Community College to UCLA: Things You Missed Out On

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
1

<p>For those of you who went to community college first and then to ucla, how did you get over thinking things like:
1. I've never got to experience dorm life
2. I won't have a solid group of friends when i'm transferring
.... and etc.</p>

<p>I'm a senior in high school, and all my friends are applying to top colleges. I'm going to community college. I feel so ashamed like there's a black mark on me for going to community college. I feel like i will miss out a lot for not going to a uc for the first two years and going to a community college instead. I've been restless over this thought for a couple of days now, but I wanted to know, for all you people who transferred into ucla, how did you get over this? What are you happy for? that you saved money by going to community college? Can anyone relate to the feeling that i'm going through?</p>

2

<p>its ok. now i cant deny the fact that 4 year students have the opportunity to get involved in far more than transfers,but its not the end of the world. transfers still flourish here, i know transfers who have become RAs, taken leadership roles in campus, done more than most 4 years. </p>

<p>dorm life is definitely overrated too. so you want to pay 10k a year to live in a crowded triple in a 60 year old smelly res hall? the amount im paying for my double suite room could get me a studio in the rip off north village.</p>

3

<ol>
<li>I just figure that academics mean more to me since I'm a nerd</li>
<li>Make new friends</li>
</ol>

<p>Dont feel ashamed for going to community college. I certainly wasnt as bright as my peers at UCLA when I was a HS senior, but I've motivated myself since then and right now I'm excelling in all of my classes, on or above par with my peers who are transfers from 4-yr schools like UCI, UCR, etc. You'll get over it if you seperate yourself from most of the community college students by actually having motivation and doing well academically. I could care less that I saved alot of money as I would rather have lived in the dorms my 1st 2 years</p>

4

<ol>
<li><p>I experienced dorm life and messed it up by hanging out with my hs friends. It wasn't bad, but it limited me. Now that I am a senior, I have less time to worry about making a core group of friends. </p></li>
<li><p>You have to make friends, as Newton said.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>You shouldn't feel ashamed for going to CC. So many people have that perception, and it's sad. I get it from some students at UCLA and high school students. I just feel its a little bit stupid to look down on a transfer student because how does a 4 year UCLA student look when my friends (transfers as well) and/or I set curves in our classes?</p>

<p>I'm not rich, so I'm glad I saved the 40kish. If you have money, this probably isn't a concern, but to most people, 40k is still a lot and it's a nice burden to remove from ma and pa. </p>

<p>Here's a word of advice. In life, you will have to do things that you just have to do. In your case, you have to go to CC. There's no point in sulking or brooding over the things you might be losing. It will happen in two years, and it does nothing to think over. You don't know what will happen or how things will go. So many people worry about this or that, but it does no good. It only makes you feel crappy and honestly, your attitude and outlook determine a lot of how your life goes.</p>

5

<p>bluescreen, I hate to interrupt your pity party but there's a few things you ought to hear. The problem with going to a CC is your perception of things, and I'd bet your outlook as evidenced by this has caused a few other problems in your life.</p>

<p>So lets get it out of the way up front -- life isn't fair. Some people are handed more things in life (a better endowment, as they'll call it in Econ 1). They have wealthy parents who can afford to send them wherever they want for college, they go to private schools where the counselors make sure they're doing all the things elite colleges will look for, they go exciting places for vacation, they've been skiing since they were 5, and heck they probably have better skin.</p>

<p>The question isn't whether others are doing things you'd like to do, the question is what effect is has on you. It's a choice, really. You can hold your head up high and resolve to make the best of your circumstances. Or you can savor the "woe is me" feeling, that you're getting a bad break from life, the proverbial black cloud is following you around. </p>

<p>Now we could throw some objective info out there about how bad you really have it. If 35 million people live in CA that means there are 270 million who don't have the chance to get a UCLA education at in-state prices. You'll be able to do that. Feel better yet?</p>

<p>And as for that UCLA experience you pine for, ever been on the UCLA campus? Walked by the dorms? Pretty new looking, aren't they? That's because they are, for the most part. Built within the last decade or less. That means if you know any older alums, and by older I mean in their 30's or more, they didn't have those experiences you take for granted. If they were lucky they got housing frosh year, and after that they were on their own. UCLA never used to guarantee housing to anyone. Older alums tended to live in apartments near campus, and one stat I saw said that at one point (I think in the 80's) about 50% of those from the LA area were living at home. Yet if you meet older alums, they probably rave about how much fun they had at UCLA, how much they love the place.</p>

