated into the team.
The last issue when starting college in January, and definitely one that a lot of student-athletes struggle with, is the fact that you do not have much time to get acclimated to your new environment. While students who start in August get to take advantage of a lot of introduction activities that the school organizes prior to the first day of classes, this is something that January starters will not have available to them. It therefore can be a lot harder to make new friends and to find your way around campus. That combined with the fact that in most sports you are starting college at the peak time of the athletic season, just makes it a bit more difficult to have a smooth transition to your new life as a college student. As we mentioned above, starting in January is definitely doable and for some student-athletes it might very well be the only option. However, it is important to be aware of the potential issues that might arise and to be prepared that things might just be a little bit harder when you do not start in August like the majority of your fellow students!