All of those kids are in classes at universities too. They simply aren’t encouraged to ask questions in lectures all the time.
people in my cc think they are really in a real college, let’s admit that university is way better and way higher quality than a community college. people dont really care about the teacher’s quality, as long as they pass the course with a C, then its fine. I don’t get it, why bad teachers that can’t teach and failing a class of students are still exists in a community college, but i think its kinda normal in a real college. Our school barely care about students going to transfer, because majority of the students in my school after a “college graduation”, they continue with their work, so transfer is not a big thing in my school, very little resources. People claim that they are having “college life” in a cc, c’mon bro, have you visited a real college? without comparing the teachers, the facilities and resources are way far behind from a real college. i dont mind students are low quality, but cc teachers at least have know what students want
I started community college 3 weeks ago. For the most part, it is good (students at my college are very accepting, diverse, and has the highest transfer rate to UC/CSU in the county). However, it is not very social as most people are working at jobs/taking care of family and don’t have enough time to socialize with other peers.
I really don’t like it how people assume that academics here are worse than at a 4 year university, because that is not true. The reason academics are easier is because the classes are smaller and more teacher involvement, and not taught by international TA’s from India who can’t pronounce English well. At my CC, one student transferred to Columbia in NYC and got the Jack Kent Coke Scholarship. That is not something to complain about.
Damn, this thread doesn’t make me feel better…
(Starting CC this fall)
You guys have any advice to navigating CC as an incoming student?
Good job using a stereotype to fight a stereotype.
I took a CC class over the summer – Calc 3. It was an easy A for me and a few others in the class. Other people struggled on the open-note-open-book-open-partner-open-professor “quizzes” and complained about our four-question “exams.”
Lots of cheating I noticed when I took CS classes at one CC. Yet these kids wanted to transfer to Berkeley Computer Science. The class was so easy too. The professor spoon fed everything.
This thread is awful. Community college is going to have a ton of people at different levels of comprehension, ages, background, academic history, and purpose for being there. Some kids are there right after high school because their parents are making them go, some are older students trying to get their life back together, some are students who already go to a UC and need to clear some prereqs, some are there because they just want to learn new stuff and enrich their lives or because their job asked them to become certified in something. There’s going to be an imbalance of learning levels so the teacher is going to have to answer “dumb” questions and repeat stuff, and it might bother you, but some people need that to happen for them so they can learn along the way. If you don’t like being in an environment where there might be kids who you think are less intelligent than you are, or less serious about their education than you are, then I don’t know what to tell you - don’t go? Stay home? Go to a different school? Get over yourself? Or keep your head down and do your work and transfer. The world is full of people that are different than you.
My DS has been in a community college as a high school student, dual enrolled, and I was actually impressed at all the opportunities and activities for students. Also, the administration seems more responsive in certain ways, than the university where he has also dual enrolled, because they are smaller and know him better.
I have seen a number of really motivated CC students, and I give them so much credit. One guy, in particular, had been in the military. He was leading Phi Theta Kappa if I remember correctly. He encouraged the students to take advantages of the opportunities. He was very kind to my son even though he was a little older and more mature.
It really is what you make of it, at least here in Florida anyway. I’m grateful for the CC system.
Some kids do well at CC. But the one that I observed at this particular CC were kids that didn’t go to university right after high school.
Military and older students are in different category. They are more matured students.
CC is what one makes of it. It is very much possible to get a good education at a CC, but it won’t be given on a silver platter.
re: “I really don’t like it how people assume that academics here are worse than at a 4 year university, because that is not true. The reason academics are easier is because the classes are smaller and more teacher involvement, and not taught by international TA’s from India who can’t pronounce English well. At my CC, one student transferred to Columbia in NYC and got the Jack Kent Coke Scholarship. That is not something to complain about.”
If the academics were as hard at a CC as they are at a 4-year university, then people would not struggle in academics after they transfer - but that is not the case.
Academics are easier at CC because classes are graded much more leniently. I am unconvinced that a CC education is comparable to a 4-year education.
Is that your opinion, @Goldencub, or do you have sources to back it up?
I would like to add my experience. I started community college at age 26 after dropping out of high school and working low wage jobs. I took it very seriously and followed , I took all the required pre nursing courses. I was accepted into a BSN program as a junior. I know have a MSN as nurse practitioner. I could not get accepted to the University I received my BSN from because all I had was a GED. Community college accepted me with a GED. I was a very serous student and met lots of other pre-nursing students. We all studied together and pushed each. I am thankful for my time at community college. Also I would like to say I was as prepared for the nursing program as the students who did their freshmen and sophomore years at the university.
I go to a community college, and sometimes the courses you take at CC are much harder than UC. Esspaiclly my Marco class.
Have you taken college classes anywhere other than your CC, NASA??
@austinmshauri it’s simple logic - there wouldn’t be any struggling/adjustment period if CC courses were as hard as most 4-year courses, on average.
Everything I say is my opinion, but I have taken CC courses and one Cal course. The latter was certainly more rigorous than the average CC course that I’ve taken.
So no, I don’t have any sources other than my experience. I agree with @bodangles’ position.
It is incredibly hard to compare CC to UC classes.
For one, it is unlikely that a person will have taken BOTH classes (i.e Intro Psych at CC and Intro Psych at UC) since they will already have credit for one.
Second, CC classes are all lower division, and most transfers start taking upper division classes when they transfer. So it might just be that UD classes are harder and not a CC vs UC difficulty question.
I agree with what someone said above, that CC students are incredibly diverse and have tons of differing motivations for being in that class. Some are non trads, some straight out of HS, some are just taking classes for enrichment, so it would be unfair to generalize all CC students the same way.
@luckie1367 Eh. I took Intro to Psych at my local CC from Professor X, and my friend took the same class at a UC from the same Professor X (they teach at multiple schools) - to make things short, he was much more lenient with us. The material was more or less the same, but the grading scale was different - and it does seem that expectations are higher at a UC, in general. So, eh. It’s not about CC students, it’s mostly about the quality of education that one gets at a CC - it is good, but it’s usually not as good as that of a 4-year. My opinion, I suppose.
What I hate about community college is that society thinks that students who go to CC are lazy, unmotivated, and poor. I have been a student at CC for a month, and that is far from the truth. There are success stories of students who did poorly in high school, got the help they needed at CC, and became rockstars later in life.
But really, i wouldn’t use hate as much as I would like to say “annoying”
- Parking
- Waitlists for classes
- Crappy food
- Social Scene = Dead
- Recreational Activities on Campus = Rare
Students here basically expect to get their shit done in 2 years and move the hell out, and also people go here while juggling jobs because of reality check: not everyone is rich. My family is well off financially and did pretty well in high school, but i chose community college because I am too immature, emotionally incapable, and unfocused of going to a 4 year university.