Comment needed: Shoreline CC vs Edmonds CC

My daughter is an international student and planning to study in a CC in Washington starting fall 2017, I have shortlisted down to 2 CCs: Shoreline CC and Edmonds CC, Would like to seek your wisdom if anyone got any insight of this 2 CCs, Which one has a better international student program and a better transfer prospect to better rank University(UCB/UCLA/UW etc)?? thanks!

I think that Edmonds CC has more support and resources for International students, compared to Shoreline CC. Certainly the proportion of International students is higher at Edmonds. I only know about data regarding the number of students who transfer to in-state universities (e.g. UW and WSU), as opposed to the California universities. You will find that Edmonds has a slightly higher proportion of students who transfer to UW, compared to Shoreline, but I don’t think that it is significantly different. I would pick Edmonds, as it is bigger, has more resources, and more support for International students.

(I am a former Everett CC, Shoreline and UW faculty member; and am currently an administrator at Everett CC. Everett is part of the “5-Star Consortium” of colleges that include Everett, Shoreline, Edmonds, Cascadia and Lake Washington).

@ALF thanks for your insight! Btw is there a web site like /www.cccco.edu which has the stats of all the Washington CCs? It looks like that Shoreline has a bigger portion of students from Asia especially HK? Which one in your opinion is a better school academically?

The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) publishes an annual report for their system:
ayr-1415-progress-and-success-pdf.pdf

They award ‘achievement points’ for student success and student progress toward a degree. in 2014-15, Shoreline’s 8,633 students earned 12,289 points, or 1.4 points per student. Edmond’s 13,310 students earned 19,615 points, or closer to 1.5 points per student. In other words, students are succeeding at about the same rate at both schools.

The most recent demographic data that I know of (http://www.sbctc.edu/resources/documents/colleges-staff/research/fall-quarter-research/2015/2015-fqr-4-selected-programs.pdf) shows Edmonds with 1,500 International students (11.3%) and Shoreline with 1,028 International students (11.9%). I have not seen that data broken down further to country of origin.

@ALF thanks for your information! Do you have any comment regarding the Lynnwood and Shoreline community?

Shoreline and Edmonds CCs are both in similar locations, just west of Route 99, a major commercial highway that runs nearby and parallel to, Interstate Route 5. Many of the retail/restaurant businesses are located along or nearby Route 99. This is a suburban region, where a significant portion of the population commutes into Seattle for their jobs. Shoreline is closer to Seattle and so is a little more densely-populated than Lynnwood/Edmonds. I think that you will see more multi-family homes/condominiums/apartments around Shoreline, when compared to Lynwood/Edmonds, which seems to have more single-family homes.

@ALF I just saw that SKagit Vally College also provide on campus housing. This is one of the concern as my daughter is still 17 in coming fall 2017 and would like her to live on campus if possible. I also saw comment that Mt Vernon has a very safe community. Would like to ask if you have any comments on SVC?

Several Washington community colleges have campus housing, and more are coming on line each year. We just completed a new residence hall (https://www.everettcc.edu/administration/college-services/housing) at Everett Community College, about halfway between Shoreline and Skagit Valley. We also just knocked down our previous residence hall (Building #15 on the map at the bottom of the previously-noted Web page) to start construction on a new residence hall that will have suites attached to small private rooms. This is not a sales pitch, but if you are looking for a community college in western Washington with campus housing and a commitment to International students, we would be a good choice too. You can get more information at https://www.everettcc.edu/programs/academic-resources/international/

Mt. Vernon is a town on Interstate 5, between Everett and Bellingham. It is definitely quieter, more rural and smaller than communities around Shoreline/Edmonds/Everett. The college is also smaller. I should think that Mt. Vernon is going to tend to be a safer community, compared to the more urbanized campuses in Washington. It might be a little harder to access entertainment or other diversions. Seattle is 1-2 hours away, it would generally be easier and shorter to get to Bellingham instead. On the other hand, Vancouver, B.C. is also 1.5-2 hours away. Mt. Vernon is also not far to Anacortes, where you can pick up a ferry to the San Juan Islands, or Victoria, B.C.