<p>My name is Ashley. I just signed up for this site. I reside in the Boston area and I'm going to a CC. Its rare to hear that an asian boy or girl going to a CC. Well, I'm one of those "rare" asian kids going to a CC. Most of my asian family has gone to a University, not most, actually all. And I'm the first going to a CC. Is there any other asians facing this? If so, I'd like to hear how did you cope with it or what's your take on it .</p>
<p>Its rare to hear that an asian boy or girl going to a CC. Well, I’m one of those “rare” asian kids going to a CC</p>
<p>Not in my area ( Seattle)
I have lots of friends who are Asian that I met in college.
I’ll tell you a funny story though- I am involved with a service group at the community college & we always have alternative spring/winter breaks. About half of the students who sign up are Asian, because they live in dorms & don’t have family to visit during breaks- ( also is a good way to get to meet others).
Anyway, I was assigned to kitchen duty for dinner the first evening, & the names were Pablo & Ruiz. I thought I had met almost every one, although I didn’t think anyone looked like they could be Latino, what I didn’t realize that two of the Korean students had adopted names that sounded more American to them.
Attending a CC is a good way for students to save money, international tuition can be very expensive. There also can be good support for students on campus- and CCs are smaller than universities- which gives an opportunity to try things without having to compete against alot of others.</p>
<p>I have had some very good profs at my CC- & many students go on to continue their education to a 4 yr university.
A CC is not the place everyone decides to start out, but it can be a solid place to begin.</p>
<p>The large majority of the CC population in HI (& most HI Us) is Asian. Much of the CA CC population is also Asian. I’m not sure what the big deal is–our D got a great start on her college education in CC and it saved us a LOT of $$$. She applied to her dream 4-year U after her 1st semester of CC & was accepted! There are quite a few threads about CCs & how folks have found them helpful. Not sure why you don’t think Asians attend CCs–it all depends on the population of the area.</p>
<p>Happykid’s community college here in Maryland has lots of Asian students. They choose it for the same reason that all the other kids do: it is an affordable way to start their college careers.</p>
<p>I take it that your family is nagging you about your choice. For the US-raised members, I’m inclined to think that you should just look them straight in the eye and say, “Bite me.” But that really isn’t all that polite, so maybe you should just smile, nod, and change the subject. In fact, there is a whole thread here in the Parents Forum on smiling and nodding. If you read through it, you might get some ideas on handling your situation.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>
<p>Lots of Asian students go to community college. After a few years, they transfer as juniors to the state flagship university and refill the engineering majors that have been depleted when many of the freshmen admits found that math and physics were either too hard or too much work for them.</p>
<p>For example, here are some stats for [Mission</a> College](<a href=“http://statfinder.ucop.edu/reports/schoolreports/school_report.aspx?atpCode=7587&Year=2008-09&Type=communitycollege]Mission”>http://statfinder.ucop.edu/reports/schoolreports/school_report.aspx?atpCode=7587&Year=2008-09&Type=communitycollege), a community college in California. At least 49% of the 2,317 freshmen and 56% of the 1,198 transfer-ready students there are Asian.</p>
<p>Pasadena City College in California:</p>
<p>[University</a> of California: StatFinder](<a href=“http://statfinder.ucop.edu/reports/schoolreports/school_report.aspx?atpCode=4604&Year=2008-09&Type=communitycollege]University”>http://statfinder.ucop.edu/reports/schoolreports/school_report.aspx?atpCode=4604&Year=2008-09&Type=communitycollege)</p>
<p>33% of 7,253 first time freshmen are Asian</p>
<p>and of those enrolled from Pasadena City College into the UC Sysem, 61% are Asian</p>
<p>To the OP,</p>
<p>The college you go to does not define who you are. YOU are responsible to define yourself. Last time I checked, Steve Jobs went to Reed College and did not graduate. Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was a greaduate of Southern Methodist University and then got his MBA from the Harvard Business School. </p>
<p>The take home message: There are successful people graduated from all kinds of schools, including no-name schools. The same can be said about people who are totally messed up in their lives. Try to do the best you can be and don’t worry about which school you are going to. As long as you do the right things in your life, the God will take care of the rest.</p>
