<p>I just wanted to which cc's in NYC are cheapest for internationals and has the biggest international student population. does BMCC have a good reputation? </p>
<p>The top two places I want to live in within the US is NYC and California so that's why I've been posting loads in this forum lately! sorry for all the posts. =S</p>
<p>thanks a lot in advance!~</p>
<p>Out of state tuition costs are pretty the same for NY and CA, around 6k a year. which university do you want to go to eventually ? if it’s in cali (like ucla) then stay in CA, if you want to go to a NYC public school then stay in NY. I will say this, NYC housing costs even more than LA.</p>
<p>I am a student at BMCC and indeed BMCC has a very large international student population (I’m not sure if it is the largest in the CUNY system) and it certainly does reflect the diversity of NYC. They certainly like to advertise that they have one of the largest minority and immigrant student body of any CC in the US (which would be expected since the college is in NYC for crying out loud). Everyday I walk the hallway it feels like I’m at some UN assembly because I pass students from all over the world speaking their native language.</p>
<p>As regard with the cost…umm if you have a green card/ US citizenship a Pell Grant will pretty much take care of the tuition (depending on how many credits you are taking), all you have to worry about is books and the cost of attendance.</p>
<p>I’m pretty much obsessed with living in New York City, though. How is the teaching at BMCC? How good are the transfer prospects? Could you go from BMCC to an Ivy league. Do you know iof anyone who has succeeded doing that?</p>
<p>I’m really interested in Santa Monica College but i hear that area is super expensive to live in. I figured it’d rival however much I have to pay in NYC, so it all evens out. To be honest I’m pretty torn! I don’t think I will like the weather in California and it being in Los Angeles - loads of fake people everywhere…? I don’t know.</p>
<p>honestly if you can’t afford to go to a CC how are you going to afford a university ? as I said before it is extremely difficult to transfer from a CC to an ivy. A 4.0 GPA and hundreds of community service / EC’s are dime a dozen to ivies. for example less than 5 students from community colleges each year transfer into Harvard and pretty much all the ivies accept less than 50 transfer students total (including other 4 year universities).</p>
<p>While the wording of andrewexd’s post is a bit harsh he does have a point. It is extremely difficult to transfer to an Ivy league school, but not impossible. Most people who attend BMCC usually transfer to a CUNY or SUNY school, but some of them have transfered to Columbia University and Cornell University.</p>
<p>[Mathematics</a> Department - Math Majors and Alumni](<a href=“http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/math/page.jsp?pid=1089&n=Math%20Majors%20and%20Alumni]Mathematics”>http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/math/page.jsp?pid=1089&n=Math%20Majors%20and%20Alumni)</p>
<p>If you follow this link you will see that Benjamin Mills transfered to Columbia but he had a 4.0 and from the writing style in his bio i can only guess that he wrote killer essays.</p>
<p>If you are really dead set on going to an Ivy league school, depending on what you want to study, some of Cornell’s colleges are publicly owned by the SUNY system and thus accept a large amount of transfer and your tuition is subsidized by the state.</p>
<p>If you went to community college in NYC/NYS, by time you graduate you would have met the residency requirement for instate tuition so you would end up paying 20K + room & board at Cornell vs 40k + room and board. This all depends on which degree granting college at Cornell you enroll in.</p>
<p>The quality of teaching at BMCC, it depends entirely on your major and what classes you choose. I am a math major so I enjoy the luxury of having teachers with heavy European and Middle Eastern accents. There are some teachers who we are pretty sure don’t speak English, but i guess it comes with the territory. At the same time there are some quite good professors, you just need to register for their classes early.</p>
<p>hey orangemarmalade, thanks for posting this! I’m in the same situation as you - totally obsessed with NYC, but not lovin’ LA as much. </p>
<p>I know SMC has a really good reputation and excellent articulation agreements (btw -does this GUARANTEE acceptance if you meet the minimum requirements?) </p>
<p>I’ve actually applied for transfer this year after one semester at another university. But I am also worried about finances. Was considering a good CC for the next 3 sems before I officially transfer to a 4 year college. I’ve heard that Rockland CC in NYS is pretty good too, but does anyone know a rough estimate of successful transfers? For instance, I am aware that SMC has the “number 1” transfer rate to UCs. What is the “number 1” CC in NYC (if there’s such a thing)? </p>
