<p>Although I got accepted into several 4 year universities, I am considering a JC so I can not only continue competing in my sport, but I would be able to "get another chance" at the higher ranked schools I applied for +more. Am I being delusional? Is going to a jc and transfering much harder than it seems (I am planning on xfering to schools like UCLA, UCSB, UCI, Pepperdine, University of San Diego, maybe a top 20 school) ?</p>
<p>Please list all the pains of going to a jc as well as all of the positives. I want you to be 100% truthful, and talk about how hard it is to get classes, the stigma of going to a jc, and so on.</p>
<p>If you happen to attend (especially) Santa Barbara City College, Orange Coast College, Santiago Canyon College, Irvine Valley College, your input is most definitely appreciated.</p>
<p>But really, if you are going to a JC now or have been, please post your thoughts!</p>
<p>Classes seem pretty tough to get…I’m thinking of transferring to OCC from PCC(pasadena) cause the studio I work at is down the street…lol so I save gas and not go all over the damn place. I think going to a JC is a greatest idea ever. I think the biggest thing for me is that I save TONS OF money going to a JC.</p>
<p>heres several things that ive learned from my experience</p>
<p>PROS of a CC (not all but the highlights i can remember)
- close to home
- CHEAP!
- great profs
- small classes
- IMO, easier grading
- did i mention, CHEAP!</p>
<p>cons…
- PARKING
- getting classes
- the obvious stereotype attached with going to a CC
- lots of students
- distracting class environment sometimes (not everyone is there to transfer…so sometimes group projects you may hafta either take the lead or take over)</p>
<p>depending on where you go…
- parking: this is a HUGE HUGE HUGE issue at mtsac, ask anyone who goes now and they can back me up anyday. getting parking is sometimes harder than getting the classes themselves
- getting classes: budget cuts have owned all CCs. make sure the CC you choose has the right courses you need to transfer as some may have cut them.
- honors: make sure the CC has a honors program. theyre smaller classes and much worth your time and effort. i learned TONS.</p>
<p>if you have specific questions that would help as there are a ton of things i can go more detail into.</p>
<p>but overall, going to a CC is worth it if you can get over the stigma of going to a CC. its tough when all ur friends are gone for the first 2 years living it up at a nice UC or private. and its even tougher to have to always have the same small talk conversation when people ask you…“where do you go now?”</p>
<p>but after all is said and done…going to a CC was well worth it for me.</p>
<p>If you want to transfer to a higher ranked college, especially the ones you listed, a community college is a great idea. I hated going to one at first because of the stigma, but then I started getting comments from my friends parents, telling me they wished their children had chosen to stay home for two years then transfer out. They told me my peers were already thousands in debt.<br>
Makes me feel a lot more intelligent, despite the stigma:)
My classes aren’t any easier than the ones at the local state U. In fact, many of my professors teach the same class at both University of Hawaii Manoa and my cc. The difference? I’m saving over a hundred dollars and taking a class with 20 other people instead of 200.<br>
I feel like some people at a CC actually work HARDER than those at a 4 year- after all, they’ve already gone through the admissions progress while we have another round to get through.<br>
I hope some of what I said helped, and good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>Community college is what you make of it. I go to an out of county community college. I wanted to go somewhere cheap and where I didn’t know anyone. I like it so far. I consider myself very social and outgoing so I take my time to get to know my classmates. The classes are small. </p>
<p>The only thing is a lot of people in CC are lazy! A class will start out with 30+, but then go down to like 12 or less. My CC has a drop out rate of %60. The attitude most people have in CC definitely affects the motivated people because it makes us think, “Is this school really serious?” A lot of people are cliquey because a lot of their high school peers attend the same school.</p>
<p>Doing really, really well academically and at your sport could set you up nicely.</p>
<p>It really depends on the community college as to how good it is, just as colleges vary. The biggest problems I have noticed on the academic end in ccs are the lack of courses and courses that are not fully equivalent to university standards. It’s an unfortunate thing that these situations do exist at too many of these schools.</p>
<p>Our big cc here is excellent. If you sign up for a slate of courses, you have a good chance of getting them, and from what I have seen, the material covered provides a sufficient foundation to go to the next level at any of our state universities. Where I once lived, the main cc was terrible. A person can sign up for a whole load of courses, and every one of them could be cancelled. Happened routinely. A dear friend of mine really took issue with this as she had two Ds enrolled in medical records and transcription programs and they lost 2 terms due to the fact that the school could not deliver. When that is your local cc, it is a big problem.</p>
<p>My youngest son is trying to decide whether to to to CSU Sacramento where he has been accepted as a Physics major or go to a Los Rios CC district community college in the Sacramento area. His registration time is not until the 18th at 5:00PM and all of the classes he needs as prerequisites for his major are already full. Not only that but all the English and GE courses he would need to transfer to a UC are already filled. It looks like he will not be able to register for any classes at all this summer and fall. His registration time is during the last hour of the last day of registration. I called an admissions officer at Cosumnes River College and asked since it seems by the luck of the draw my son got a terrible registration time for the summer and fall semesters, in the spirit of equity would he get an early registration date for the Spring semester so he could have an opportunity to maybe get into some classes. I was told no, throughout your career at Los Rios you keep the same relative registration priority you were assigned when you first enrolled. This is very distressing since I do not see how he is ever going to get any classes, let alone the ones he needs to transfer to a UC, unless he stays at this CCC for at least the next least five years. </p>
<p>As an athlete you will get highest registration priority and should have no problem getting all the courses you want when you want them. My son scored 660 on his CR and 720 on his Math SATs but that is not the kind of thing that gets you any breaks as far as registering for classes goes. </p>
<p>As much as I think he should have the opportunity to go to a UC I am beginning to think he would be better off at Sac State where he could probably graduate with a BS in Physics and be in graduate school by the time he was able to transfer from a CCC.</p>
<p>Lemaitre, wasn’t he able to be in the honors program at the CC? That seems just terrible that there weren’t any classes available that are prereqs or other required courses. No on-line classes? I thought that, if he had no alternatives, that if he took just ANY classes, that would boost him up in the registration priority for next time. The new students always get the last registration times.</p>
<p>I agree, I’d vote for going to Sac State. He could do super well there and get into a great grad school. With the CA budget now, it seems like, if someone gets admitted to a 4 yr public, take it. At least he’s in and that’s settle for the next 4 years. I was thinking of CC for my daughter, but, with the cutbacks announced a few months ago, I think the registration situation at CCs will become very common. Big waste of time.</p>
<p>^The trick is to get priority registration, either through joining the ccc honors program, or by joining an athletic sports team. Most ccc give priority registration for the aforementioned things I listed above. If I go to a JC I will be getting priority registration. I have turned down the University of Arizona, but I am still deciding on a private (that is ranked higher than arizona) or I may end up attending a JC.</p>
<p>My son has a congenital misalignment of his right leg and he can not really participate much in athletics so joining a sports team is not an option and our local CCC does not seem to have an honors program. I asked the admissions official if there was anything he could do to get a better registration time. She said there was no possibility of that and students have to make due the best they can with the times they are assigned.</p>