<p>It’s not rare at my kid’s CC. In fact, they have a bit of everything there. Someone interested in a truly diverse experience should appreciate this aspect of their time at a CC. Are you saying that you don’t encounter other Asians at your CC? My kid is taking Japanese at her CC. There are plenty of Asians of various origins (not just Japanese) in that class.</p>
<p>This is one of the ironies of stereotypes, that it can make someone feel uncomfortable if they don’t fit. Back in the day when Jews were the achieving group of the day, the stereotype of the well educated Jewish professional left out the many Jews who might have been blue collar or whatever. The stereotype of Asians is they are all hyper achievers who go to Harvard, etc, have 2400 and 4.0 GPA’a, and of course that is ridiculous. I went to school back in the dark ages with kids from Asian backgrounds, some were the uber achievers, others were ‘ordinary’ students, some were what we used to classify as the derelicts (kids not interested in school, drugs, whatever). </p>
<p>Though I think the OP’s problem could be, if I read it right, that they come from a family of achievers and that could be hard. My older brother was a hyperachiever and in school I was until I hit late high school, and you can bet that was thrown in my face, and my poor sister, in a family of math/science types, was more tuned towards english lit…it is hard, when you get compared, but want to know something? My brother was a great student and has achieved a lot in his life, he is one of the top technical experts in the world on the cutting edge of media technology…but so have I, and in many ways I have outdone him in other ways, done things he couldn’t dream of doing. </p>
<p>You’ll find your own path, and if someone is ignorant enough to judge where you went to school, whatever your background, they aren’t worth the time of day, believe me. Keep in mind that people find themselves at different times, in some ways I was an indifferent student, had my problems with things, and I felt ashamed of it at times, until I found that it wasn’t I was stupid or lacking, it was that I was never challenged, and when I was challenged, blossomed… despite what some think, the path doesn’t matter itself, what matters is what you do with it and more importantly, you find yourself in all of that. A CC can be valuable in that it might give you the space to find yourself, part of its purpose is to allow people to find what drives them, and you will probably find some compatible kids who are in the same boat you are. Asians or any group is a label, you are a person, and whatever stereotype the group has doesn’t mean anything, you are you. If I fit ethnic stereotypes, I would be like either the morons on “Jersey Shore” or breaking legs at a strip club, neither of which fit me (though there were times I wished I could break legs, mostly bosses, but what do you do? <em>lol</em>).</p>
<p>OP, it’s a misconception that all or most Asian students go to elite colleges.</p>
<p>In fact, the majority of Asian students in the US don’t go to elite private schools or the big public universities, but instead attend community colleges.</p>
<p>I don’t know what an “Asian” is. I’m Mongol-Semitic. Am I Asian?</p>
<p>^ You can be Asian or part-Asian or whatever (mixed, bi-racial, hapa, etc.; it’s your choice in how you want to refer to yourself).</p>
<p>Almost all of my wife’s siblings and my wife went to a CC before finishing up at a UC campus. It’s fairly common out in CA.</p>
<p>“^ You can be Asian or part-Asian or whatever (mixed, bi-racial, hapa, etc.; it’s your choice in how you want to refer to yourself).”</p>
<p>Still doesn’t help. Is the OP East Timorese or Uighur?</p>
<p>(Our local community college is FULL of Asians - Vietnamese, Laos, Cambodians, Hmongs, Miens, Formosans, Filipinos, Malaysians, Thais, Indonesians, Nepalese, a few Tibetans, Pakistanis, as well as a smattering of some Indians, Japanese, Chinese, Singaporeans, and Balinese.)</p>
<p>^ I was responding to what you stated, not the OP.</p>
<p>I understood. And define oneself as “Asian” tells me virtually nothing.</p>
<p>^ It tells you as much as referring to someone who is white or black.</p>
<p>Granted, it’s limited, but it is something.</p>
<p>It’s misleading because it feeds a stereotype of “Asians” as high academic achievers, when the actuality (if generalizing) is quite otherwise.</p>
<p>^ What?</p>
<p>The term “Asian” itself doesn’t feed the stereotype, but unfortunately the term Asian has become associated w/ too many negative stereotypes (thanks to Hollywood, etc.).</p>
<p>I mean, geeze, I can say “Korean student”, “Chinese applicant” or “Indian graduate” and the terms “Korean”, “Chinese” and “Indian” would likely bring up a negative connotation; still that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use those terms. lol</p>
<p>My goodness, what a pedantic argument.</p>
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<p>Not at the CC in my area, in California. Not rare at all. My differential equations class is at least half Asian, and I noticed there were three Chens and two Lams in my yoga class of 35 students.</p>