<p>This seems like a disconnect, doesn't it? How could people enjoy the school if they didn't have all the amenities you have been assuming you need to be happy? They were happy because they decided to make the most of their opportunities, and that's a choice that's still there for you. </p>

<p>So you can ask how people possibly survived your miserable fate. Or you can resolve to make the best of things. You can seek out the top kids at your CC, some of whom will transfer to UCLA. You can get involved in groups and activities so that you get a feel for the college experience, and continue your participation when you transfer to UCLA. You can live in the dorms as a transfer student if you feel you've been cheated out of noisy hallways and vomit-soaked bathrooms. </p>

<p>This is not the only time in your life when you're going to be able to look around and say "hey, they have it better and me and are no more deserving". Ask anyone you know, of any age, and they'll always be able to point out someone who has it better. So the choices you make today aren't just for the college years. They're life choices. It's whether you're resilient or a victim of circumstances. And happy or sad, it's really up to you.</p>

6

<ol>
<li><p>You can also... live in the dorms if you really want to (even as a transfer.) Plenty of people do it. </p></li>
<li><p>As for this, I still made a lot of good friends at UCLA even after I transferred.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>So stop feeling bad for yourself.</p>

7

<p>FIRST POST WOOT!</p>

<p>Anyways, bluescreen don't worry about it, I felt the exact same way as you did when I went to CC. But like many others posted here, you could still get the college experience that you want in your third year. I know I had a blast.</p>

<p>I actually really enjoyed my time at the community college. The key about community college is to make sure you keep yourself busy at school. A lot of my friends at community college ended up taking way longer than needed because they found part-time jobs that occupied a lot of their time or just slacked off too much. Just make sure you remember what you're doing at CC: your goal is to transfer.</p>

<p>Personally, I'm not the type that makes friends in class. So I decided to dorm my first year here. I made a lot of good friends on my floor, and right now I'm living with some of them. It was a great experience.</p>

<p>Really, in the end I'm really glad I went to community college. I saved a butt load of money and I still had the college experience.</p>

8

<p>Thanks to everyone who took time to reply to my post. My intention wasn't to garner sympathy or start a "pity party." I am a senior. If anyone here went to any prestigious public schools in California, notable ones like Monta Vista, Lynbrook, Saratoga, Harvard-Westlake, Gretchen Whitney, Bellarmine, etc. they can understand in a way the situation i'm in. I've been surrounded by overachievers my whole life. Sometimes I won't feel up to par with my peers. Now with the rush of college apps, I keep hearing the same conversations of how they have their lives set out, being engineers, lawyers, doctors, and etc. It's hard to cope with their discussions. It's hard for me to come to terms with not being able to experience the same things their experiencing. They have scholarship offers, live in the comfort knowing that ivy leagues want them and they have security in being elc students. I often find myself arguing with why i didn't stay up more, take the same chances that they did, and why i was so afraid in high school. In a way it is peer pressure too, where i often here them make snide comments about going to community college. Maybe some of you haven't been through the same circumstances, but what i was really intending to find with this post was how to cope with going to community college? How do i rationalize this? I've been feeling really ridiculous, being restless at times just thinking about this. All these thoughts just keep rushing towards me whenever i think about this, and even if i transfer i just think my peers will be far ahead. I'll feel out of place. Does time make it better? I'm sorry if this sounds like i'm being paranoid about the whole situation, but it's just frustrating at times that i can't come to terms with where i am and where they are.</p>

9

<p>bluescreen11,</p>

<p>In 4 or 5 years, when you're all done with college, it won't matter. Ignore the snide people and do your thing. Your rationalization should be that in the long run, you can be just as successful as any of them.</p>

10

<p>^agree</p>

<p>like i said i went through the exact same thing in high school. But really if you do work hard and actually challenge yourself in community college, you should find yourself up to par with the curriculum. And really, there are a lot of dumb people in college (yes, even in UCLA) transfers or not.</p>

