<p>I've heard all the advantages of going to a community college from high school, and then transferring to a UC after a couple of years.</p>
<p>So now what are the disadvantages?</p>
<p>That's a good question.</p>
<ol>
<li>When you transfer to a uc, you don't get any priority for registering for classes bc you are new. This can become an issue when your upper division classes are offered once a year and everyone wants that class.</li>
<li>The students you meet may not be as motivated as you would hope them to be. Motivated students do exist, but probably only a small portion of the cc students are motivated. I think more motivated people exist at a uc especially at the top tier uc's.</li>
<li>Many claim that social life at cc sucks. But from my experience it is very possible to make friends. It's what you make out of it.</li>
<li>If you don't figure out right away what you want to major in or you are not aggressive about getting your classes, you're probably going to be spending more than 2 years at cc.</li>
<li>I think there are more opportunities available for its students at a uc than at a cc. Examples are more internship and research opportunities. There are also probably more club/social activities to do at a uc compared to a cc.</li>
<li>Getting the classes you want can be a problem. But i suppose it's like that for many public schools.</li>
<li>Certain counselors do not know their stuff and can potentially screw you up. Make sure you find the right person, who knows their stuff, to help you.</li>
<li>Therefore, at cc you must take the initiative yourself and take advantage of all the resources that a cc offers, such as TAP or TAG. No one is going to sit you down and guide you towards the right direction. You have to find out for yourself.</li>
</ol>
<p>that's all i can think of. Other than those above reasons, cc is a great route to take especially for financial reasons.</p>
<p>University experience is cut short.</p>
<p>I was at SDSU my first year of college, but then decided to go to a CCC for a year and a quarter to transfer to UCLA. From my experience so far you will get a good education. The stuff I have been learning is exactly the same as my friends at UCLA. What is different is the "college experience". You really are missing out on a lot of little things CC students may not realize. The dorm experience is best had as a first year, and was so much fun my first year. Well, I think you get the idea.</p>
<p>I opted out of going to UCI straight out of HS. I decided to go to OCC and try my chances at somewhere else and the fact that I didn't know what I wanted to major in.</p>
<p>CC is a commuter school so the "college life" is almost non existent. You can make friends, but it almost feels like HS. Most people at the school are not very motivated and just want to go to Cal State. They just cruise along. You are pretty much on your own when it comes to group studying. Every time I did a group study in my class, even with the smarter kids, we always ended up at a bar. LOL</p>
<p>A lot of the guidance counselor suck. Plain and simple. I met mine the summer before I went to CC and she was a joke. If you want reliable information, go to the Transfer Center or talk to the school you are applying to directly. I scheduled out my courses every semester by researching the internet and finding out what each school requires. </p>
<p>But the girls at OCC are hot, but have daddy issues. It's okay though!</p>
<p>Wish the girls were hot at De Anza.</p>
<p>Doryx, Wow,your descriptions of your cc are the same observations as mine. The guidance counselors here are horrible! I only meet with them to get an extension on payment and to fill her in on what I decided to do. They are aweful. I took a math placement test last year and they said I faild it and had to start all over with BASIC Math (105 at my school). I took that lame class and got a B in it without even studying. Then, a few months later I hear they scored it wrong and tested two levels above it. Small help for me now. I'd be already gone if it weren't for that.</p>
<p>At my school, no one ever leaves or has any drive to go further. I mean the best students do go to cal or UC Davis, but everyone usually goes to cal state hayward (which is a terrible csu, probably in the bottom 5), some go t0 sjsu (ok buisness and archtecture), and a few go to sfsu (ok for humanities and journalism). Its utterly pathetic. Menawhile, I want to go further and go to a socal uc or sdsu, or even one of the top midwestern public schools.</p>
<p>It's true that counselors suck. From my experience they really don't know anything. Maybe about the CC's own policies and such, but if you want help about transferring, course equivalencies, etc., I strongly suggest you do your own research, contact UC reps yourself, etc. Nobody's gonna hold your hand here.</p>
<p>If all you take are GEs, then yeah it can feel like high school. Most of the people know others from their own high schools, and just pick up where they left off. It can get pretty cliquey, so if you don't know anybody, it can be tough.</p>
<p>However, as a science major, everyone pretty much takes the same classes. I went through 4 semesters with mostly the same people; sometimes I shared 2, 3, or even 4 classes with those people in just 1 semester. So by the end of my 2nd year, the class had gotten to know each other pretty well.</p>
<p>I'd say the motivation level is also different for the science majors, probably because the level of difficulty is higher when all you're taking is math and science. Pretty much everyone in those classes were moderately to highly motivated; those who weren't were weeded out the 1st semester of the sequence classes (bio/chem/ochem/physics/calc). Everyone who made it to second semester stuck through to the end and were very successful. Practically everyone is or probably will be next year moving on to UCs. </p>
