CCC vs 4 Year. Please Help!

Transfer Students
1

<p>I did ok in high school.</p>

<p>As a rising senior I took a handful of AP's and honors but not too many. I have an average UC GPA of 3.60 unweighted and 3.86 UC weighted. 5's on both AP tests I've taken and a 2080 on my SAT Reasoning test.</p>

<p>I'm on track to graduate, and have been working extremely hard to make up for past mistakes in my high school record of being a bit of a slacker, but it brings me to an interesting situation.</p>

<p>Looking back at the last 3 years, I realize it's not that I didn't care about school, I've always wanted to attend a prestigious school like NYU, Northeastern, UCLA or UCSD and generally worked hard at everything that I did, but at the competitive public school I attended, I went through battles with depression, suicidal tendencies and ADD, an identity crisis, bad teachers (one of which who was arrested on illegal drug charges) slacker friends who always tried to convince me to take the easy way out, and bad advice from advisors (one of which who was arrested for a sex scandal WITH A FRESHMAN).</p>

<p>I'm not blaming the world around me for the mistakes that I've made and I willingly own up to them, but every day I can't help feeling that if even a year ago I was armed with the knowledge and motivation that I have now, I could have been sooooo much more in high school and most likely have been a candidate for some of those top tier schools. </p>

<p>That being said, I am on track to graduate, and my school advisor said I can most likely get in to some good colleges like UCSB, UCI, SCU and maybe even UC Davis. But deep down, I KNOW I have the motivation to succeed and be competitive at some of those top-tier schools. I just didn't realize it at the time.</p>

<p>So with that being said, it makes me wonder; ok, I screwed up in high school and realistically am not a candidate for the top schools in America anymore, but should I just take what I can get so-to-speak and then go to a top tier grad school? Or should I consider going to a ccc, kicking butt there with my newfound motivation, and then transferring directly into one of those said top tier schools I've been wanting to go to since I could walk? What are the advantages/disadvantages of each?</p>

<p>Also to keep in mind that I'm not 100% sure what I want to do yet, and ccc I believe might help me figure that out. At the moment I am heavily considering biopsychology, neuroscience, psychology or computer science and then going to grad school for cognitive science and then going to do autism research and/or education. I have worked with children of all ages my entire life, many of whom have special needs, and would like to help people of all ages find their way in life and give them the guidance that I didn't always recieve.</p>

<p>It sounds idealistic, but I really want to help the people in this world and make it a better place to live :)</p>

<p>I appriciate any insight that you could give me and thanks in advance! :D</p>

2

<p>What about the other schools appeeals to you? Is it a name or something else?</p>

<p>If you want to go to graduate school, how much can you afford to pay now? Without going into debt (the field you’re considering doesn’t pay particularly well)?</p>

<p>Can you get the courses you need at the community college? Will you get smaller classes and more individual attention?</p>

3

<p>You have pretty much the same story as me. I went the cc route and then transferred. Though I went out of high school with a biology degree in mind, I transferred out of cc going for an engineering degree after I learned more about myself.</p>

<p>It’s good that you are more focused now and have ap scores. </p>

<p>Pros to CC
-Professors Teaching>Research
-Less Expensive in Classes and Living Cost
-Extra money if your EFC is low
-Easier Classes - (If you don’t feel challenged enough, you could always look on the internet for more in depth information or problems.)
-It is easier to transfer to a UC (for CCC) than if you were applying as a high school student to the UCs.</p>

<p>Cons to CC
-Stigma as being stupid
-Not the college experience with dorming and such
-It’s possible for less financial aid as a transfer…(didn’t happen to me though and you already saved money for the 1st 2 years at CC)
-Intro Classes have unmotivated students that haven’t matured yet (the higher in sequence you go, the better the students)
-Not as many opportunities for research and internships</p>

4

<p>Wordworker: Ultimately, what everybody seems to be telling me, wherever you go to get your B.A. won’t matter, so long as you pick a major that you can be successful with, and are geninuely interested in.</p>

<p>Because of that, I guess I’d have to say that it’s not so much the name of the school so much as the people I would be with. I know that I now have the motivation and desire to succeed on the same level as those admitted to UCLA, USC, etc. and just looking back, realize that I may have severely underestimated my abilities in the past.</p>

<p>Money isn’t a huge issue, but my family still has 4 more kids to put through college and I just so happen to be the first to go :confused: hence why the UC’s are the most appealing to me; providing a world-renown education without taking you (severely) in debt, as opposed to one of the privates who would most likely bankrupt me.</p>

<p>The real draw of ccc’s for me is that I admit I messed up in high school, but I still want to prove that I am fully capable of doing well on my own.</p>

<p>WakoWakoD: Cool! May I ask what changed your mind? Did you get into any colleges straight out of high school? Would you recommend doing ccc’s if you could do it all over again?</p>