Community College Differences?

[Jman2306]

lets wait for jman to explain away the stat showing 6 out of 10 entering CC students claiming they'll eventually get a 4-yer degree don't even make it past 1 semester, and only 1/3 in the end who claim to want a 4-year degree end up even enrolling in a 4-year college

geez, thanks for not reading my post. all i said was that at the CC i take classes at, not all the kids and lazy and unmotivated. and your "stats" show that. i also said you will find plenty of lazy students at four year colleges. get off your high horse.

[Little_Duck]

i hate to offend anyone hear who this might apply too...

i graduated last year from HS. i talked to a lot of kids about where they were going and they picked basically either UC's or cal states. some of the kids were mad that they didn't get into the places they wanted, and when I brought up the prospect of transferring from a CC they said crap like "OMG no way" and basically shunned it. personally I'd rather go to a CC and transfer than go to UCR or something. but a lot of kids think they'll look stupid going to a CC or they want to leave home. i was the same way but i don't pay for my edu. so what can i do? so many kids from my school went to UCR b/c that's probably the only UC they got into but it's sad that they reject any alternative.

[BCEagle91]

Pride and ego > pragmatic.

[liek0806]

I use to be ignorant and generalize community colleges just like many have on here because my experience had been limited to a class or two.

I attended a four year school where all my professors had their PhDs. I am now at various community colleges throughout Los Angeles taking classes to hopefully transfer to a new institution instead of going back to my previous four year school.

The truth is that it VARIES. A lot of it depends on teaching style. Just because a professor is good on paper does not mean he's great at teaching, the same could be said for a teacher who isn't as qualified but knows the subject and teaches it like no other. At one of my current community colleges we have everything from state school grads to Ivy League school grads. My English professor attended Harvard LAW! and that's that he comes in to teach once a week on top of his full time job. There's other professors in different departments who have attended top 10 schools for undergrad/grad/doctorates, but you'd never know it unless you asked or researched them online.

There's bound to be difficult and easy classes regardless of where you attend. I think the one true benefit of a community college that you don't necessarily get at 4 year schools is that it teaches you to be extremely extremely independant and goal oriented. Once you're at a 4 year school it becomes a situation where one might get comfortable and slack off a bit with grades, while at a community college, because you still need to transfer, you develop that work ethic that hopefully follows through once you transfer.

[CoffeeBreak=)]

I've been to a CC before. The classes are kinda like AP classes so I wouldn't say that it was incredibly easy. The university only seemed one level higher(i.e what i have to do for an A at the CC would get me a B here).

[LogicWarrior]

One reason that the classes are easier is that you're actually taught by a PhD (usually) instead of a grad student. There's very little "self-teaching".

Another plus is that everyone there takes class seriously. The majority of people aren't stupid, they just didn't take school seriously in high school or at a 4-year college.

The social life part is non-existent, but it's a great way to rebound if you got bad grades.

[Dr.Horse]

ive taken around 35 credits at 3 different CC's and the classes were always harder than at the University. Maybe its just the way I learn, but the work load was not even comparable.

[Naturally]

I'm in an AAS program at a community college (as well as working on an AA transfer degree) and my classes are not easy. They're mentally rigorous and often physically tiring because the degree I'm in involves a lot of outdoor lab classes. (Yeah, it sure was "easy" struggling through thigh high snow in the winter to measure the height of trees. FOR THREE HOURS STRAIGHT.) This next quarter I will have classes that start at 7:30 every day and last until 3:30 or 4:30 four days of the week. (One day I get done around noon.) Not all the programs are like this, this one is a killer. But because it teaches the practical knowledge as well as the "theoretical" knowledge, so to speak, the state agencies come directly to the college to hire.

There is barely a person in my classes who is just-after-high-school aged; most, like me, are returning adult students who want a new career. And if you think adult students aren't prepared to study, well, you are incorrect. They are well-aware whose money they are spending . . . their own. No doubt some of the kids who are "traditional" college age just screw around . . . but that is true at four-year colleges too.

I'm sure this does vary from CC to CC. But please don't lump all community colleges together as being "easy" or assume that people are there because they're stupid.

[LHS11]

I'm still in high school and have only taken an online course from community college, but I do consider community colleges to be a god thing that lead to success. I can speak from my dad's experience. Granted, his experience was many years ago, but take it for what it's worth. He got ok grades in high school but went to CC to save money. He transferred from that community college to an ivy, and he'll still say that some of his best professors were at the community college. He also says that the CC prepared him for college. He said that if he went to college straight from high school he would have flunked out, so in that regard it was also very good for him.

