<p>I am a second semester freshman at my local community college. I am disappointed. The classes are boring, they are way easier than the ones i had in high school and i just sit there while listening to the teacher go over material i already know. Plus, the teachers hardly know you and you get new ones at the end of the semester and don't really get to make good friends with them. No one stays on campus and the only way to meet people is in classes. I don't have any new freedoms. i live at home and do whatever, the same as in high school. The only merit i have seen so far is that i can set up my own schedule, big deal. I went to way more parties in my hometown when all my high school friends were home than i did at the 4 year college i am transferring to next fall. My good friend goes there and we pretty much have a couple people in his room with loud music i hate and flipcup. at home, i can party at my own house and not have to worry about the RA walking in. a lot of my friends are saying that they hate college and wish they could go back to high school. is this different for people who come from strict households? i know some people, like my cousins who had a blast at college because it gave them a chance for freedoms. i already have those. Why would i want to go away to school and pay a bunch of money when i can stay home and get my mom to cook me dinner once in a while and sleep in my own bed?</p>
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<p>Well there’s your problem.</p>
<p>Once you actually get past GE courses and get to the upper division courses for your major (in fact, what is your major anyway?), you’ll no longer have the pleasure to say “I’m learning material I already know”, because the material covered in upper division is a LOT more difficult and challenging than high school shmuck. For example, the stuff you learned in high school Biology? They go into much, MUCH more detail than that in upper division Biology courses. If you’re a science major, just wait until you take O-Chem. Not the easiest thing in the world.</p>
<p>Also, YOU have to make the effort to make the professors know you. Go to office hours, email them if you have a brief question, ask questions after class (I don’t know about others, but the professors I’ve had/currently have usually linger around in the lecture hall for a few minutes after class ends) etc. Why else would students ask their favorite professors for letters of recommendations when applying to grad school/seeking an internship or research position/etc (hopefully those students got either an A or a B in that professor’s class)? Professors wouldn’t fill out effective letters of recommendations for students who they can’t put a face to. If you earned an A in a professor’s class but hardly talked to him, the professor wouldn’t be able to write a recommendation letter for you as well as for the student that earned a B but came to office hours constantly and made himself known.</p>
<p>well, i am known by my professors. they call me by name and we greet each other in the halls. I usually get to class early and stay after, but it seems like it is more formal in college. even though my largest class is at most 25 students (the best thing about community college) i feel it is less personal than high school. i guess i am just used to being friends with teachers as much as being a student. i am even friends with my high school teachers on facebook.
As for my major, i am a computer information systems major with the intent of transferring to a 4 year school and majoring in computer network administration. The problem i have with classes are that there is such a gap in what a few in the class, me included, know and what the rest of the class knows. We literally spent over an hour learning how to open word and how to save files to a flash drive. Really? My hardware class also appears that it will be less advanced than what i have learned on my own. my GE classes are actually much better, i am challenged in english and history so it isn’t so boring. i guess i am used to being in classes where everyone is on my same level. When i took college level engineering classes in high school, all my fellow students knew about as much as i did. the same was true for all my other college credit classes. If i had not taken AP english, i probably would have been valedictorian. many of the kids that went to the local college did much worse in high school. I know that it is designed not to be that difficult but it was my only option at the time as some things kinda blew up at the end of last summer. should my 4 year school be better?</p>
<p>Community College is high school 2.0. I honestly don’t see the difference. Going to a university is an entirely different experience.</p>
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<p>You don’t have to move if there are any 4-year colleges close to home. I always commuted, and I loved not having to share a room or shower area with anyone. And I loved the school I went to because the courses/professors were challenging and I loved my major. </p>
<p>I think you’ll find residential life at a college is different than commuting to a community college. But if you’re unhappy, then look for other options closer to home or at a school you’ll enjoy more.</p>
<p>I think anyone who would rather go back to high school must have a very immature expectation of what life and college are really about.</p>
<p>I went to a CC and loved it. I still interact with my old professors on Facebook and got plenty of LORs. Just by participating in class discussions and interacting with them after class, they start to get to know you (and doing good work, of course).</p>
<p>When I was a.freshman, I thought all my classes were a cake walk. Two weeks into ochem and my head’s already spinning. You’ll be.singing a different tune, soon.</p>
<p>The courses are great, the people are cool, I feel much more able to be myself unlike in high school. I definitely could not party at my house the way I do in college. Last night I ate Chipotle for dinner, drank a 40 and then some mixed drinks, then went with my roommates to a hookah lounge. It was fun.</p>
<p>I probably would feel a little stifled in a dorm (tiny rooms, can’t be too loud/others are too loud as well, RAs policing you, etc). I enjoy living off-campus with other students though. I commuted my first year and while it was fine, I greatly prefer living on my own.</p>
<p>If you are not on your own and at community college, college is probably not very fun or interesting. What makes college great is that you have huge amounts of free time (not time to do whatever you want usually, you have to study and stuff, but you decide how to manage your time) and you’re around your friends all the time. You get so much control over the way you want to live your life. Plus you get to study stuff that should in theory interest you. Anywhere where you live in the same place as a bunch of people your own age is pretty awesome in my book.</p>
<p>The issue is community college. As a current cc student, I know what you mean. People usually have one of two attitudes: 1) Highschool 2.0 OR 2) Get in. Do the work. Get out.</p>
<p>I barely ever see my RA, for what it’s worth. They hardly police you. They have their own stuff going on and will normally only come around if you’re being extremely loud, or if you have a problem and need to talk to them.</p>
<p>The courses are great, the people are cool</p>
<p>@rupee – My roommate literally tried to become BFFs with every RA in the dorm (she wants to be an RA next year and wanted connections) and they were ALWAYS at our suite door. Jesus, it was annoying because our RA was our neighbor and would just waltz in and ask for my roommate and leave if she wasn’t there without knocking or saying hi or anything. Although, she’d be super nice if we had cupcakes lying around…</p>
<p>They’d be on big time power trips all of the time, it seemed. We’d get “warned” and scolded like school children for sitting in the hallway downloading something, (it would take about an 40 minutes to download a Word document longer than 4 pages in the rooms, but 60 seconds in the hall) or for talking in the abandoned hallway over 3-day weekends or for anything else, really, that didn’t involve our RA getting free food or flirted with. </p>
<p>Skateboarding in the halls really ruffled their feathers. (Was fun, though)</p>