<p>My parents are determined to get to me attend our local junior college and then transfer to a UC after two years (BTW, i live in California, where this sort of thing is rather common and the JC's aren't all that bad). </p>
<p>Their reasons for wanting me to do this include the following (almost all are financial):</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The first two years of my education will practically be for free. With my GPA I'll get this scholarship that will pay for EVERYTHING.</p></li>
<li><p>I'll live at home with them. Which makes them happy and also saves money.</p></li>
<li><p>They just purchased a new house and spent a hefty sum of money on renovations. They don't want to be put into further dept if i go away to college </p></li>
<li><p>They say it will be easier to get into schools like UC Berkeley or UCLA as a transfer (even though the admit rates are almost exactly the same)</p></li>
<li><p>Going to the JC will give me time to mature and explore</p></li>
<li><p>My dad has this theory/saying. " Unless you're going to an Ivy League, Stanford or Berkeley there is no point in going to any other 'average' college. The Ivies, Stanford and Cal are worth the money. All other colleges are not. You might as well go to the JC." .... That's paraphrased but esentialy the idea he is getting at. I'm not sure i agree with this last one...</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Now there's not much i can argue here. Almost all their reasons are very true and very valid but there's a big part of me that wants to go away (not far away) and see what i can accomplish on my own. I do realize that money is a major issue too...</p>
<p>So, what should i do? should i go with what my parents tell me to do and attend the JC for two years, then transfer? Or should i go with what i want to do and go for a four year university? </p>
<p>Ask your parents to allow you to apply to the UC's - and perhaps one or more CSU's - so you will at least have a choice of options. My son was offered a very generous full-tuition scholarship at CSU Longbeach (where he never applied) and invited to apply for full scholarships at Santa Cruz & Davis. He was pleasantly surprised when he received a letter from UCSC saying that his stats put him in the top 5% of all of their applicants - that was before he was admitted, but I guess that's the UC equivalent of a "likely" letter. My son had good stats, but nothing amazing. </p>
<p>You can make a decision in the spring, when you better know your choices. You may learn about special programs you qualify for -- my son was also invited to participate in some sort of honors program at one of the colleges at Santa Cruz that would have involved lots of contacts with professors. (I honestly don't know details - my son applied to a lot of colleges so there was a lot of similar mail coming in from everywhere). </p>
<p>However, my son was also invited to participate in an honors offering at the local CC. A lot depends on the CC -- my son has been living in the Santa Cruz area for the past year - where he was working, not attending school -- and he said that locally Cabrillo College had a better reputation than UCSC. (Then again, that was the claim of students who attended Cabrillo, not UCSC - but the point is, Cabrillo has a great reputation).</p>
<p>If you have a chance, I'd suggest taking at least one course at the local CC -- you can enroll as a concurrent student while you are still in high school, and there is no charge. You can choose an evening course that meets once a week so it won't interfere with your high school coures too much - that will give you a sense of what things are like at the local CC, and whether you would be comfortable there.</p>
<p>Your Dad is blowing off steam while he talks, because he's worried about the costs - but he may change his mind in the spring when you have an array of college accepance packages before you. By that time, you may have a better idea of what you want to major in and what the university offers you vs. the community college. Honestly -- for a prospective science or pre-med major, I think the community college may be a better route -- would you prefer to learn chemistry in a class of 40 students where your instructor knows your name, or in a lecture with 600 students? But it really depends on the cc -- some are very crowded and it can be very hard to get the classes you need. If you aren't able to get required core courses and prerequisites for your major, you can either end up shut out of the major or having to wait longer than anticipated to transfer into the UC.</p>
<p>I've been taking courses at the JC since I was a freshman in high school. So going there after high school would be hardly a transition at all. Additionally, that JC is literarily across the street from my high school, so it would be as If i'm still going to high school! But that's beside the point i guess... What i'm trying to say is I've been to that JC numerous times, i consider it MY school so i feel very comfortable there. </p>
<p>I am interested in science and would love to major in biology. So, I defiantly agree with you, at the JC i would have less people in my classes but from what I hear with the students I've talked to in Pre-Med majors, its JUST as hard to get into the classes because they are so many people with Chem, Bio and Nursing majors... Although, I suppose 50 people is better than 500 any day....</p>
<p>I hope my dad is blowing off steam. But if now, it was considering only applying to more selective schools, seeing what happens and then knowing that the JC is my fallback. How does that sound?</p>
<p>masha - I am in the camp that believes college is about more than the academics, although that is certainly paramount. I know that many, many kids have to or want to live at home for their college years. But I feel that this misses a big part of the experience and the growth process. Your parents' plan does include your leaving the nest for the last two years, so that will eventually be part of your experience.</p>
<p>In addition to the excellent suggestions above, do you have stats which might put you in contention for significant scholarships at any private schools? If that might be a possibility, I suggest you research them and apply, to add to the options you might have in the spring, as calmom suggested. Scholarship money would address most of the reasons your dad wants you to go the JC route.</p>