I was accepted into my top choices (UCI & UCLA) for the 2019-2020 school year but due to medical, personal, and financial reasons, have decided to attend a community college for the incoming winter semester. I’m currently looking to pursue psychology as my major and was wondering which community would suit me best? Looking to maybe try to transfer as soon as possible into UCI, UCLA or UCSD.
All feedback is appreciated, thank you so much. 
hi there. congratulations on your acceptances, but also know you’re making the right decision. let me preface by saying i was in the same boat over a year ago now (hence my username lmao-first time i’ve logged on in months) and i’ve never seen OCC so i can’t speak for it, but i’ve spent the last year of my life literally at ivc.
what i have heard about occ is that if you live in south county, traffic to get there can be a hassle, so it depends on what classes you’ll be taking/ your sched.
ivc is a quiet campus but filled with lots of studious people who are very serious about their studies. almost so much so, that in the past year i’ve been there i have made about 4 friends. (ie, if you’re looking at cons it’s rather hard to make friends unless you’re extremely outgoing) it’s a very quiet campus, everyone seems to mind their own business. the professors are amazing, and the resources are there. i didn’t want to go to cc, and it took me a year to realize but it was the best decision of my life. i have saved so much money because ivc gave me scholarships, so so many scholarships. i’ll be going into my second year, with a 3.8 gpa (darn summer chemistry and my first B i’ve gotten), but i’ll be starting at saddleback bc it fit my schedule better. IVC is also a plus because you can also take classes at saddleback no hassle, as ivc and saddleback are sister schools. hopefully if you come here either message me any questions you have or ask the professors or counselors.
now getting into psychology, i can say though i’m not a psych major, ivc has a WONDERFUL program, it is widely known. i have two friends in the program, and i have taken a few classes myself and it is great. Ben Mis teaches a few classes, and he’s one of the greatest professors i’ll have ever had in my life. they also have the “phi beta” some greek name program-no not greek life but actually the psychology honors program. they conduct research every week and are able to go to conferences-all for free. my one friend has become so involved that she’ll actually become a head figure in the club (she’ll get priority registration which you’ll come to know and love-it’s the easiest way to get priority registration without having to join the honors college (which is hard af) ) In fact at this conference she got to meet so many widely known psychology professors and experiments-she met Philip Zimbardo and he gave her his personal cell phone number to call him if she ever had any questions! With all the research she’s conducted, she’ll actually have her name PUBLISHED, which you should know is an incredible opportunity considering that this is just a community college.
as i mentioned before i know it may be difficult now but you’re indeed making the right decision. Only after one year of college so far, i know numerous people who have dropped out of university to come home to CC & i know many others who are already putting themselves in debt. time will fly, as im already applying for transfer these coming months and i couldn’t be more excited.
oh also pls excuse my grammar i didn’t feel like capitalizing lol
best of luck, and if you have any questions lmk
sincerely,
ivc/now saddleback student