<p>What should I expected out of community college? What classes should I take for my first year at community college? HOw to maximaze the social life there?</p>
<p>Most important thing to keep in consideration during your tenure as a community college student is time management. Just remember that and you should be fine.</p>
<p>Expect community college to be much like high school, except you have many more responsibilities and classes cost money. </p>
<p>Test your academic comfort zone and fiddle around with your schedule (which should be geared towards your most inclined intellectual interest). Take a plethora of classes so you don't end up with all Math/English classes towards the end of your time at a CCC. </p>
<p>Balance is key. Don't just fraternize with your classmates, as your classwork and grade comes first. keep that in mind.</p>
<p>From my experience, talk to a counselor and set out a 2 year schedule plan. If you don't have counselors who are willing to do this, it shouldn't be that difficult.</p>
<p>You have to complete the IGETC plan if you wish to transfer to a University of California institution. IGETC is a set list of classes for each section of study that fulfill the undergraduate work that would normally be done at the UC.</p>
<p>There are several different sections to the IGETC: English Communication, Mathematical Concepts and Quantitative Reasoning, Arts and Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences, etc. You will have to complete the required courses for each section.</p>
<p>For example; for the Arts and Humanities section has several different classes to complete the section. You can pick music history, art history, intro humanities, etc. This has to be done for each section.</p>
<p>You also need to complete the L & S requirements for your major at the university you plan to attend. These are the courses that they believe fulfill the undergraduate work for your major. Each school has different courses that it requires. Remember, you don't have to complete all the L & S requirements. However, it does help on your application. Also, try to pick some courses that complete the L & S requirements for multiple schools. You can find this out at <a href="http://www.assist.org%5B/url%5D">www.assist.org</a></p>
<p>All these courses should be laid out in a plan. You don't want to be pushing the last semester to complete all the requirements. Trust me, I have to do this semester because I had to switch my major from English to Political Science. I am taking 22 units. That is a lot of classes!</p>
<p>I found it beneficial to take some IGETC classes that maximize the potential of my major. I didn't plan on this happening. It just did. For example; I am now a political science major. I took psychology, history, and economics courses. These are all great extra classes for political science.</p>
<p>Also, check with your counselor to see what courses are needed to get the A.A. that you want.</p>
<p>So this is how it will look...</p>
<p>You will get an IGETC sheet that should look like this:</p>
<p>---English Communication---</p>
<br>
<p>Class option 1 Class option 2 Class option 3</p>
<br>
<p>From each section you will need to pick out classes that fulfills your L & S requirements. Then you will need to complete the requirements amount of courses from each section.</p>
<p>I would also suggest you do some extra curricular work. Maybe join a club or volunteer.</p>
<p>I hope this helps.</p>
<p>well put, TheCalifornialife</p>
<p>Thanks, CCstudent88 :)</p>
<p>watch out with counselors, though. if you're smart enough AND do enough research regarding what school you want to transfer to, then you don't need a counselor.</p>
<p>this is just MY experience too, but counselors at my school apparently help alot of the older, less-successful students who have no other goals than to finish with an A.A. and get back to work.. so when i first started at my cc and talked to several different counselors, they really didn't know how to react/what to do, when i said i higher goals and wanted to transfer to USC/UC. they just gave me a copy of IGETC (which i already had) and tried to help me plan around that.</p>
<p>but i could've done that by myself. and i did.</p>
<p>do not rely on your counselors sometimes they dont know jack about the transfer process. I have done all the research by myself and take classes based on what i know. I have never ever made an appointment with a counselor to talk about what classes i have to take. i just do not trust them enough. Some do not even know about the programs that facilitate students to transfer from ccc to 4 year.</p>
<p>I had that problem too. Luckily a couple of the counselors were honors counselors. They helped me plan my classes. The problem was, I wasn't informed that I needed 3 semesters of Spanish. This is why I switched the a political science major. I'm glad now. I went into English thinking I would be writing a lot. I love to creatively write. The problem was, it was mostly reading. I like to read... stuff that I enjoy. I didn't normally pick up things like The Slaughter House Five. I normally pick up political and historical novels.</p>
<p>One of the regular counselors actually gave me a contact lead to a UCSB counselor. That was awesome!</p>
<p>If you do talk to a counselor, make sure you double check things for yourself. They are human too and do make mistakes.</p>
<p>Also, check and see if anyone specializes in the transferring process.</p>
<p>If all else fails, we are just as much as help (with transferring). The school counselor is more proficient with their policies; transferring options and what nots.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone.... that is very useful. If you have any advice keep on posting. Oh yeah, what is L & S requirement?</p>
<p>If you go from high school straight into a 4 year university, you take undergraduate work in your major field. In order to fulfill these courses that you won't be taking at a 4 year university, they create a course list called L & S requirements.</p>
<p>Go to <a href="http://www.assist.org%5B/url%5D">www.assist.org</a>
Find the UC you want to attend on the list.
Then on the next list find your community college.
Find your major on the list.</p>
<p>It should then take you to the classes that they require from you for that major. Some schools lists are not updated. I would contact either your counselor and/or the school you plan on transferring to counselor.</p>