Should I miss out on the 'freshman expire nice' to go to SD to go to community college

College Search & Selection
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<p>To start I'm a senior in high school from virginia. I generally got pretty shitty grades in high school (I'm graduating with a 2.9) and applied to three schools. Two were "reach schools" that I didn't stand a chance getting into and obviously got denied. The third school, West Virginia, I got accepted. </p>

<p>Now, WVU is a good school, but it had a very negative stigma around it being for inbreds and people that only want to party. I do want to party but not like that's a deciding factor where I want to go. I personally believe I CAN do better than wvu, but I'm sure I'd fit in there. </p>

<p>So if your unfamiliar with community colleges, basically if I get good grades, my high school record gets erased and colleges see I'm a 4.0 college student and can more than likely get accepted to very good schools. </p>

<p>So what I'm getting at is my brother graduated from college 2 years ago and is in the navy and living in San Diego. He Is moving to a big house on the beach with a roommate and really REALLY wants me to move to San Diego and go to community college and live with him and then transfer to a good school next year. </p>

<p>In case you've never been to San Diego, it's beautiful. Literally perfect. The weather girls food everything. </p>

<p>So is missing out on the 'freshman experience' worth potentially going to a good school in a year. I really feel like I'll be missing out on a great year of my life. </p>

<p>Also money isn't an issue. Well kind of it is. My parents are giving me one semester and if I fuck up I have to pay them back (wvu would be 14k, Community would be 2.5k)</p>

<p>I'd also have to work a little next year just to have money to pay for stuff like going out to dinner if that makes sense. </p>

<p>All of my friends keep saying id be
Stupid not to go to wvu</p>

<p>TLDR- should I miss out on the typical freshman party dorm living experience at WVU to live with my brother in beautiful San Diego, go to community college and transfer next year to a better school</p>

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<p>Your state of residency?</p>

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<p>You could also go live with your brother in San Diego, work and save money, and apply to college as a freshman rather than as a transfer. (Be careful: most UCs and CSUs require students to be in their sophomore year when they apply as transfers). In addition, freshmen have better odds of merit awards, so even if with a 2.9 your odds aren’t too great, if you could retake your ACT or SAT and score well, you could try to get a scholarship at schools such as USan Diego, Chapman, Whittier, St Mary’s of California…</p>

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<p>State of residency is virginia</p>

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<p>Then community college would be about 18k…
You’re allowed to take a gap year in San Diego and work, you know. :)</p>

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<p>Where do you see that?^ everywhere I’ve seen says 5k…</p>

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<p>Sorry, you’d be living “with parent” which reduces costs compared to nonresidents living on their own; it would also depend on whether your brother would ask you to pay rent or not, it’d be slightly cheaper if he doesn’t, but I would imagine he’d want you pulling your weight:
Non-California Residents Living at Home/with parents Expenses<br>
One Semester Academic Year (9 months)
Tuition* $2,196.00 $4,392.00
Fees $552.00 $1,104.00
Books & Supplies $832.00 $1,665.00
Food $660.00 $1,320.00
Housing $1,540.00 $3,081.00
Transportation $585.00 $1,170.00
Personal Expenses $1,552.00 $3,105.00
Total Budget $7,917.00 $15,837.00
<a href=“http://www.sdmesa.edu/students/services/financial-aid/cost/”>http://www.sdmesa.edu/students/services/financial-aid/cost/&lt;/a&gt;
Note that tuition is based on 12 units per semester, but a full load is 15-16 units, meaning you’d pay slightly more for tuition. 12 units is the minimum to get loans, but 15-16 units is the minimum to be on track to graduate in 4 years. </p>

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<p>^^But you will be a non-resident so you’ll have to pay out of state tuition costs.</p>

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<p>While I actually think Community College is a great idea, I do point out two things. 1. West Virginia is actually a pretty well respected school regardless of what you have heard and 2…Past performance is usually a pretty good indicator of future results in this case. Don’t assume that you will skate into a 4.0 just because you are in Community College. I always say…“Calculus is still Calculus - no matter what school you go to”. </p>