<p>Thanks people!</p>
<p>I am not aware of any “number 1” CC in NYC, then again I have only been living here for a year…but from what I am aware, most people usually just go to CC that is closest to them. BMCC has articulation agreements with a number of colleges in the NYC area, and all the schools in the SUNY system. If you have a certain GPA, you can automatically transfer to any CUNY/SUNY school if they have space. When I say automatic, I’m serious…a friend of mine transferred from a NYC CC to Stony Brook, and all he did was take an unofficial transcript and hopped on a train to Stony Brook and said he wanted to transfer. They looked at his transcript and accepted him in like 20 mins…he didnt even have to pay an application fee!</p>
<p>BMCC has an articulation agreement with NYU, but its only for its nursing major :(</p>
<p>Apart from Columbia & NYU, all the 4 year colleges in NYC suck. BMCC has an articulation agreement with Pace University and some other no name colleges in the city. I wished they had an articulation agreement with Columbia 
(Columbia is like a 10 mins walk from BMCC)</p>
<p>10 mins walk - oh wow. Doesn’t Columbia have an articulation agreement with SMC? i guess i’d better go check it again. but thanks for the info bacchanal!</p>
<p>“If you went to community college in NYC/NYS, by time you graduate you would have met the residency requirement for instate tuition”</p>
<p>This isn’t be true for international students! Even for a US student it probably won’t be true. Most states require that you are living and working in that state for a certain period of time before you can qualify for in-state tuition and fees at public institutions of higher education. You have to read through each institution’s specific policy very carefully. Often the rules are different from one place to another.</p>
<p>Colleges in NYC charge in-state tuition to illegal immigrants who can prove that they have been living in NYC for at least one year prior to the date they decide to enroll.</p>
<p>[CUNY</a> to Enroll Some Illegal Aliens as Residents - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/09/nyregion/cuny-to-enroll-some-illegal-aliens-as-residents.html?pagewanted=1]CUNY”>http://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/09/nyregion/cuny-to-enroll-some-illegal-aliens-as-residents.html?pagewanted=1)</p>
<p>Yea I know its a 20 year old article but the policy still applies today.</p>
<p>@jamapelle </p>
<p>All Cali community colleges have an agreement program with the UC’s. For UCSC, SB, SD, R, and M there is the TAG (Transfer admission guarantee) which guarantees admission as long as you maintain a 3.0 gpa and complete all their pre-requisite courses. UCLA and CAL have TAP (transfer alliance program) which doesn’t guarantee admission but gives a very high chance if you have a 3.5+ gpa and complete all their pre-reqs. (It also depends on the major). </p>
<p>SMC does have the highest rates of transfer to UCLA but it really doesn’t mean anything. community colleges are all pretty much the same around here so you can transfer from any, you won’t have a better chance at SMC. the only advantage SMC might have is better professors and more classes (but I wouldn’t know about those for sure) and it’s in LA 
</p>
<p>I don’t think in CA you get resident tution if you are just here for education, but you should look taht up yourself. If you want to go to a university in NY then go to a CC in new york, stay in the state you will end up in. It will be easier to transfer (you will have priority) and you won’t have to deal with classes being non-transferable.</p>
<p>How about cc’s in areas surrounding NYC? Are there any good ones there?</p>
<p>orangemarmalade, I’ve heard about Rockland CC -it’s pretty prestigious if I rmb correctly, successful transfers to the Ivy’s. </p>
<p>andrewexd, what about transfers to out-of-state universities? SMC has got articulation agreements with two colleges that I’m aiming for, so I was wondering if it means that transfer is GUARANTEED if you meet the prereqs i.e. minimum 3.2 GPA on all the courses that transfer (they have a list). </p>
<p>And I have read up about the residency requirements, you would have to be on a specific type of visa for one year before you are eligible to be considered as a Resident. So F-1 visa doesn’t really count. UNLESS, you have a year’s lease agreement and/or own a Cali license for at least one year.</p>
<p>Laguardia Community College in Queens is the best! The location is pretty dead but as far as educational opportunites is concerned it OWNS bmcc! Check out their highly renowned coop program.</p>