<p>I only took 3 GEs in 7 semesters (3 summers, 2 falls/springs) and in those classes the majority had very low motivation. Nobody ever participated whenever the teacher asked questions; the quality of their work was low and didn't seem up to par for a college student; many were content with just passing.</p>
<p>oceanpoet87, I agree that if you go to a cc, you should make the most of it and aim high when transferring. If someone is lazy and just ends up going to hayward or sfsu cuz they didn't try, then yes that's sad. However some choose to stay close to home for various personal reasons. So please don't hate on cal state hayward and make it seem so horrible..I don't think it's THAT bad. Though not on par with the UCS, SJSU is pretty good too. Their undergrad engineering program is ranked in US News in "Top engineering programs at non-doctoral schools." And their business program is also pretty good.</p>
<p>While there may be some disadvantages in regards to going to a CCC first, the biggest disadvantage I can think of is...you may not get in where you want. This all depends, however, on which UC you got into.</p>
<p>If you got into Berkeley or UCLA...it would be hard to justify going to a CC first, because even with a good CCC GPA, you may not get in again.</p>
<p>Also, some professions aren't too compatible with the CC-->UC transition, ala MD.</p>
<p>I also agree with what others have been saying; you earned the right to go to a UC, and you should not be deprived of an education you earned.</p>
<p>oxypunk and oeanpoet you are right, i've been to two community colleges and you pretty much have to do things yourself, at my first cc the orientation during summer before your first semester, the counselor sucked, he was just yea for the UC's there is UCLA and for the Cal State there is CSUN and all the students there had the IGETC sheet, i didn't know much about it but he didn't explain anything so he was just picking classes for students so i told him i was confused and he just recommended that i take all there counseling classes, kind of like a transfer workshop or something, waste of time. I left that school cause too many people, no parking, expensive parking, bad schedule of classes with long gaps. And now at my second cc the counselors are bad too, i know more than they do, even i could do their jobs. And cc basicallY has no social lfe, just go to school and home, just like high school, and the students are lazy and unmotivated and they all just want to go to CSUN. When there's a college fair day CSUN gets the longest line and everyone says they want to go to csun. Also most of the people at a cc are older students who are parents</p>
<p>pppeachykeen, yeah I guess you are right. Yeah, I don't really count older students who are returning to school. They have families and commitments. I appluad their determination. I also agree with you about SJSU, in those two programs they are pretty good and they are decent in the other areas. </p>
<p>I agree with dragon that a lot of traditional age CCC students just haven't considered other options other than the nearest CSU school (Which, in some cases can be good, but in others, not quite as good).</p>
<p>"Also, some professions aren't too compatible with the CC-->UC transition, ala MD."</p>
<p>Could you elaborate on this please? Because that's the field I'm interested in....That and DDS.</p>
<p>Some dental schools do not accept CC courses. This is only a small minority of dental schools though. Don't know about med school, but I'm guessing it's the same?</p>
<p>Some med schools do not accept courses from cc (i.e boston university i think). Med schools do not like people who have taken classes at cc bc they think classes at cc are much easier compared to a four year university. But, I have seen people who went to cc and got into medschool. So no worries. I'm actually pursuing the pre-med path right now.</p>
<p>there are only 3 or something dental schools that absolutely don't accept CC courses. So yeah no worries...unless one of those is the school you actually want to go to, then tough luck...</p>
<p>"School snobs" who did go to competitive universities straight after high school think you're not as smart as them. </p>
<p>Contrary to the typically smug students you come across at JCs, there are some losers as well. Despite them being academically competitive, have big heads. In other words, they have a "big fish in a small pond" mentality. Anecdote: my econ instructor told us a story about one of his top-achieving students in a past econ class, and he got accepted to Cal. This guy was so overconfident that when he attended Cal he didn't think he needed to adjust his study habits from his JC experience. Moral of this lesson: #1 be humble no matter where you are #2 understand that you're not "tested" at a JC, because your 3.8 GPA will turn into a 2.something at a real university.</p>
<p>so true. Im @ CCC in the bay (DVC), but at the same time I have many friends here in UCB due to activities I joined through a good friend I have attending UCB. Its so true that University kids are by far, way more motivated. I spend a lot of my time around them, so I feed off motivation from them, but then when I walk on the DVC campus, everyone is just like whatever, even in my class, kids take naps and what-not. If anything the older students (meaning like in the middle age years) are way more motivated. I really can't wait to transfer out...</p>