<p>So, the whole idea is that I didn't do as well as I would have liked in high school, second semester as a junior already and was wondering if I should just go straight to a mid tier UC school or if it would be better to go to a CC and then transfer to a higher level UC considering I'll have tried much harder in CC. Is there any drawbacks to this plan, I don't want to pay so much money on a UC considering I have no idea what I'm honestly doing. I will have a 3.7-8 UC gpa weighted and an sat score of 1960 by the end of this year. I was originally going to apply to ucsb but now I'm confused as going to a CC and paying less to transfer to a hgiher level UC sounds much more appealing. Is it harder? Should I just stick to my original plan?</p>
<p>You’ll save money by going to a CC, and it will give you a second chance to do very well, giving you a shot at the most prestigious UCs if that’s what you really want.</p>
<p>If you don’t know what you want to do in college, I highly recommend going to a CC. You might as well find out what you want to do in that kind of environment without going into so much debt.</p>
<p>If you’re dedicated, you’ll probably do very well in a CC and probably earn a very high GPA, good enough for Berkeley or UCLA. To be completely honest, I’m biased towards the idea of going to a CC after earning less-than-satisfactory grades in high school to get a fresh start and a second chance because that’s what I did two years ago and it was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.</p>
<p>I earned a ~2.2 GPA in high school because I didn’t give a ■■■■ about doing well enough to go to college right out of high school. I didn’t have too many choices in regards to good universities to attend after high school. After graduating, I made a commitment to never do something like that again. I ended up enrolling at Santa Monica College in Fall 2011 and turned everything around, earning a 4.0 GPA in my first semester. Two and a half years later, I have a 3.83 GPA, I’ve enrolled in my school’s honors program, and I’ve applied to UC Berkeley, UCLA, and a whole bunch of other UCs. I think I’m in very good shape to get in to Berkeley and/or UCLA. Community College gave me a second chance. It can give you a second chance too, but you’ll have to work for it. Is it harder? For many people, not really. For others, it may be. I guess it depends. In any case, I think you can do it, man. </p>
<p>But at the end of the day, it’s really up to you to decide what you want to do. You’re clearly in a better situation academically than I was when I was your age, so you have more options. Regardless, CC can give you a second chance at the best UCs or other universities if that’s what you want. Do what you think is best for you.</p>
<p>If you consider spending years NOT at a UC or other 4-year university a drawback, then yes, but otherwise I honestly can’t think of any other drawbacks. I was sort of like you, I had the choice to go to UoP or UCI out of high school with a 4.0 GPA and 2050 SAT score, but I decided to go to community college for a year before applying to transfer. </p>
<p>Pros:
-You save a TON of money. I’d say you spend no more than $2000 a semester if you take around 5 classes (books, class fees, parking pass, etc. included)
-It is easier to transfer into a UC from a CC than from a HS. The UC’s have different admission rates for every major, where some majors can go as high as 60% admission rate and some as low as 2%. I’ll link a website that gives you exact admission statistics by major for transfer students for UCLA (the only UC that releases these stats) <a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_tr/Tr_Prof13.htm”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_tr/Tr_Prof13.htm</a>
-It is easier to get a higher GPA at a CC (if you actually strive to perform well)</p>
<p>Cons:
-You spend some year(s) away from a UC
-The student population at a CC may feel unmotivated, but you cannot let that affect you</p>
<p>Growing up I always thought that CC’s were a bad institution to go to, but honestly I’m really happy with the decision I made. It gives me another chance to aim for those top UC’s (UCLA is my dream school). I would start thinking about your options this coming summer, and if you do decide to attend a CC, start planning out the courses you want to take for your major and the GE courses. You can even take courses during your senior year to rack up units so that you can get closer to 60 units for transfer and spend less time at a CC.</p>
<p>If you want any advice/help on mapping out an academic plan for a CC, feel free to message me! I hope this helped in some way.</p>
<p>Pros:
- Cheaper
- Less stress, easier to get good grades at a CC
- Close to home (sometimes important)
- Smaller class sizes, in my experience
- Second chance, if you slacked off in highschool
- Cheaper. That’s still the biggest one.</p>
<p>Cons:
- You’ll be entering UC as a junior… so you can miss out on the whole freshman experience, other students will form cliques and friend groups and such before you meet them, and you’ll be going into upper div classes without study buddies or close friends. If your UC has upper div/transfer dorms, that can help with this stuff, but you’ll still be a newcomer and that’s hard as a junior.
- The academics at a CC are hit or miss. Generally speaking, it’s a lot less thorough, less challenging, and you’ll be surrounded by unmotivated peers. In one sense, that’s good for your GPA and stress levels, but at the same time, it can leave you feeling bored. And it can make UC classes a real shock, depending on your major.
- You’ll have less time at your UC… you can’t start taking upper div classes your sophomore year, you might not have time to get involved in research, you might not get to take as many electives. It could affect things like frats, clubs, and honor society eligibility. Depending on your major/UC, you may also have to retake some classes.
- It’s a CC… it’s not glamorous, you’ll probably be living at home for another two years, and people might make faces at you when you tell them where you go.
