<p>Hey I was wondering how the junior college lifestyle is? Is it an extension of high school? Am I losing 2 years of college life?</p>
<p>No, it’s not an extension of high school. When I went to junior college prior to attending UC Davis, many of my peers were either in their mid-20s or older; there were even elderly people in some of my classes! Definitely not “high school” people. Sure, there may be students there who came straight out of high school, but they’re not the only age group at community college. IMO, you’re not losing 2 years of college life, as you’re saving money and taking GE classes at a reduced price. There are activities and clubs at a junior college as well; get involved with those. I was happily part of two clubs during community college and that made my experience there better.</p>
<p>Your general education classes will feel that way. Depending on your major, it might feel like that too. </p>
<p>If you’re doing engineering and you’re taking all the math classes, physics, chemistry you’re generally around brighter individuals and the material is a bit tougher. That is, if you’re not doing any remedial work. Plenty of people will seem stupid to you that are taking “arithmetic” at 20, 30, or 40 years old. </p>
<p>Sometimes community colleges have an honors program and you meet your better than average bear there. Your peers tend to be more motivated. I found that a majority of people that were in community college were lazy and sorting themselves out I guess before they took up a trade or something. This is where people figure out whether college is for them or not. </p>
<p>You have to get involved to make the best of a relatively unsocial situation. Join clubs and be open to meeting a lot of people from your classes. Drop anyone who drags you down. You don’t want to sit there with someone constantly copying answers off you and telling you that they’re going to look over at your test during the exams. These people usually sort themselves out. All of the “friends” I made my first year ended up dropping out and working some minimum wage job. Sometimes it is hard to get all of the classes you need to transfer and it may take up to three years. As you go higher up in your classes you should generally notice the same people that have made it and should be pretty familiar with all of them. </p>
<p>Honestly though…I regret going to community college. The education I received from my teachers was fine, but I’m a junior now at a four-year and my expectation of what college would be like miserably failed. You won’t get that “college experience” if you don’t dorm your first year or whatever. I tried getting into the dorms to bond with people, but I was very far down on the wait-list. Then again, you don’t really want to make friends with freshmen because they’re at a different stage of life than you. It’ll just feel strange. When you transfer in you immediately start facing the harder material and now there’s not really time to play around for me. It also makes changing your major difficult because you have to declare one when transferring and changing your major during your junior year can delay your graduation by a small or large amount depending on how classes are scheduled. </p>
<p>You’re going to meet plenty of average people at community college. You’ll meet smart people and you should naturally gravitate towards them because it makes school work easier knowing your peers are motivated to work hard too. If you get around people who don’t work hard, it could have some influence on you. </p>
<p>The best thing to do is get your classes and get out fast to move onto a four-year college. It’s a lot more interesting and I find plenty of people more motivated here to do their work. There isn’t a day I’m not studying.</p>