Are community college courses harder? For example, let’s say a student has a 3.7 GPA in HS, even with the same work ethic, will that student be able to pull a 3.7 in community college? I’m wondering this because I might consider transferring to a University of California school from a Calif community college. Please give me some information!
It all depends on your CC and professors. I went to a 4-year and then transferred to a CC and I believe some of my CC classes are more rigorous than the ones I had at my 4-year. 3.7 is a good GPA. You should be fine just keep up the good work.
A given GPA in college is generally harder to earn than in high school.
A college course will require the student to be more self-motivated and manage his/her time on his/her own with less hand holding, compared to a high school course, regardless of the difficulty of the material. There may be fewer class meetings and less daily homework, but a greater expectation of doing out-of-class reading, less frequent (but often larger) assignments, projects, etc. on your own.
Many high school AP courses take a year to cover what a college course covers in a semester, so be prepared to cover material at a faster pace than in high school. However, a typical course load in college tends to have fewer courses.
It honestly depends on the student. I had a 2.3 UW GPA in high school. I had no idea what I wanted to do. Both academically and with my life in general. But once I figured myself out, I got a 3.8GPA in CC.
@philbegas That is a fantastic story! How was CC academically compared to HS?
For me? I thought CC was easier. I consider myself a pretty smart guy (not trying to be cocky) and I’m a quick learner. Sitting in high school classes and hearing a teacher drone on and on about the same crap and assign busywork was never my cup of tea. I found in CC that teachers assign a much more reasonable amount of homework. Plus, if you take classes that are 3 or less times a week, then you see them less often so you get less annoyed at them (if they’re annoying).
I mean I take 2-3 classes every semester + work in accounting FT + have a long term relationship + still manage to go out and drink too much every once in awhile while still getting a 3.76 (which will hopefully be a 3.8 after this semester anyways).
From my personal experience, a CC was easier for me not necessarily because the content was easier, but because I could work on my own terms unlike high school. I could pick the classes/professors I wanted, the days/times I wanted to be on campus, etc. The autonomy of a CC and college in general worked better with my learning/studying style versus the rigidness of high school. I believe that is the reason why I was able to do a lot better in college than high school (aka I went from a 3.04 GPA in HS to a 3.8 in CC).
In my experience they were about the same. I went to a public (charter) college preparatory school and many people went on to ASU, GCU, or GCC. Some of our teachers were even citified as university professors so we received credit through other institutions. Aside from attending most of those schools, I have attended community college in California (rated #3 in the US on rate my professor). I realize most were in Arizona which is not renowned for its educational institutions on any level, but I think at this point I can confidently answer your question.
I have to say that community college and university lower division (classes through 299) is about as easy as HS. This is as far as non STEM classes go, like English, sociology, history, or communication. Science classes (BIO, CHEM, etc) tend to be harder in my experience, unless the class is 100 to about 120. Those levels are very easy and require the same effort as they did in HS. After that point you’re beyond the HS level and it is reasonably harder, but you get to learn, most people do not drop, and it is fun. Math classes have given me extraordinary trouble. Many people do just fine and I think my experience is a bit unique. But math does seem to have the highest drop rates by far.
I think you’ll be fine though. UC loves to admit students from California community colleges. Once you get to this level work on 2 things: IGETC and the major requirements set forth by UC.