So I am in my first year of Community college, fresh out of high school and I am feeling pretty sad and depressed about this whole community college situation. I feel like I’m missing out on that traditional college experience that all my friends are having like living in dorms, living on your own, meeting new people, the freshman college experience pretty much. Even worse is that its probably gonna have to take me 3 years to transfer. By the time I transfer I’ll be a senior and basically less than a year before I graduate. So that means it’s gonna feel like I’m barely even part of the school, also making friends is gonna be tough, and I won’t be able to fully enjoy my time there. I guess I’m just asking for advice right now.
Try to dig in and focus on doing well in your current school, job, and any other things going on in your life and spend less time focusing on what you think you are missing. Doing the very best at what you are studying is what is going to help you continue to make positive life progress. It will help you make transferring possible. You’ll get there.
I attended CC for four years and finished up my final two years at a local uni (6 years total), all while living at home. My social life was with work friends. You don’t need a traditional campus experience to enjoy your college aged years. Find a part time job and meet people at work.
As an FYI, if you follow the typical CC to uni timetable, you won’t be doing three years at CC, because you will need to declare a major and probably take upper level courses at uni.
Usually a 4 year university wants you to do 2 years there before you graduate.
I assume there is a reason you went to CC instead of directly to a 4 year college.
Be proud that you are still working to graduate despite that reason.
@bopper Stem majors usually take 3 years to transfer.
@lindagaf Stem majors usually take 3 years to transfer. Maybe if I took the right classes in high school I would be able to transfer out in 2.
Ok. So you can still meet people at work. Check out the clubs at your CC. Volunteer. Your experience does not have to be what your friends have in order for you to enjoy life.
The undergraduate college experience is very much overrated. There are a lot of university students who find that they are working hard, have trouble making friends, have lonely periods, and are pretty much just trying to get by. Some students do love their undergraduate years, but many do not.
As others have said, you are likely to need to do 2 full years at a four year university if you want to get a bachelor’s degree. You should keep ahead in your classes at community college, learn the material well (you will need it later), and try to get good grades. When you do get to a 4 year university, the greater maturity that comes with being 2 or 3 years older will help you to do well and to fit in.
I think that you will find that two years at a four year university will be plenty. If you get your bachelor’s degree from a good 4 year university in a useful major, then no one will care that you started at community college.
I might add two things:
First of all, I know quite a few very successful people. Pretty much none of us took the shortest path to become successful. We all struggled at some point. Perhaps the struggle that we went through is part of what gave us the motivation to do well in the long run. If you do well in the situation that you are currently in, whatever that is, this will tend to create additional opportunities down the road.
Also, if you are feeling depressed, then you might want to see if there are counseling services at the school that you are attending. You are not the only person feeling this way. They have people there specifically for the purpose of talking to students such as you. This is what they want to do and this is what they are there for.
Since you are “asking for advice,” here we go…
[soap box]
IMHO, the so-called “college experience” is overrated. In the long run (not even that long, just a few years after you graduate), that and a few years make little, if any, difference.
For reasons beyond my control, I didn’t started community college until I reached 27. In fact, I’m still thanking God for the community college system which gave me a second chance. I later transferred to a 4-year university and graduated.
I didn’t have a typical “college experience.” During time in college, I had to work full-time (or sometimes 2 part-time jobs) to support myself and 2 younger brothers.
I’m now by no means rich, but I consider myself successful: having a decent job, being respected and wanted by my company, co-workers, and customers, providing a comfortable lifestyle for my family, and not depending on the society when (and if) I stop working.
[/soap box]
Remember what your trying to achieve and focus on that longterm goal. Put your best effort realizing that all this hardwork is going to pay of with financial independence once you graduate.
I grew up and did my undergraduate in Israel, and there is no such thing as “college experience” there. Almost all locals lived at home, dorms were more like very crappy apartments (no RAs, no activities or anything of that sort), and most non-local who could afford a bit more, lived in shared rental apartments. I finished two degrees there, and came to the USA to do a PhD. So, for the purpose of getting an education, a “college experience” is unimportant.
Yes, the regular four year college experience can be great, but so can your experience at your Community College. You have the opportunity to interact with amazing people, people who have life experiences that you’ll almost never find in a regular college experience. There are people around you who have raised families, worked in weird and wonderful jobs, have beaten the odds in their lives to be able to go to community college. There are elderly people who have an entire life of stories to share. Yes, you may not go out and get drunk with a dozen 19 year old kids who are just like you, but you can stop by for coffee and homemade cookies with somebody who fought in Africa, or worked on a fishing boat in Alaska. You can share drinks with some people who work in construction in the mornings before school, or stop by and hang out in a backyard barbecue with a large family of immigrants of first generation people from cultures which you only have read of or heard second hand stories. These are experiences which few if any of your friends in regular four year colleges will be able to have. These, however, are the types of people you can meet and befriend in a community college.
Your college experience is the one you create, otherwise it’s just your highschool experience all over again, but with less supervision, legal smoking, and more illegal drinking.
Hi @thaoz1
I understand your disappointment. I had an amazing “traditional” or residential college experience and want the same for my kiddos.
What other options do you have? Did you need to vent only, or are you considering changing your situation in the near future?
Yes.
Where do you find a classmate (me) that went through years in jail and in so-called “re-education” (forced labor) camps, was two-time escape convict, and experienced many death-and-live situations?
You have great advice here but there are a lot of assumptions and you need to know what to do if your CC does not have a counseling center or clubs. If your CC does not have a counseling center and you feel you need it then consider going to a local Mental health or regular health agency or center. If your CC does not have any clubs or ones that interest you then see if you can start one or see if your community has meetups and other organizations.