NEED HELP!!!! URGENT!!!! How does community college work?

<p>I am a senior and I applied to community college in Pasadena. I want to become a nurse. I'm not sure yet if I just want to be there for 2 years and then transfer or stay there and do nursing. Problem is in the application asks how many units I want to take. Something like that. The available option are:
-one (1-3 units)
-two (4-6 units)
-three (7-11 units)
-four or more (12 or more units)</p>

<p>I don't understand how the whole "units" thing works though. Can you please explain to me what units are and how they work in college. Also any advice? Please let me know.</p>

<p>First off, most community colleges offer two year programs leading to an Associate’s degree. After that you transfer to a four year college to do two more years. A few CC’s are beginning to offer 4 year degrees though. If you are able to, I recommend you download the catalog and read everything from the first page to the last. That is where you will find tons of information and get all your questions addressed, if not completely answered. I don’t know about units - I think it correlates to credits earned at other schools. Again, read the catalog.</p>

<p>1 unit is equal to a credit hour (approximately 1 hour of lecture, or a longer lab period)
A typical class is generally 3 units–hence the way it is broken down above, but some can vary from 1-6 depending on how much time you’re spending in lectures, the workload, the subject matter such as if it is a physical activity class, and so on.</p>

<p>On the Semester system, units also tell you of your standing:
0-14 first semester freshman
15-29 second semester freshman
30-44 first semester sophomore (and so on in increments of 15 units, but in community college, sophomore standing is the highest you generally go until you get graduate status).
A total of 60 with all of your graduation requirements done is typically what it takes for an AA/AS degree.
A four year college is typically 120 units (and this holds for a nursing degree)</p>

<p>At community colleges, I can say people generally take 12-13 units vs the 15 which is on target to finish in 2 years and end up going 5 semesters.</p>

<p>So 12 units is about 4 college classes, which highly vary in amount of time and effort that you have to spend on it.</p>

<p>What is normal for a college freshman who is working to take? 3 classes or 4?</p>

<p>I think your applying early decision. Try talking to a counselor caz fall classes aren’t available yet. Maybe in April and you’ll also need to take an assessment test for math & English so seriously study!</p>

<p>Yes I am because I’m still waiting omg answers from a university which I don’t think I’m getting accepted. I just really want to know about what to do if I go to community college because I dot know much about how it works there.</p>

<p>Still 12+ units if you’re working less than 20 hours.
I’d recommend at least 12 units which in financial aid terms is considered “full time.”
Considering that, take at least 4 classes (some may be more than 3 units), because if you go slower it can delay graduation or… People typically take as many units as they can even if they have to add filler courses because it’ll allow them class standing priority to get access to the courses they want.</p>

<p>You may get a sense of how hard a class is at the start of college by the syllabus / first week and often you can drop for the full refund if you do it early enough.</p>

<p>I will take 4 classes then. what if i want to major in nursing? Do i start those classes my sophomore year? I tried contacting the people at PCC by email but I haven’t gotten any responses back.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Call during business hours.</p>

<p>It sounds like you have a lot of questions, and a lot of them are specific to your school. I would suggest going in and speaking to a counselor… bring a list of questions, sit down with someone, talk through what exactly your goals are and what you should be doing, what classes they think you should be taking, etc. They’ll know a lot more than us, and it’ll get you clearer and more concise answers.</p>

<p>Assuming you’re referring specifically to Pasedena City College: [Counseling</a> and Career Services - Pasadena City College](<a href=“http://www.pasadena.edu/studentservices/counseling/index.cfm?dept=counsel]Counseling”>http://www.pasadena.edu/studentservices/counseling/index.cfm?dept=counsel)</p>

<p>It sounds like you’re required to go to a group counseling session before you register, that should help sort out scheduling. You might look into online [url="&lt;a href="http://www.pasadena.edu/orientation/“]orientation[/url”&gt;http://www.pasadena.edu/orientation/"]orientation[/url</a>], which should give you more guidance on CC in general.</p>

<p>There’s also online counseling, along with a [url="&lt;a href="http://www.pasadena.edu/Departments/faqs-v2.cfm?Dept=counsel"]FAQ[/url"&gt;http://www.pasadena.edu/Departments/faqs-v2.cfm?Dept=counsel"]FAQ[/url</a>], which contains helpful information, such as “What is a unit?” and “How do I know what classes to take?”.</p>

<p>You should take a good, long look at the school website. Get familiar with it, it’s a great tool. It also contains answers to a lot of questions, like what to take for nursing, GE requirements, probably transfer information, advising/counselors, etc.</p>