<p>Right now I am a senior in highschool and I am freaking out if I should go to community college or not. I thought going to community college first then transferring to UCI or UCSD to save money would be good idea instead of going straight to them as a freshmen. I told a friend about my plans and he says that it was a bad idea because classes are really hard to get and it will take me 3-4 years to transfer instead of 2. </p>
<p>If I go to community college in OC area how hard are classes to get. Some community colleges that I might go to are Orange Coast college, Irvine Valley College, Goldenwest College, or Cypress college. Has anyone been to these schools recently and can you tell me how hard it was to get classes at them. I have AP credit in Calc AB, Lang, and some other social science classes. I think these will help me meet the 60 unit requirement.</p>
<p>I goto orange coast college. Ever since the economy tanked it has been hard to get classes. They offered less courses and they canceled winter intersession. Thankfully this year they have actually restored intersession and if you sign up early most classes aren’t too hard to get. Some schools are easier to get classes in than others. For instance Coastline Newport Beach is brand new so classes aren’t too hard to get there. </p>
<p>Having Calc AB credit will help a lot. You have to make sure that your score meets the requirement for whatever university you plan transferring too tho. But still getting into a Calc 2 class isn’t hard. The hardest classes are probably the GEs where every student wants to attend. Like Marine Science or Geology. </p>
<p>Anyways if you study hard, take 19-20 units a semester and with 7 each summer school / winter you could get enough credits to transfer after year or two.</p>
<p>On a side-note. With CC you save money but you seriously sacrifice your social life. How many people do you know in the 2 grades under you? CC is basically years 13 and 14 of HS. Going to a 4 yr off the bat means you’ll make brand new friends that’ll last you the 4 years of college. The dorm experience would be nice too.</p>
<p>I got a 2.7 GPA in HS so I really didn’t have a choice besides CC. But if I could go back I would have tried to get into UCB straight from HS.</p>
<p>I think going to community college is a good choice. Getting classes isn’t really that hard, at least for me. I was able to finish 58 units in 1 year. I get financial aid, so i basically get paid to go to school, which saved me a lot of money. and comment above me is true about sacrificing your social life. It is pretty boring and a lot of people in my class that aren’t my age… I am 18 and most people in my class are in their 20’s and 30’s…or older. If you want to save money then i think it is a good choice. It is absolutely doable in 1-2years to get 60 units and you can always commute to multiple campuses…</p>
<p>Let me be real with you if you are trying to save $$ go to a community college.</p>
<p>Who doesn’t want 2 years of tuition free? I know i did, but then again i fooled around. I did take 3 years at a community college but thats because i was still screwing around. As for a social life, i had one. Its what you make of it. Join clubs at community college and trust me you will have a social life. Its what you make of it. Obviously everyone thats commented hasn’t touched on that Aspect. I’ve been on ASB, Social service clubs, and Honor societies. You make of it what you want. If you REALLY want to save money go to CC. There are TAGs which guarantee you admission to a campus if you have 3.2 or higher (varies for diff majors).</p>
<p>The mode at a school like OCC or SMC is going to be 19 years old. So if you do goto one of these schools you won’t feel like everyone around you is in a different age group. Then again that is why these schools are more difficult to get classes at.</p>
<p>As a 3rd year transfer who screwed around for a year, as long as you study and get work done, you will be saving money. When I got into Riverside as a freshman (I didnt go) I was offered maybe around $5-6k in financial aid. I dont know why, but when I got into UCSD 3 years later, I was offered 16k in financial aid and 5k in loans. Either way, I only have to stay for 2 years and I would be able to graduate on time. </p>
<p>Just dont let the grip of CCC hold you down. Couple friends of mine is still at CCC with maybe 20-30 units done.</p>
<p>To answer your question directly : It is hard to get classes, but certain colleges (at least my college did -El Camino College-) offer honor society that gives you a priority registration. Look into those.</p>
<p>You’re a high school student so I’m not sure if you know this but here is how it works in CCC. You get a registration date and time and you can only sign up for classes. As a new student, you will pretty much have the worst priority. Continuing students will have first priority depending mostly on how many units they’ve completed. There are other things that give you priority registration such as applying to the honors program or special circumstances like being a veteran. But you won’t be able to use any of them until at least your second semester.</p>
<p>I believe what you can do is apply to the CC and complete their orientation as soon as possible. I think it’s now a statewide program where they have online orientation and if you complete it you get a slightly better registration time. They may also offer other ways to improve this date such as meeting with a counselor. For the CCs I’m enrolled in, all this info is available on their websites so it should be on the ones you’re looking into.</p>
<p>Having gone the CC route, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now I get to deal with 15 students trying to get the professor to answer all of their questions in a 1-hour office hours session.</p>
<p>CC class availability typically isn’t the greatest during your first semester/quarter; subsequent registration appointments tend to be much more reasonable.</p>
<p>I’m a CCC student and classes aren’t very hard to get, sure you might need to flex you work schedule towards the end but from the first semester on you have tons of options because you haven’t completed anything yet so you should be good on that, and the professors genuinely want to help and will stay and talk to you whereas at the UC’s professors are likely way too busy and it’s much more expensive</p>