<p>So I was coasting through some of these forums, and I ask myself, why do so many people think Community College is a negative thing? As a matter of fact, its quite the contrary.</p>
<p>I'm reading posts: getting a 2.0 in HS, then attending CC, getting a 4.0 there, then getting accepted to Berkley?
what the?</p>
<p>Why do so many people have 3.8+ in there CC? Is CC supposed to be a lot easier?</p>
<p>inform me, please.</p>
<p>I guess it's related to the price...
I need to pay for the tutition in CC. It's free to attend high school.</p>
<p>every person's case is different. i went to a private high school and got into good colleges, but i chose to go to the cc to save money. i did well in both and instead of paying $45K/yr at SCU which is where i would have been had i gone straight to the 4-year, i am going to be paying half that (or less) at UCB (which has a much better busn admin program) in the fall. cc is great for transfering to ucs! it's cheap and generally easy (on par with high school). it's an available resource; why not use it?</p>
<p>when you're in CC you are pretty much an adult.</p>
<p>You know that if you F up, you're screwed.
In H.S. you can screw up and go to CC.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm reading posts: getting a 2.0 in HS, then attending CC, getting a 4.0 there, then getting accepted to Berkley?
[/quote]
People are not likely to tell 'failure' stories, and people in this forum generally have good grades, so you're getting a biased sample.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Why do so many people have 3.8+ in there CC?
[/quote]
I bet, as a proportion of all the CC students, very few students have a 3.8+ GPA.</p>
<p>BUt, I do echo what people have said before that CC is easier than AP/IB/UC classes.</p>
<p>there's also a big difference in people who are more than willing to share their stories and some that are unwilling.</p>
<p>I agree with what everyone is saying: Just because you see 3.8+ people on College Confidential, that does NOT mean that your average Community College student is 3.8+. What you hear a lot of is "I really messed up my first semester, but then I started getting serious..." There seems to be a growing-up period where people realize that this is real and if you don't get good grades here then transferring to a good school will be all but impossible in the near future.</p>
<p>You only need a 2.8 in CC to go on to most of the UCs (aside from Berkeley and UCLA) and most of the CSUs also. The people that get 2.5s and pull them up to a 2.8 in CC and then transfer are not the people on college confidential. That is also why here most people only aim for UCLA and CAL and everything else is "bad"</p>
<p>Also, the drama of high school does hinder the performance of MANY people.</p>
<p>That and the horrible work environment (at least in my high school).</p>
<p>I'm also going to assume that a lot of the CC students that show up here, really care about school and all that jazz. So they tend to have GPA's on the higher side.</p>
<p>Most of the kids I knew at CC had a 3.0 to 3.6. I didn't meet anyone with the same GPA as me. Of course, I didn't really talk to anyone... so again, my own experience is a little slanted.</p>
<p>Also there is a HUGE chunk of CC people that go on to CSU- in my community college most people went to a CSU not a UC. </p>
<p>I guess the overall view should be that what you see about community college on college confidential is highly skewed. There are a lot of people that have a hard time in CC.</p>
<p>Hm, and here I was thinking lots of CC kids get 3.6+ GPAs just by seeing the people who post here. I guess the smart majority of students who really care about school hang out on these forums.</p>
<p>Pretty much. Most CC slacker students won't spend their free time on a forum devoted to school. lol </p>
<p>I did ok in high school, but I was absent ALL the time and was just over the whole experience, which carried over into CC. I had about 8 W's my first couple semesters until I finally picked a major, got into the honors program, and started to realize that I needed to stop screwing around. Plus, I knew in h.s. that my family could not afford for me to go to a university after I graduated so that probably contributed to my lack of motivation in h.s. </p>
<p>Everyone is different, but I am really grateful to CC's because I never would have gotten into any UC's out of high school, especially UCLA. Going to a CC kinda gave me a second chance to prove myself. I don't think all CC classes are a cakewalk, but if you actually apply yourself then it is impossible not to do well.</p>
<p>I've looked at a lot of basic calculus finals and exams from universities like Berkeley and UCLA and I've found that the level of difficulty is about the same as calculus tests at several CCCs. So I guess it depends on which community college you go to.</p>
<p>I've attended both a private tier 1 LAC and a CCC. My experience tells me that the quality in many repects is comparable. The English composition classes at CCC greatly outstripped what was at the private LAC and Soc/Psych/Anthro/ classes on par. The Anthro class I took last year used the SAME textbook as the UCLA class - our professor knew the authors, was part of the reading team vetting the book. He said if we took the class UCLA there would be several hundred in the auditorium vs. our class of about 40, where he knew each one of our names. Same class, same textbook, taught by the professor who got his PHD at UCLA. </p>
