<p>I'm going to Santa Monica College next year with the intention to transfer to USC hopefully. I really don't know what to expect in terms of the general college experience. Does anyone have any insight as to what classes are like, how good of a social life there is on campus, how they were able to integrate themselves into their transfer university, etc...</p>
<p>I'll be in the Scholars Program so I hope that'll go well. Are there any specific Scholars Program classes anyone suggests I should take?</p>
<p>well im a mtsac student and i just got accepted to USC and will be going in the fall.</p>
<p>you can expect to see a lot of people who are lazy at a CC. but if your doing the scholars program (im guessing this is the honors program) then you will see quite the opposite. SMC is one of the top transfer CC’s. so competition is fierce but its a great motivator. Classes should be easy as long as you can manage your time. </p>
<p>social life is little to none, unless you join a club or make friends in the honors program. sadly most CC students are commuters that come from everywhere. but you def can make friends. i have not gone to USC yet, but ive heard from others the transition was difficult at first, but after a few weeks it sets in. </p>
<p>google “usc articulation transfer agreement” and match your college/major and that will tell you what classes you need to take. :)</p>
<p>Thanks so much Dainese, your reply was really helpful to me. Congrats on USC!</p>
<p>And yes, the Scholars Program is SMC’s version of an Honors Program. I actually never considered the great level of competition until you brought it up; I definitely need to stay on top of that.</p>
<p>I’m kinda worried about the difficulty of classes, as I plan to take 5 my fall semester so that I can get as many credits as I can out of the way.</p>
<p>as for difficulty of classes…@ mtsac ive not encountered a class where ive truly struggled. keep in mind this is coming from someone with a HS GPA of 2.07. 5 classes is not too much but not too little either. im taking 5 right now and you will be busy all week. its a good and bad thing. </p>
<p>throughout my time at mtsac (about 1.5 years) i took 4 classes a during the semester (fall/spring) and 1 during intersession (summer/winter). i had a very relaxed schedule and could easily transfer in two years doing that. </p>
<p>i will tell you that this is my first time taking 5 classes and it keeps me busy. but like i said its all about managing your time. gotta set priorities…school > social. but i do party till sunrise occasionally haha.</p>
<p>if your coming straight out of HS, 5 classes is probably tolerable. try it and if worse comes to worse you simply drop the class. no worries. just make sure you dont rush through SMC so you can transfer and end up getting a LOW gpa. you want to keep a high GPA but still transfer in a reasonable amount of time.</p>
<p>post back if u have more Q’s and good luck!! :D</p>
<p>@ Dainese… I hope you’re not being sarcastic about not struggling in any class. lol You’re making me more confident now haha I have about a 2.8 in HS and really worried/anxious about trying to get a 4.0 at Sac.</p>
<p>@blackmamba - hahaha no im not really being sarcastic. if you honestly pay attention, take notes, manage your time well, and learn some good study habits…classes anywhere are easy.</p>
<p>i also let the profs know that im not there to dick around. sit at the front, dont let your friends distract you, focus, focus, focus. when a prof sees you care, they will care for your grade. oh…and do all extra credit</p>
<p>Extra credit? I’ll take that any chance I get haha. </p>
<p>This question just occurred to me. How did you find a roommate? Since SMC is not my local community college, I’m going to have to rent out an apartment with someone. </p>
<p>I don’t know anyone going there since most of our high school grads go to the local cc.</p>
<p>I actually live in Riverside county, not the city itself. And I was seriously considering going to Mt. SAC since I had a water polo training camp there and saw how pretty the campus is and how nice of a neighborhood it’s in. </p>
<p>I would go there but SMC has the highest transfer rate to all the schools I’m considering. + I’m not eligible for the Honors program at Mt. SAC because I only have a 3.1 unweighted.</p>
<p>Just an update. I have hopefully found a good roommate to rent with. Thank you all for the great advice, I’m looking to start my year successfully at SMC. I hope I end up like you Dainese.</p>
<p>If anyone reading this is headed to SMC next year, see you next year in class! :)</p>
<p>awww that compliment is too much. i dont deserve it haha. <3</p>
<p>but just to clarify, you can join honors @ sac after taking 9 transferable units and maintaining a 3.2 GPA :)</p>
<p>my hs GPA was a 2.07, so i didnt ever see myself going anywhere. and i hope you do find a good roommate. hopefully one that will motivate you to really excel in your studies. once you got the ball rolling and the A’s start coming in after your first semester, you will want to keep it rolling all throughout your education. best of luck to ya mate. </p>
<p>def post more Q’s if u have any, and when you feel competent about knowing info about SMC, you should create a thread for SMC like i did for SAC. im sure you will get a lot of questions :)</p>
<p>good luck!!! im rooting for all you CC students haha</p>
<p>Thanks so much Dainese, you really have helped so much. Once I get into the fall semester and become more knowledgeable about SMC; I’ll definitely make a new thread for it to answer questions.</p>
<p>Tried craigslist + SMC’s “Roommate finder” but no luck. Apparently it’s impossible to find someone my age going to SMC to rent an apartment with haha. Do you guys think I should start a roommate thread on this forum for people searching for a roommate?</p>
<p>and thanks for taking the effort to make a thread for SMC. </p>
<p>if theres no luck with roomates then id suggest walking around campus. they shuold have a bunch of papers sticking on random walls with ppl trying to rent out their places, looking for roomates, selling books, joining clubs, joining greek, events, social events, club fairs, job fairs, college fairs etc… </p>
<p>if it comes down to it, find a temp. place and post a buncha papers over campus “LOOKING FOR ROOMATE” with info/contact. </p>
<p>you could try to make a thread, but the community college area is very slow. i HIGHLY doubt you’ll find a roomate on college confidential, but def give it a try. </p>
<p>its going to be hard to find a roomate at a CC because most ppl are local or commuters. all my friends at SAC live within 5 minutes of the college.</p>
<p>I went to my local US education info centre for advise. They said that I should stear clear of cali’s community colleges now. they said that a year or 2 back, they would have strongly recommended it but cali is bankrupt now and are cutting funding for schools. so i might end up not getting the courses/classes i want at SMC and end up not being able to transfer to a UC or USC.</p>
<p>Also, if I’m thinking about transferring to ivy leagues after my 2 years, should i choose somewhere in the east coast instead?
How accurate is this?</p>
<p>its true that california’s cutbacks are immense but not to the point where its IMPOSSIBLE to get classes. i would not listen to whoever told you that. many of us went through the current economy and still transfer within time.</p>
<p>the secret is to get early registration dates. student government is one. athelete. etc.</p>
<p>ivy leagues outta CC is much more difficult. i think its like 1-4 percent of transfers.</p>
<p>@tcbb In my personal experience with SMC, it has been incredibly hard for me to get the classes I want. I can only take UC and USC approved courses as well and getting my GE classes has been extremely stressful. I’ve had to revise my schedule at least 6 times now to be able to pick up some decent classes that are transfer approved. So in that sense, your local US education center is correct about the availability of classes.</p>
<p>But Dainese is right, it’s not impossible to get classes, just extremely difficult. Going to a East coast CC is not going to help with ivy league admissions since they’re private schools and don’t really care about geographic preference.</p>
<p>Also SMC doesn’t extend early registration dates to incoming freshman who are in the Scholars program (their version of an honors program). I checked. After your first semester at SMC in the Scholars program you will be granted early registration.</p>