11

<p>high school students can simply be a little status-happy, is all. do you really care if you're like the students you describe? don't take their snubs personally. maybe it feels like the work that you did in high school wasn't good enough because all you have to "show" for it is CC. but it really isn't about WHERE you go, it's about WHAT you do when you get there!
high school students get ridiculously hung up on the where. ivies, brand names, etc. because right now, they aren't in college, so all they can talk about is where they're going. and they can talk about what they plan to do (be lawyers/doctors etc), but have they done it yet? no. and how many of them will actually stick it out? no one knows.
just because you're taking a different path doesn't mean you won't end up in a better place. it's not a competition between you and the four-years. it's a competition between where you want to be and where you actually end up. as long as you get where you want, no one will care you were a transfer as long as you don't hold it against yourself.</p>

12

<p>If I look at my classmates in high school who went on to top universities, I either am doing very similar things or much cooler things than them.</p>

<p>It'll be an interesting 10-year reunion, to say the least.</p>

13

<p>It does not really matter where you went for HS because in every HS, you will find people who are overachievers and those who are meant for IVY.</p>

<p>Why do you bother wasting your time thinking about the past? I don’t see how it helps you at all. Not only that but you think about the future your peers will have and the future you won’t have. What are you trying to accomplish by thinking of these things? If your goal is to make yourself utterly miserable for NO reason, you are doing a good job. Thinking about “Why didn’t I do this” does not accomplish anything and thinking “I am going to miss (blank)” is dumb because it has not happened and you have no idea of you really missed it. </p>

<p>To cope all you have to do is stop thinking about what you could have done and cease brooding over the future that has yet to happen. When you transfer, you’ll realize that the first two years of a University is fill with taking GE’s and fulfilling requirements. I’m not quite sure how that will make your peers “far ahead” of you. Socially, maybe. Future job, probably not.</p>

<p>If you feel bad that you didn't do something, make sure you use that feeling to propel your success. Not only that, keep your future positive. You'd be surprised how far a little positive thinking goes.</p>

14

<p>I echo everybody here. My DD goes to one of those high schools and she does feel very average. I do not like people who look down on people who go to 2-year community college and neither is my D. I know DD wouldn't mind going to one, she floated the idea many times.
My own brother who went to 2-year community college is more successful that the doctor who graduated from UCLA. This not to put down on UCLA as a school. It's just that it's not where you start but where you end up is what matters.</p>

15

<p>wow... you know at my CC (im transfering hpefully to UCLA), some teachers also teach at Berkeley using the same curriculum as well has having teachers with solid backgrounds including ivy leagues. I only pay like 40 bucks PER quarter. The classes are smaller and I feel I am actually learning things. </p>

<p>CCs don't give you a black mark. Parents make it seem like community colelges are black marks but they are not. Lets see I save tens of thousands of dollars and getting the same education. </p>

<p>A guy in my class got into berkeley, and hes just taking his GEs at the community college cuz they're cheaper. his admission is still guaranteed and once hes done with GEs he to berkeley to finish lower division stuff.</p>

16

<p>What the hell is an overachiever. How can you do more than you could possibly do? </p>

<p>Just a thought....</p>

17

<p>My mom and dad started off in CC (one LACC, the other SMC) and they transferred to UCLA, met, married, and are both very successful and making a lot more money than a lot of their friends who started as Freshmen at UCLA.</p>

<p>Here's what they told me: </p>

<p>Dad: he just didn't have the grades to get in and sort of found a thirst for knowledge going to CC that he didn't have in HS. He had to work and go to school, and was first generation, so his parents didn't push him to go beyond blue collar. His thirst for knowledge grew when he transferred to UCLA and he excelled, and went on to graduate school. He met a lot of people (including my mom!), learned a lot, but didn't take part in many on-campus activities because he had to work as well.</p>

<p>Mom: she went to a good Public HS and got good grades, but had a disconnect with math, so couldn't get up to the level needed to have the required courses to get in to UCLA. She said it didn't matter, almost all of her friends were dropping in, out, heading up to Canada or Oregon, or going to CC. She said it was a time of "finding yourself" and "doing your own thing". And she didn't care what other people thought. She had a great time at SMC, but of course it was really easy for her, but she thought it was a great transition period and a time to grow up and become independent. So when she transferred to UCLA, she had a great time and an easy transition. She said no one knows where you came from or what you did previously and no one cared if they did. Like some poster above said, she said it's not where you started, but where you end up that counts.</p>