How hard is community college compared to high school?

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Hi,
I’m Callum, 17 and from the UK. I’m looking to study in California, complete two years at community college then move to uni to complete a bachelors degree.
How hard is community college compared to high school? I came out of high school with C/B’s, however, I didn’t study or try and messed around a lot so this doesn’t show my full potential. Do you think I would have success and be able to get around a 4.0 GPA? I’m quite new to the whole American education system, so I’m trying to learn. Does a course only last one semester?

Any help is appreciated.

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I’ve been watching some video’s on YouTube, any many of them were just saying it’s piss easy. Just take the courses that are easiest and have the best professors, and make sure they transfer with the college you wish to apply too. I’m from the uk and my dream is to go to a uni to get a bachelors degree, and then try and find work over there. I just don’t want to waste time and money, going to study at a community college and only come out with average grades.

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Community college will likely be easier for your. People will have other things like jobs, family, etc to deal with

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On the other hand, many of the non-traditional students are much more serious about school than they were in or just after high school.

Community college is still college. If you did not build good study habits and time management skills in the more supervised environment of high school, the less supervised environment of college where self-motivation is more important may be more difficult for you.

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If you were a poor student in high school, then little will change in community college unless you change your habits.

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Not all community colleges are the same. There are over 1,000 community colleges in the USA. In California alone, there are 115 Community colleges, and these enroll almost as many students as are enrolled in universities across the UK.

So there is no such thing a “community college” about which you can say that it’s easier or more difficult than high school. Of course, high schools are also very different in regards to how difficult they are.

So, if I were you, I wouldn’t assume that community college would be, as you put it, “piss easy”, because you will likely be in for a rude awakening.

Moreover, you will likely find it difficult to transfer to a decently competitive four year college if you only took easy classes. When you want to transfer, they look at your transcript the same way that they look at the transcript of high school graduates. If you have only taken easy classes, you will not be a competitive applicant.

So, if I were you, I would scrap your plan of “attend an easy CC, take easy classes, and then transfer to a four year college with a high GPA”. It is very unlikely to work.

The reason that many USA students go through the two years at CC route are A, it’s cost effective, since they can take general education courses for less at a community college, and because many did not do well in high school, but have turned a corner, and are planning to work very hard at challenging courses, and hope to do better than the did in high school.

Why are you looking to attend college in the USA, and can you even afford to attend college here? While international tuition isn’t all that high (about $12,000 a year), you still have to pay rent and other living expenses, and most CCs do not have dorms, so you would be paying rent as well, and rent can be pretty expensive in California.

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There are plenty of colleges and universities in the US that would be happy to admit you. You don’t need to start at a community college. Contact the counselors at the US-UK Fulbright Commission, and talk with them about your goals for studying here. They will be able to help you find some good options. http://www.fulbright.org.uk/going-to-the-usa

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It depends upon the school, what you are studying, and to which high school, which classes, you are comparing it. In my opinion, community college classes are very low level, and are mostly geared to people who did not learn what they needed to learn in high school. And you are right - there are many programs where community college dovetails with state college/state university programs, such that the transfer is seamless. Theoretically, if you didn’t have to work to support yourself, you could finish the two year program at a community college in 15 months, and be enrolled in state college/university after only four terms at community college, which could be accomplished with two summers and a fall and spring semester. Yes, it’s even possible to transfer from community college to a really good private college, if you have perfect grades (easy to achieve), fantastic recommendations, and some other “hook”. I know a man in his late 50’s who went from community college to MIT - but that was in the early 1980s.

Just curious - with the incredibly high cost of living in California, why would you not simply go to school in the UK?

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Also if you are an International student, do not expect to stay in the US after getting your bachelor’s degree. You will be expected to return to the UK unless you get an OPT Stem extension.

Research your options thoroughly before making a time and money commitment.

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Community college students who start in these lower level courses are “behind” in college and likely need more semesters than more college-ready students to be ready to transfer to a university. The lower level courses like intermediate algebra (= high school algebra 2) are unlikely to count for transfer to a university, but may need to be taken if the university or the student’s major requires higher level math to transfer.

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Please be aware that you will be considered an OOS student (Out of State) student if your plan is to attend a California public university. Our California public universities are funded by our taxpayers, who have been paying taxes, for years, for these schools.
That means your fees will annually be ~$42k for a CSU or $65k for a UC. There is no financial aid for non-residents. None. How would you pay these fees?

Consider that these are very difficult schools to gain admittance. The community college would charge you non-resident fees. On a student visa, work hours are restricted. Also, you would have to live somewhere; how would you afford rent in California, some of the most expensive real estate in the nation?

California has some of the strongest and best community colleges in the nation. They are very competitive because every student, who is trying to transfer into our public or private schools, knows how hard it is to transfer in. Just look at all of the waitlists, on this site, for California schools-the UCs and CSUs -where students are appealing their rejections or waiting for a spot and are begging to get in. I wouldn’t call them “piss easy”. I don’t know where you’re getting your information from, but California is not easy to do, either to live or to go to school in the state without having a lot of money and a lot of knowledge.

I agree with others who have said you’d be playing catch-up. The community colleges don’t require a lot of coursework, in order to be accepted into their system. The universities, however, do have tough admittance standards, so you would have to make up all of those courses, required of high school graduates and transfers entering a university system. Just those make-up courses-will keep you at the community college for a while.
A number of universities in California are on the quarter system-10 weeks to prove yourself.

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The community college I went to in California was harder that high school for me because I only completed Algebra 1 in high school. I was fortunate to skip Algebra 2 and take Psychology Statistics to complete my math requirement. That was the hardest class I had to take in community college.

My English professor said 50% of students drop out of her class. At the time my English skills were above average so I didn’t have a difficult time.

I graduated in 2 years, but only 13% of people are able to do that and only 25% graduate in 4 years.

It only cost me $1000 in tuition back in 2001-2003 when I went. At a 4 year university these days that would be $20,000 in tuition. You aren’t going to get much a difference in quality of education either. A English class at Harvard isn’t going to contain some special knowledge you can’t get at a community college. Only thing 4 year universities have over community college would be in the STEM departments where they have access to equipment and research grants that you can’t find in community college.

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@college2005

“A English class at Harvard isn’t going to contain some special knowledge you can’t get at a community college.”

There is some truth to this, but the background preparation of your classmates do impact the discussion level and classroom expectations. CC’s do present excellent, cost effective opportunities. Some CC, but not all CC’s have targeted transfer agreements with your selected college. This is helpful if you wish to finish at a competitive four year university. It may help to identify these transfer agreements between colleges.

I’m a big believer that your grades will follow your interests and commitments. Just don’t jump into courses you are not prepared for… particularly in math!

Good luck!!

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The other thing that Harvard would offer over a community college is networking, but if you’re not rich then you probably won’t be allowed into some elite families social circle.

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community college is way easier than high school, in my opinion. I definitely matured and learned a lot more in CC rather in high school because CC lets you choose your own schedule and how many classes YOU want to take rather than high school assigning a schedule for you and cramming classes for you. I went to a California high school, and California community colleges.

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Well, you need to take into account that a high school class lasts the whole school year. Community college classes last half that, sometimes even less if you’re taking summer classes. So there’ll be more work crammed into a shorter time period. And professors won’t be checking your homework to make sure you did it. That’s all on you.

As a dual enrollment student taking high school classes and community college classes at the same time (in California), I have to say that community college classes are harder because no one is checking to make sure you did the work.