- Admissions are still a toss-up, even with spending 2+ years at a CC, there’s no guarantee you’ll get in at your favorite UC.</p>
<p>That said… I went the CC route. I slacked off in highschool, failed a couple classes, depression is bad, etc. I didn’t apply to any colleges in highschool, but with my grades I wouldn’t have gotten in anyways. Instead I ended up at a local (Maryland) CC, and later a California CC. I liked the classes there more, I liked what I was learning, and for whatever reason, I was more motivated. I ended up transferring to UC Berkeley, EECS, and I’m graduating this Spring.</p>
<p>It really is a second chance. Sure, the cost is nice too, but no matter how much of a screw-up you were in highschool, if you can be more focused and motivated at CC you can go great places. There are downsides, of course there are. I had some really awful CC teachers. I had to retake a bunch of classes from all the transferring. Transferring OOS coursework is a mess, so is going back and forth between quarters and semesters. But given my circumstances, I wouldn’t change a thing… it worked out pretty well, and I like where I ended up.</p>
<p>That said, your choice is a bit trickier… CC isn’t fun, you don’t get that college experience, the academics are usually worse than UC, and the people tend to be less motivated. So, you’ll have to weigh that against the cost, and the possibility of going to a better UC.</p>
<p>someone should sticky this thread</p>
<p>@bomerr</p>
<p>I concur. I wonder if any mods will oblige our request to have this stickied.</p>
<p>Some really great advice from @failure622</p>
<p>Some more advice directed towards OP: If you start taking classes during junior year summer/senior year, you can definitely transfer within 1 year at a CC. Having a lot of AP credit also helps tremendously; I took 10 AP tests during my high school career and ended up having over 36/60 units needed to transfer, most of my general ed courses were satisfied and I was able to just complete the remaining 24 units needed to transfer in Fall and Winter Intersession, not to even count Spring. I’m a hopeful 1 year transfer, so it’s definitely plausible to spend less time at a CC!</p>
<p>Great objective feedback about the CC experience above! The facts are, it works for thousands of students each year and is a viable path to a top notch eduation. The top UCs are virtually as selective for transfers as they are for freshmen. You will need to perform at the CC to get into a UC - even the ones you easily qualified for as a freshman. Several of the UCs participate in the TAG program which will make the process more predictable but, it is not a slam dunk (most require a CC GPA of 3.2-3.4 and better grades within the major). Note too, that CCs vary widely. Some transfer lots of students to UCs and others don’t. Look at the track record of the CC you are considering before heading that direction.</p>
<p>You are obviously bright and motivated student. At this stage of your life (16 or 17 and a HS Jr) lots can and will change over the next 18 months. You want to keep as many doors open as you can. I’d encourage you to do your best this semester, take the SAT again and perhaps the ACT. As a senior, apply to some schools you’d love to attend and a handful you are confident will admit you and you can afford (perhaps even some CSUs). Make your decision after you’ve heard back - a year from now. The world will look a lot different then. </p>
<p>
A lot of good points in the replies above, but I want to say I’m troubled by this quote from the OP and a few other sentences along the same vein. </p>
<p>A lot of frosh enter 4-year colleges with no real idea of what their future plans will be. They take a sampling of classes, use the career center resources, talk with friends, etc. to make a decision. School is expensive and there is a unit cap, so they eventually come to a decision after perhaps a false start or two. Majors in the Fine Arts and Engineering are likely off the table since it is difficult to change majors into those areas, but just about anything else is possible. </p>
<p>So what is the benefit of doing this at a CC? If money is a factor that’s clearly a compelling reason, but it would be whether you knew your intended goal or not. I have the fear that what the OP will do it take a smattering of classes here and there, waiting for inspiration to strike, and with no real urgency or motivation. At a UC you’d be on a timeline and would need to come to a decision, with the CC route I get the impression the OP wants to sidestep that. And maybe it works out, or maybe the OP becomes one of the many students that takes some classes here and there waiting for a bolt from the blue until circumstances lead to dropping out. In CA the most recent statistics show that almost 1/2 of those that start at a CC end up getting a AA degree and/or transferring to a 4-year college. The goal of some students is an AA degree, so the transfer total is surely less than 1/2. </p>
<p>So while saving money is a worthwhile goal I see a real danger that the OP will end up using the low cost of attending a CC as a reason to dawdle; after all what’s the rush if each year only costs a few hundred dollars constrasted to the tens of thousands at a UC? And end up a few years down the road no more certain of future plans, and not having satisfied the major prep classes needed to transfer to a UC (let alone a “higher level” one). I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but that’s the impression I take away from the post.</p>
<p>Not being “on the clock” to decide or declare a major may be an advantage for some students who may need more time to sample courses in different subjects before deciding. Some students may not do well if forced by an administrative or financial deadline to decide a major before they are ready to, and then find out too late that they do not really like the major that they declared.</p>
<p>For an undecided student entering a UC as a frosh, those on the quarter system may be slightly advantageous, in that 12 smaller courses in frosh year may give more “sampling” opportunities than 8 larger courses that one would take at a semester system school.</p>
<p>I’d say the only main drawbacks would be not being able to get classes (not a problem if you had priority, but my CC is getting rid of athletic priority after this semester so I’m lucky to get out now) and CC being a social pit of hell. Other than that it gives you alot more flexibility and you knock out non major classes which are much easier at the CC level. I have a friend who is EE at Cal Poly SLO and says that the gen eds have killed his GPA and he wishes he was able to take them at CC. </p>