What is the difference between those top community colleges(De Anza, Foothill, Santa Monica, Diablo…etc…) and a community college with pretty high percentage of transfer applied over admitted and with transferable courses, articulation agreement, TAG, and TAP with UC and CSU colleges?
Of the latter, there is such a college near where I live, with lower tuition and cost of living as well(I heard those top community college areas are expensive).
I’m saying if it is worth it to go to those top acclaimed community colleges? My parents are willing and have the capability to support me. I just wonder if it is necessary.
*I have just started looking into community colleges so I may not be using the terms above correctly.
You’ll be fine, as long as the classes you need that are required for you to transfer are at that Community College, you will have the same opportunity as those at the “top community colleges”.
@WhatToDo1234 You do not have to go to those CCCs. As @Aerolyze said just make sure the college you pick has the courses (most do, with exception of some engineering). I’m at Berkeley. Went to a CCC nestled in middle area.
It’s not “necessary” to use your term, but there are differences. They are intertwined so it is hard so treat the factors independently.
At a college that sends a lot of kids to UC the counselors tend to be more familiar with the rules, with strategies should you run into a difficulty, they may be regulars at the UC conferences for advisors so they have someone they know personally they can call with questions, etc. Peer effects play a role too. When a sizeable number of the kids around you are intending on transferring to UC you have friends to study with, you can learn about opportunities or rules that they heard about rather than having to find everything out yourself, it is easier to avoid being pulled down by lower-performing and unmotivated students.
However any CC offers the classes you need to transfer and if the class is in ASSIST it will transfer.
If you’re around LA I’d reccomend PCC and SMC.
If you’re not, I’d just look at the best schools nearby. There’s no need to move to go to a community college— the whole point of a community college is to serve it’s community
I honestly don’t think which CC you go to matters so much. In the end, it’s whether or not you finished the required classes before transferring and can you keep up a competitive GPA. I go to DeAnza College (it’s 45min from my house) and it’s a pain in the butt just commuting there due to traffic. To make things worst, any science majors (bio, chem, and even comp sci) students have a hard time getting the required science classes they need to transfer. In the end, students would attend DeAnza/Foothill (since they’re sister schools) but others would also go to SJCC, WVC, EVC, etc. while attending DeAnza College. I wouldn’t trip over going to a greater CC (if you’re from SoCal, I wouldn’t move to the bay area just to attend DeAnza and vice versa). Just do your best at whatever CC you choose to enroll it and you should be fine. Meet with a counselor and plan out your 2-3yrs to ensure you can transfer as soon as possible.
Like all others said above, it totally isn’t necessary to go to a “top” community college whatsoever. I’m sure it’s beneficial, especially the part with those CCs being close to universities (like PCC having teachers from USC, UCLA, CSULB, Cal Poly, Art Center, and Otis - these are some of the teachers I’ve encountered) OR those having counselors who are really well versed in the requirements and curriculum of translating those CC classes/units to a four-year college because of the amount of students they send off into the UC/CSU systems.
I’m currently in a waaaay lower income area in SB county that doesn’t send too many students to UCs (like 100-120 apply in our CC) and a bit more to CSU because CSUSB is in our local county. Don’t be discouraged. I have many friends who have gone off to SDSU, UCLA, UCB, and especially CPP through our community college. It’s just a matter of having those transferable courses available at that CC and maintaining that GPA. For the most part those classes at the top CCs will be relatively the same as the smaller CCs. It’s just the surrounding county/district which dictates the CC.
The issue at the more prominent CCs is going to be enrollment. I remember spending two semesters as PCC and while they offered sooo many classes, it was impossible to get into any of my prereq classes. It was much easier with my local CC and I am paying waaay less ($15 a unit vs. $46 at PCC). I guess it really does depend if that is worth it to you, but to me it doesn’t seem like it.
*I only used PCC as an example because Pasadena is my hometown and it’s the only other CC I had experience with. But I know another closer CC in my area, like Chaffey, is about the same per unit.