I really HATE high school, and I am so relieved that it is my last year. While I am not a terrible student, and my GPA is a 3.2 - I believe for my own benefit that attending CC would be softer on my GPA as I may end up wanting to attend law school and if I manage to mess up academically in my freshmen year in college, well then I’m screwed if the goal is to be admitted to a law school. I was just told that CC is better for transition and while I try to disregard what educators say most of the time, the only reason why I am taking it into consideration is because of my poor math and science skills, which I realize will be mandatory in my first year. However, I have read somewhere that maybe I could get that waived somewhere through my IEP as I do have special needs (Tourette’s Syndrome and Dyspraxia), I am not in special education though which could make it harder to get remedial maths waived.
I mostly hate high school because of these idiotic teachers telling you what to do, requiring you to do extremely stupid stuff. I’m not a fan of it. I come to school to learn, and I can tell you that I haven’t learned a darn thing. Everything I’ve learned since sixth grade has been online, unfortunately.
I really hope that college, and community college is different in regards to independence. I’d be much happier just attending classes, doing assigned work, handing it in, getting a grade and that’s it. Not this crap that I’m doing now.
So yeah my two questions are in what ways are community college and high school different? (I’ve also heard that you get less hours of classes per week than high school, which is a relief if it were to be true, which I hope is), and my other question would be: how could I manage to get excused for remedial maths?
Community college is college in terms of academic expectations – fewer class hours, but more expectation that you will manage your own time and be self-motivated to do the readings, assignments, and projects without the teacher helicoptering you like in high school.
You can get excused from remedial math by learning math well enough to pass the placement tests. Here are some sample placement tests to help you determine where you are with respect to math:
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/rur_index.html
http://math.tntech.edu/e-math/placement/index.html
https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/placement-exam
“idiotic teachers telling you what to do, requiring you to do extremely stupid stuff.” I don’t want to be curt, but that’s how life is. There’s a surprising need to conform, if you want the usual path- college, law school, satisfactory work. I’m suggesting you find your “glass half full.”
Comm college profs will still assign work that may not meet your own preferences. The colleges may have various course requirements for majors and to graduate. Yes, you will manage your time, but per their goals. And that can include more than “just attending classes, doing assigned work, handing it in, getting a grade and that’s it.”
So, the step is to explore your local cc and see how it operates. there are some that cater, eg, to working folks or older college students and adjust to their needs.
Well I only took Algebra and my score is so low and I have zero patience for any sort of math.
What I cant understand is: if my major and career path has absolutely ZERO to do with math – why the hell do I have to take it? I’m paying with my own money, I think I have the right to choose what courses I’d like to take rather than some silly stupid educators deciding for me when they’re handling my money. It’s pretty insane and it will be a challenge for me because I am extremely learning disabled in math and unfortunately as much as I try, I just cant do it. I’m great in every other subject, but mathematics.
You have the right to just take random courses, if a cc allows that. They have the right to tell you you did not meet their degree requirements. You can take online classes, only the ones that interest you. Will this self styled education get you to your life goals? Think about it.
If I were to take online classes, how would that work? Would that still equate to me being able to get a degree?
My daughter has dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia, @Foxglacier, so I understand your struggles. However, just because something is difficult doesn’t mean it’s impossible. If your major isn’t math related, you probably won’t have to take more than one math class and the college will give you a placement test to figure out which one is the best fit. If you need help, you can go to the teacher’s office hours and visit the math lab. I think you’d have to be diagnosed with dyscalculia to get a waiver for math class. My daughter doesn’t intend to get any waivers. She’d rather space classes out, if necessary, so she can really learn the material.
I’ve attended several schools (community college, a couple of private universities, and a state public) and I liked all of them. Some of the smartest professors I ever met were at the cc. They loved their field and were committed to helping their students succeed. If you can’t afford to attend a 4-year school from the beginning, I’d recommend attending a cc first, but do your best to take a well rounded curriculum. Classes don’t have to be limited to your major for you to get some benefit from them. Take a good look at finances though; the best aid comes from the colleges but goes primarily to freshmen. Transfer students don’t get much.
My dual enrollment high school son had good experiences at community college. It is definitely not like high school, though you do have students who don’t want to be there, and there are some profs who aren’t the nicest or most helpful. But that will be the case no matter where you go or what you do.
If you go the CC route (or even university route) be sure to work closely with Student Support Services, or whatever they call it at your school, to figure out how to obtain accommodations.
Hi there Austin. I really do appreciate your comment, coming from a parent as yourself. It is a struggle for me daily with my Tourette’s and unfortunately I lost two years of school through middle school because of how bad my twitches were. They’re still awful, but I just cope and hopefully my dad will get me a dog already as it’s extremely therapeutic and helpful for me just to pet. The Tourette’s makes a lot of things difficult such as paying attention and since it is so hard to pay attention, it is so hard to take in information unless I am really interested. I also have mild Aspergers and I’ve been obsessed with business, finance and real estate since I was nine and my intentions are to either study business and become a small business owner with intentions of making it big or become a lawyer.
I really do appreciate your reply and you sharing your experience with me, it does help and thank you again.
Off topic: I do apologize for coming across as rude and sounding like I don’t want to learn, but when you have so many obstacles – it becomes hard to motivate yourself. I have no problem attending college, but the thought of more math just irks me, quite frankly. I do want to learn, and absolutely do I want an education.
Hi there SouthFlorida, I have taken some close looks at community college’s nearby and I will admit, I’d say a big proportion of the attendees are what I’d consider to be thugs. However, that shouldn’t stop me from attending, I just wouldn’t associate with any of them. My intentions for college (even for community college) consist of solely getting an education, and trying to establish some connections for business ventures I’d like to partake in within the future.
Make sure to contact the student services office of your college to get help navigating college. They’re there to help. Good luck.
“I am extremely learning disabled in math”
Do you have solid documentation for you dyscalculia? With documentation, you will be able to continue to receive certain help with the math once you are in college, and depending on the specific nature of your learning differences, you may even be able to have math-based graduation requirements waived. That would be a good thing to discuss directly with the disability office at the CC that you are looking at.
It depends on the CC. My CC is awful, with a 15% graduation rate, it’s basically another two years of HS.
Some CC’s are great, and some are average.
You’ll have to deal with unpleasant teachers and do assigned work at any college. You will be more independent, though.
A huge part of college is the social experience. You get non of that at a CC.
I was exactly in your position 3 years ago. I hated high school so much and graduated with around a 3.0. Community college can be difficult depending on the courses you take. I decided on the pre-med route and worked extremely hard; studying became and is still my whole existence. Anyway, I transferred to Cornell this semester and am doing extremely well here.