<p>Next school year will be my last year in high school. I'm homeschooled currently and I'm planning on doing dual enrollment courses next year at a local community college. I'm not interested in any of the 4-year college/university in the state I'm living in and I want to go out-of-state for college, but my parents advised me to just take common course classes at a community college for the first year and then transfer. That way I can be close to home and save a lot of money(They reminded me that graduate school is way more expensive than college) (I'm wanting to be a dentist btw, so I'm keeping in mind that dental school is expensive.) I think my parents advice is very good and I'm going to listen to them since they've had experiences with college and transferring from one college to another. However, I'm wondering if community college is not a good thing on a resume for dental school. I've read somewhere that if you want to be a dentist, you can go to any college/university and get good grades but never go to a community college. Now do you think they are talking about DO NOT GRADUATE FROM A COMMUNITY COLLEGE or just never go to a community college. I've also read somewhere that community college doesn't look good on a resume when applying to dental school. But my parents told me that as long as i don't graduate from a community college, I'm fine. Are they right? What are your thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of going to community college for the first year? I honestly think there are no disadvantages, but there might be something that I don't know about. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!</p>
<p>What’s your family’s financial situation? Would you qualify for significant need-based aid? If so, there’s no reason not to go to a 4-year college immediately . . . just apply to schools that meet 100% of need.</p>
<p>If you can’t afford college, but still make too much money to qualify for need-based aid, then you’d want to look at 4-year colleges that offer significant merit aid. Do you have any standardized test scores (ACT, SAT, PSAT)? That would help to determine what schools might offer you merit aid.</p>
<p>My point is that being short on funds doesn’t mean that community college is your only option. Also, if you start out at community college and transfer to a 4-year college later on, you lose out on most of the merit aid that’s out there. The best financial aid offers are made to incoming freshmen. There are funds for transfer students, but it’s MUCH more limited. So your money-saving plan might not end up saving you money!</p>
<p>As for dental school, I can’t imagine that starting out on a community college would hurt you. You’ll eventually have to transfer to a four-year school . . . so just make sure you’ve kept your grades up.</p>
<p>By the way, you might be able to take community college classes next year without actually getting college credit for them - they would just be part of your high school transcript. If you do it that way, then you could still apply next year to be a freshman at a 4-year college starting in the fall of 2013.</p>
<p>Starting out at CC is fine. I don’t know where you are getting the idea that you can graduate from a CC. CCs only offer 2 year degrees (and some other certificates), so everyone either gets an AA after 2 years (which obviously isn’t enough for pre dental cause it isnt a college degree) or transfers to a 4 year. CC is fine, especially now with rising college costs, many people recognize it as a smart, affordable option.</p>
<p>@alwaysleah Thanks for the reply! & thank you for letting me know that CC is only a 2 year thing. As you can tell I’m very clueless about COLLEGE eeek…</p>
<p>@dodgersmom Thank you for the reply! My family’s financial situation is fine. I mean if I wanted to, I could get into a 4-year college. However, I want to go to out-of-state expensive, prestigious colleges which I can not afford and i would have to get loans. But, I see what your point is about the incoming freshman having more financial aid offers because that was something I was thinking about today. And next year I am taking dual enrollment courses which counts as a college credit and high school credit:)</p>
<p>Some community colleges are starting to offer four-year degrees; it varies from state to state.</p>
<p>With dual enrollment, your status as a freshman will not be compromised. You are not yet a high school graduate, so you apply as a freshman. If you were not home schooled, you might take AP classes and bring in credit. Dual enrollment works in a similar way.</p>
<p>Our local CC has agreements with several four-year colleges in which you take some regular CC courses, some instructor-led upper division type courses on the CC campus using instructors certified by the four-year school, and some online courses with exams proctored by the CC staff. The result is a bachelor’s degree.</p>
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<p>Have you tried the net price calculators at the four year schools you are interested in?</p>
<p>Note that the usual path starting at community college is to take the first two years at community college (including general education and lower division major requirements) and then transfer to a four year school (usually a same-state public university) as a junior. The same-state public universities are the most likely to have articulation agreements matching the community college courses with the university courses, and they tend to have need-based financial aid at the same level of generosity as for freshmen (but usually fewer merit scholarships).</p>
<p>If you have ruled out the public universities in your state, then this path may be somewhat more difficult, as many private universities accept relatively few transfer students, and out of state public universities are likely to favor community college transfers from their own states. Need-based financial aid and merit scholarships at private and out of state public universities may also be a problem for transfer students.</p>