Hey guys,
I just wanted to go on here to rant a bit. I’m a junior in college now. I went to a 4year, good reputation, university on a scholarship. I left because I hated it, and decided to attend a local community college.
I live in an affluent area where going to community college isn’t even considered an option.
MANY of my professors at cc also teach at weller known universities, some of which are considered good.
IT IS NOT EASIER. Trust me, I know from experience. College is college. It’s more about the classes/what you are going for. I’m in business, and the classes here are the exact academic level as those at the other universities I’ve attended. PLUS some universities have a reputation for being “easy” and are 50,000 a year. I’m paying under 5,000 a year, supporting my own education. People who bash community colleges clearly don’t have all the facts. Sure, there are community colleges that aren’t as good just as there are universities that aren’t as good. It’s all relative.
It’s just wrong to assume people are stupid who go to community colleges. I was accepted into every university I applied to, with scholarships. Plus, I’ve known many people who went to “good” 4 year schools, with a bachelors degree who now work at Walmart; and those from cc who are working in well known companies. It’s just an opinion that community colleges aren’t as good, but it’s not necessarily true. It all depends on what you’re going for. And it saves a heck of a lot of money…!
This is a fact…when we lived in Louisiana there were 2 Tulane professors my wife had that taught at the local CC.
Our D went to CC. She got into the only U she applied to, USoCal where she transferred after completing 3 semesters of CC. The instructors she had at CC also taught at UOf HI but tuition and books were only about $1350/semester in CC! She had no problems transitioning from CC to USC and getting into her field, cinema (very competitive).
As a first-generation immigrant, I attended a couple of community colleges in CA a few decades ago. I then went onto Cal Berkeley and Harvard for grad degrees, and I will tell you that I had received a far better education at those CCs than at Berkeley and Harvard. Why? Because those teachers at CCs really loved to teach and that’s all they do with passion. I still look back to those years with fondest of memories. To me, CC is the greatest genius that the U.S. educational system has created.
There is a poster on CC who usually writes on the International Students threads. She studied math at Bryn Mawr and got her Master’s in math at Stanford. Then, while taking a break from academics and working, she took some courses at her local community colleges in the Bay Area. To her surprise, she discovered many of the classes at the CC were taught better than at her previous – rather fancy, don’t you think? – schools. She came away very impressed by the quality of the teaching and the interesting mix of courses available at the CC. Her name is b@ri!um – and I think she offers really tremendous insights.
I’ll add, I also took some CC summer classes while a student at Cal. What most struck me about the CC is how interesting my CC fellow students were. In my Russian class, I sat next to an engineer who was among the first women to get a Master’s in her particular field at MIT; in another class I became friends with a woman who was a secretary in the Johnson White House. There was this giant dude who worked in construction but who had really diverse interests: from New Wave French cinema to classical ballet. There were immigrants with fascinating life stories.
I loved Cal and my experience there. But boy did I meet some amazing people at the CC!
I went to a CSU for two years and then decided to go to community college for a year. I am loving my year at CC. I have met so many interesting people and it really made me be interested in learning again. I wish I had gone here to begin with but did not because of stigma (also from an affluent area/competitive high school). Many of my friends who went to CC have gone onto USC, UCB, UCLA, and other top schools, too.