<p>All of that said, I do think you sound like you could be quite happy in California at a CC and I think you won’t miss as much as you might think if you find a group to hang with in the CC.</p>

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<p>It looks like your costs as a resident at WVU are less than as an OOS student at a cc in California. How are you going to pay out-of-state tuition?</p>

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<p>Where does it say California CC is more than WVU? I’m actually curious. Everywhere I’ve seen says tuition is 5k and fees are 500. I don’t have to pay rent or anything. Also money isn’t an issue</p>

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<p>Non-California Resident Living Away from Home/not with parents
Expenses One Semester Academic Year (9 months)
Tuition* 2,196.00 $4,392.00
Fees $552.00 $1,104.00
Books & Supplies $832.00 $1,665.00
Food $1,782.00 $3,564.00
Housing $3,699.00 $7,398.00
Transportation $657.00 $1,314.00
Personal Expenses $1,422.00 $2,844.00
Total Budget $11,140.00 $22,281.00 </p>

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<p>^^^^^As MYOS1634 posted these are actual expenses from San Diego Mesa College. You will need two years of CC before you can transfer to a UC campus. Even if your brother picks up food and housing and you live full time in San Diego for two years without any trips back home your costs for tuition, fees and books alone will run $23,106.00 (two years). Even if you can find a job which will cover entertainment and transportation you need to ask yourself if you can afford this.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.sdmesa.edu/students/services/financial-aid/cost/”>http://www.sdmesa.edu/students/services/financial-aid/cost/&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>Here’s the link so you can check it out for yourself.</p>

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<p>If you can afford it, it’s probably a good idea. And if you don’t want to wait two years for a UC or SDSU, there’s USan Diego (Catholic college) not to mention many other private colleges in CA. It all depends how much your parents can afford… and whether you can buckle down.
HS grades are a good predictor of college grades, so as soon as you see yourself get a C to B- grade, get a tutor, and go to office hours regularly, starting right the first week.</p>

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<p>For out of state students, the California community college fees would be $236 per unit per semester, plus books (~estimated at about $400-500 per semester). So a full time student with 15 units would pay $3540 per semester & books. Personal expenses, living expenses, transportation are additional costs. </p>

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<p>Private colleges in California will be expensive. To use the example of St Mary’s that MYOS1634 suggested tuition alone would be $41,230 per year.</p>

<p><a href=“Tuition and Fees | Saint Mary's College”>http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/admissions-aid/tuition-fees&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Since OP is graduating with a 2.9 GPA his prospects of getting scholarship money are slim even if he were to retake SAT or ACT.</p>

<p><a href=“Scholarships | Saint Mary's College”>https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/admissions-aid/financial-aid/undergraduate/scholarships&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>if by “good school” you mean any of the UC or CSU schools, none of the UC schools accept transfer students who are not juniors and few of the CSU’s do. Furthermore even if you live in CA for a year or more you will not qualify for in-state rates for the UC schools which means they will cost an extra $23K/year in OOS tuition. I know less about residency requirements for CSU but it is unlikely they will ever consider you a CA resident.</p>

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<p>I AM IN THE EXACT SAME BOAT! I had to choose between WVU and SBCC, bt i chose sbcc although i was disappointed that i will miss out the “college experience”, but think abt it this way, in california there is LOTS AND LOTS to do, so if you’re bored , anything will entertain you! and plus if you get a chance to go to a UC in two years, its MUCH BETTER THAN WVU! what did you choose? since the deposit for wvu passed… </p>

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<p>@Currantbriant: Even though the cost is a bit higher than you thought due to commuting, fees, etc, it should still be cheaper than WVU. So the issue is: how likely are you to buckle down, spend time each day in the library, etc? Will you lift FERPA so your parents are allowed to know your grades (since they’re funding you and obviously don’t trust you’ll be able to discipline yourself, probably due to your HS experience and meh grades)?
The second issue is: if you get good grades, are they willing to fund a CSU for out of state costs (30k)? What about a UC (55K) if you managed to get into one? This would mean two years of community college with excellent grades. What about the private colleges listed above - what’s their budget if you got into one? Or would they want you to transfer into a VA university after 1 year?
Make sure you know the details clearly.</p>