<p>I nominate Georgia Perimeter College.</p>
<p>Anything with a guaranteed transfer program to a respected 4-year college.</p>
<p>Santa Monica College</p>
<p>Tompkins Cortland Community College. You can transfer to any SUNY from it along with a bunch of other schools including Cornell University, Ithaca College, Wells College, Elmira College and University of Rochester. Of course there are more, but I just wanted to offer up a handful.</p>
<p>I went to Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, and the school as well as the local paper touted it as one of the best academic and transferable 2 year schools in the nation.
They always claimed to have a high number of transfers to school such as NYU, Columbia, Vassar, U of Rochester… as well as 100% of your credits transferring to any SUNY school.</p>
<p>This list obviously does not reflect that…:
<a href=“http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0709.ccrankings.pdf[/url]”>http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0709.ccrankings.pdf</a></p>
<p>I nominate Pensacola Junior College… it’s really big for a CC, about 20,000 across the four campuses, with about 10K+ in the main campus. I’ve had teachers that have come from or even taught at some respected public university’s, like UT-Austin, FSU, and U of Oregon, just to name a few. </p>
<p>And if you get your A.A., you’re guaranteed acceptance into any four year university in Florida… not necessarily the one of your choice, but it’s still a good deal.</p>
<p>It’s probably not the best, but it’s pretty good for a CC in the Deep South haha.</p>
<p>Norwalk Community College in Norwalk, CT.
love it.</p>
<p>The NY Times-- I think the magazine-- published a list some years ago but I can’t find it online. There really seems to be little info out there comparing community colleges.</p>
<p>Here is a link to, “The Top 30 Community Colleges”, part of an article published in Washington Monthly, in 2007:</p>
<p>[Community</a> College Rankings](<a href=“http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0709.ccrankings.html]Community”>http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0709.ccrankings.html)</p>
<p>Here is the article itself, which does a nice job of stating the case for going to a CC:</p>
<p>[America’s</a> Best Community Colleges - Kevin Carey](<a href=“S-CHIP clears Senate | Washington Monthly”>http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0709.careyessay.html)</p>
<p>One of our local CCs, Cascadia Community College, was listed as #2, so they tout that in all their advertising. Here is the specific part of the article on Cascadia:</p>
<p>[Built</a> to Teach - Kevin Carey](<a href=“http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0709.careycascadia.html]Built”>http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0709.careycascadia.html)</p>
<p>My daughter took some classes at Cascadia this year, instead of taking those classes during her Senior year at the nearby high school. The English Composition course in particular was amazingly good - very rigorous and innovative. The Political Science course was OK, but nothing special; just a typical college course.</p>
<p>I have taught for 5 years at a big University (UW, i.e. U of Washington), and 10 years at a community college (Everett CC, north of Seattle). I have been an administrator at a community college for another 10 years, so I think I know what I’m talking about. Although CCs commonly suffer from a reputation or perception that their courses are not up to par with 4-year colleges, I have found that rarely to be the case. As a matter of fact, I think that you will find that most CC courses are superior to their counterparts at universities or 4-yr colleges. CC teachers are generally more dedicated to teaching, and are evaluated solely on their teaching ability. Classes tend to be smaller and there is usually more instructor-student and student-student interactions. In Washington State, as a group, students who transfer from CCs to the UW or WA State U (WWU) outperform (i.e. have higher GPAs) Juniors and Seniors who attended those institutions as underclassmen.</p>
<p>The problem that you will encounter at CCs is that they tend to rely too much on part-time adjunct instructors. In my experience, the performance of adjunct instructors is wildly uneven. You could get a fantastic teacher, or you could get a poor teacher - it is just the luck of the draw. Adjuncts are generally not as dedicated to the institution and commonly move on after a short period. My biggest piece of advice would be to find out who the full-time instructors are and try to take courses from them. I would avoid taking a class from adjunct instructor, unless he/she has been around for at least 5 years.</p>
<p>To be sure, there is a similar problem at universities. Too many courses are taught by graduate student Teaching Assistants or adjunct professors.</p>
<p>Bottom line: it is hard to go wrong taking your first 2 years at a CC, then transferring to a 4-yr college/university. You learn the same or more than you would have at a 4-yr, you will save a ton of money, and you will have a transcript that (presumably) shows that you are capable of succeeding at college-level coursework.</p>
<p>I attended the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. While I didn’t formally complete an Associate’s degree, I attended full-time for over a year and completed the Honors Program.</p>
<p>The College of DuPage was superlative. The Honors Program was particularly rigorous. To complete the program, an interdisciplinary seminar was required. The 100-level Honors English sequence required an in-depth research paper. COD’s Honors Program has even produced a student who became a Rhodes Scholar.</p>
<p>Even non-Honors courses tended to be rigorous. I transferred to a flagship state university without the benefit of an articulation agreement. A 200-level math class taken at the College of DuPage was rejected for transfer credit. It was considered equivalent to a 300-level math class at the university, and the university would not award 300-level credit for a community college course. So I retook the course at the university I transferred to. There was no substantial difference between the depth and the amount of material covered between the two courses.</p>
<p>The Honors Program at the College of DuPage was truly the high point of the years during which I pursued my first Bachelor’s degree.</p>
<p>SMC ( Santa Monica College ) is an amazing community college</p>
<p>Moorpark College is quite good too, they have a high amount of transfers to UCLA, UC Berkeley, UCSD, UCSB and the other UCs</p>
<p>I lol’d. A local community college for me (Southern University at Shreveport) was ranked #3. Wow. Never knew that.</p>
<p>Santa Barbara City College. Excellent all around 2-year collegiate experience.</p>
<p>Are the City Colleges of Chicago any good? I can’t find a single person who transferred other than to Humboldt State or the likes. Any input very appreciated!</p>
<p>Santa Monica College!</p>
<p>I loved Norwalk Community College (NCC). Definitely the best CC in Connecticut.</p>
<p>De Anza College should crack any Top 3 list. </p>
<p>They consistently have one of the top 2 transfer rates in California, sending over a 100 each to Berkeley and UCLA annually. </p>
<p>They boast one of the best, if not the best, course selection out of any community college. For example, their political science department has multiple classes in grassroots organizing/theory–something most four year universities lack. Further proof comes from De Anza’s Kirsch Center for Environmental Studies with an impressive list of environmental studies/science courses(about 20 to 30). </p>
<p>De Anza’s professors are nothing short of the best. Most of them could probably teach at a number of prestigious four year universities(some do on the side like Stanford) but choose to invest in community college education. </p>
<p>De Anza’s unique course selection, professor strength, and top transfer rate makes it one of the best community colleges in the country.</p>
<p>I’m from Community College of Philadelphia, and I believe that students make the school.</p>
<p>Im last quarter at De Anza and transferring to UCLA—I have to say it is certainly the best.</p>
<p>Im also a political science major, and De Anza has some fantastic teachers.</p>
<p>De Anza College is certainyl the best, indeed :)</p>