<p>There are brilliant professors at both my old LAC and my current CCC. Oddly enough, I have found the professors at CCC I attend to be even <em>more</em> accessible than at the LAC. </p>
<p>The biggest difference, though, is the quality of the music departments. My LAC has a well renouned music program with the facilities, ensembles and faculty to match. The CCC doesn't even come close, though the actual course offerings are very respectable. I have changed majors, so this isn't an issue. The other difference is just the wonderful feeling of gliding along the beautiful campus of the LAC and living in a happy bubble where everything is smoothed out for you... CCC has been much more about scrabbling along and figuring every tiny detail out for myself (zero hand holding). I miss the experience of being at an elite-type school, but I don't miss the tuition. :) I have had to make many of my opportunities happen at CCC, but I think it has made me a more independent thinker and more action oriented. Not a bad thing overall. For me, CCC fits my English major very well.</p>
<p>Annika</p>
<p>What LAC did you go to? Is tuition the only reason you chose to go to a CCC?</p>
<p>I can say this by personal experience.</p>
<p>When I was in HS I didn't really care that I was effing up. I would ditch, miss tests, not study for finals, etc. A few months after graduation (I graduated late) I decided to get my shi* together and actually do something. I paid for my classes and like everyone else says, you're pretty much an adult now and if you don't realize the importance of an education then you're going to continue getting a crappy GPA. I was averaging a 1.5-2.0 in HS knowing that I could easily be getting a 3.5-4.0 but I didn't care. </p>
<p>Now I'm in a CC with a 3.8 GPA because I'm actually trying to get those grades. Some people may stick to easy professors and not even try to get As but they're just screwing themselves up when transferring to a four year.</p>
<p>I agree with pretty much everything said above in this thread -- especially for people for whom CCs represent a second chance or do-over, there's going to be a lot more motivation. You've already screwed up once, you don't need to learn that same lesson again. If you're having to work and pay for your classes yourself, you want to get everything you paid for -- not just units, but also education and preparation. You want good grades, of course, but you also want to be confident that you can go to any other school and still do well, not just sink like a stone the minute anybody makes any real demands on you.</p>
<p>With more and more people wanting MAs or PhDs, too, I think some people realize that they can't afford to get stuck with bad habits which will only hurt them down the line, when the consequences will be more severe.</p>
<p>jk_91:</p>
<p>I went to a great LAC in Minnesota. I got married and live in California now. My first choice (besides Stanford - ha!) is Santa Clara University, which is a little bigger and somewhat less selective than my prior LAC. My husband works in Silicon Valley, so I'm only looking at Bay Area 4years for transfer.</p>
<p>Tuition will once again be a killer at Santa Clara University, but tuition cost is really only a modest consideration. The real issue for attending CCC for awhile was that in pursuing a Bachelor of Music (BM) in Performance at my old school, I had not been required to take almost any classes that would be considered General Education. At all the California public colleges and most the privates (even for a BM), General Ed is required. My old LAC education was 'conservatory' style which meant minimum General Ed (zero math, zero science/lab, zero social sciences). Now I'm pursuing a BA in English and I need those General Ed classes as well as the lower level literature classes and CCC gave me a cheap and fast way to catch up. I want to get through SCU in 2 years flat, and that would have been impossible without using CCC inbetween.</p>
<p>Again - I was actually quite shocked at the similar quality in "stock" classes between my old LAC and the CCC I attend. I've mostly been able to compare the few English classes I took at the old LAC (I've always thought about being an English major even when while pursuing English). I think the biggest difference is that many CCs don't have the depth of quality in specialty areas, like music. I've taken a few music classes at my CCC, vetted the choirs/orchestra programs, worked with some of the professors on outside projects (I work as a professional musician part-time), etc - and while the professors are dedicated and talented, they just don't have the resources OR the talent pool of students to pull off a top calibur program like my old LAC. There were some extremely talented music students at the CCC, don't get me wrong. They will transfer and do VERY well at competitive conservatories - but they are missing out on other opportunities because of the limitations of the particular program. One will find pockets of well financed and developed specialty programs at one CC or another, but that requires some research to find that fit.</p>
<p>Annika</p>