<p>Well, i'm choosing between Santa Monica College in California(my mom lives there) and Onondaga community college in Syracuse, New York(Dad's residency). </p>
<p>I compared 2 of them:</p>
<p>SMC claims all the time it's the best choice becasue it provides the best chance transfering to UC
SMC has a great location, near L.A. and closes by the sea. and the weather is awesome!
BUT I got scared of the stories of gangs' criminal activities in Santa Monica
SMC's school website is a mess...I hardly can find any useful information.</p>
<p>OCC's school website attracts me by it's orderliness
There're about only 10000 students there (compared with 30000 students in SMC)
That school proveides a transfeing agreement with agriculture college of Cornell University
BUT，I heard it's extremly cold there and 4 hours ride to NYcity</p>
<p>If you plan to transfer to a state university, it will likely work out better to have attended a community college within the same state.</p>
<p>What are your transfer target schools and major?</p>
<p>Also, check the community colleges’ online schedules to see if they list class capacity and enrollment. If the community college has constantly full classes due to budget cuts, that may not be a good situation, since it can delay progress to your transfer.</p>
<p>SMC. SMC has priority enrollment for people in the scholars program, which is easy to get into. The only thing that will effect you when it comes to overcrowding is when they start cutting classes, but if you play your cards right you’ll be out of there in 2 years.</p>
<p>Where do you currently live?
I don’t know what transferring is like at other community colleges that are not in Cali, but the great benefit of attending a California Community College is the agreements between 4 year schools(both private and public). With that said, you don’t have to attend SMC if you don’t want too. There are other community colleges that will get you to a 4 year school. Your chances of admissions don’t increase or decrease just because you don’t attend SMC. The requirements for transferring are clear, and if there are transferable courses offered at another community college, then guess what? you’ll have the same chance of transferring as if you would have attended SMC.
I can’t comment on the crime at SMC, but a community college that had an appealing campus when I visited was LA Pierce College, which you can get to by car or on public transportation.</p>