<p>[LaGuardia</a> Community College in NYC Welcomes You](<a href=“http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/home/]LaGuardia”>LaGuardia Community College – Dare to Do More)</p>
<p>I’m finding it so hard to decide between the CUNY CC’s given I only have their websites to go on, which of course won’t give me the most accurate picture of what each college is really like. </p>
<p>What I worry is that BMCC’s reputation and academics might not be up to snuff and could hinder my admission to Tier 1 colleges (or even Ivy leagues) should I choose to apply. But the location is really ideal!! </p>
<p>So could you transfer from BMCC to an Ivy League? Has it been done before?</p>
<p>Somebody transferred to Stanford, which has one of the lowest, if not the lowest acceptance rate of any school in the nation.</p>
<p>The only problem I see with bmcc is their lack of any real honors program. Hell, even Bronx cc has one.</p>
<p>Okay umm lets see First off…1. Columbia University Is NOT a 10 min walk from Bmcc… more like a 30 min Express train ride uptown…add on another 15-20 min if you go local…</p>
<p>Maybe you were talking about NYU…but even still its more than ten min… I’ll give it 15 or 20 min walk… which brings me to number 2. … NYU not only Accepts Nursing majors from BMCC but they also accept students in The Community College Transfer Opportunity Program, Early Childhood Education , Human Services/Social Work, Liberal Arts, as well as Nursing Majors. </p>
<p>Now I myself Is trying to find info on the next school I won’t be able to get into the program as a freshman because my SAT score and grades were bad… by bad I mean even a community college might Deny me…but maybe by my sophmore year I can transfer in since It wasn’t because I couldn’t Do what I needed to do…I was just Lazy… anywho… </p>
<p>SUNY Rockland Community college has a M/TS Honors Program (Sam Draper Mentor/Talented Student Honors Program) and Of the Honors Graduates, 97% have transferred to Ivy Leagues such as Harvard, Yale, Brown, Cornell and Columbia and/or Tier One Colleges Such as Wesleyan, Swarthmore, Tufts, Georgetown, Duke, Stanford, NYU, both UC Berkeley and UCLA, as well as prestigious state universities such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Virginia… SUNY Rockland is about 25 miles from NYC… my only problem Is where am I going to live…</p>
<p>SUNY suffolk Comminity College aslo has a little REP of transferring students transfer to four-year colleges and universities to complete their baccalaureate degree. Suffolk graduates have gone on to study at such institutions as Columbia, Harvard, Cornell, New York University, Boston University, and the University of Pennsylvania, as well as at the State University of New York… That doesn’t mean all students my friend… and Suffolk is in long island… close to NYC… but not there</p>
<p>Onondaga Community college (they have dorms) Also has agreements with Cornell University to transfer to…no where near nyc… but all these colleges aren’t in NYC at all … in Fact there is NO Ivy in nyc Except Columbia University…</p>
<p>And I highly Doubt somone from BMCC went on to an Ivy… but hey I don’t know… If not you can be the first who knows?? …Bmcc had ALOT of students… so maybe someone did… </p>
<p>Some other Factors is I guess the question you have to ask yourself is: If I go the community college route for two years and then don’t get into an Ivy will I regret my decision?</p>
<p>How am I going to Afford a IVY?.. Am I willing to go to another school and shoot for an Avy for Graduate Studies?.. I don’t know what you decision will be but yeah best of luck too you…</p>
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<p>Yeah, that’s what I thought as well. If someone from BMCC made it into Harvard I’m pretty sure they’d publicize this fact more widely on their website, but so far I have not seen any mention of successful transfers to ivy leagues. </p>
<p>Well, as an international mature student who doesn’t have SAT’s or ACT scores it’s pretty much the only option available to me… going to community college. Also I’m not hell-bent on getting into an ivy league. I’m just using it as a benchmark for how academically rigorous I can expect the college to be. Any college that has the infrastructure in place to send its students to an ivy league can’t be all that bad. </p>
<p>Rockland’s Honors program sounds really interesting! But it seems that you can only get into the program as a freshman. I wonder if it would be possible to transfer into it after a semester in the regular stream?</p>
<p>Also with the question of affordability, aren’t most Ivy leagues the only colleges offering full need-blind aid to its students?</p>
<p>OrsonSwells why do you say “even Bronx CC has an honors” program? Is Bronx not a well-reputed school?</p>