I'm sure some people are rolling their eyes because this isn't a personal experience, but because of his experience with CC I don't look down upon friends that say they're going to community college. It's not for me, but we're all trying to get the same place and I recognize that there are many ways to get there be it through 4 years of Harvard or CC then college.

[Cardinal Fang]

MorningTheft- I doubt getting even a 4.0 in community college would get you to the university of your dreams.

Stop doubting. At the California CC that I attend (for fun; I'm a parent with an Ivy degree) students regularly transfer to Berkeley and UCLA. There's usually a Stanford transfer or so every year.

The Spanish classes I took at CC were definitely not easier than the language classes I took at my Ivy school decades ago. The calculus classes my son is taking there are way harder than the AP Calculus class I had when I was in high school.

The majority of college students in the US are in community colleges, which implies that there are a whole lot of community colleges. To judge all community colleges from experience at one community college is rather like making pronouncements about boats after seeing a canoe.

[ALF]

Here is the article published in Washington Monthly, in 2007, which does a nice job of stating the case for going to a CC:

America's Best Community Colleges - Kevin Carey

One of our local CCs, Cascadia Community College, was listed as #2, so they tout that in all their advertising. Here is the specific part of the article on Cascadia:

Built to Teach - Kevin Carey

My daughter took some classes at Cascadia this year, instead of taking those classes during her Senior year at the nearby high school. The English Composition course in particular was amazingly good - very rigorous and innovative. The Political Science course was OK, but nothing special; just a typical college course.

I have taught for 5 years at a big University (UW, i.e. U of Washington), and 10 years at a community college (Everett CC, north of Seattle). I have been an administrator at a community college for another 10 years, so I think I know what I'm talking about. Although CCs commonly suffer from a reputation or perception that their courses are not up to par with 4-year colleges, I have found that rarely to be the case. As a matter of fact, I think that you will find that most CC courses are superior to their counterparts at universities or 4-yr colleges. CC teachers are generally more dedicated to teaching, and are evaluated solely on their teaching ability. Classes tend to be smaller and there is usually more instructor-student and student-student interactions. In Washington State, as a group, students who transfer from CCs to the UW or WA State U (WWU) outperform (i.e. have higher GPAs) Juniors and Seniors who attended those institutions as underclassmen.

As noted in some posts, the percentage of entering students who successfully transfer to 4-yr colleges is quite low. That is true - CCs are easy to enter, but hard to complete. Usually any HS grad can get in, so the overall 'quality' of the students is not necessarily going to be similar to that of a college that has competitive entry requirements. Some posters have noted that some of their CC classmates were unmotivated or unable to do well in their coursework. This may contribute to the perception that CCs are 'an extension of high school'. Some have pointed out that the social and activities scene is inferior to that of a residential college. Fair enough - but you pay for all that through higher tuition and other fees. CCs are more 'bare bones' and are mostly all about classes.

The problem that you will encounter at CCs is that they tend to rely too much on part-time adjunct instructors. In my experience, the performance of adjunct instructors is wildly uneven. You could get a fantastic teacher, or you could get a poor teacher - it is just the luck of the draw. Adjuncts are generally not as dedicated to the institution and commonly move on after a short period. My biggest piece of advice would be to find out who the full-time instructors are and try to take courses from them. I would avoid taking a class from adjunct instructor, unless he/she has been around for at least 5 years.

To be sure, there is a similar problem at universities. Too many courses are taught by graduate student Teaching Assistants or adjunct professors.

Bottom line: it is hard to go wrong taking your first 2 years at a CC, then transferring to a 4-yr college/university. You learn the same or more than you would have at a 4-yr, you will save a ton of money, and you will have a transcript that (presumably) shows that you are capable of succeeding at college-level coursework.

[OBIX1]

Interesting thread.

I'm enrolled at a CC (which is considered by most to be the top CC in my state) right now, will graduate next month with my A.S. in Gen Studies, and will transfer to university this fall. Anyway, during my two years at CC, I've found that classes are not always necessarily easier than at a university, but that it just depends on the course. For example, English 101 and 102 at my CC are modeled on English 101 and 102 at the biggest uni in the state. At either school, you have to write a minimum of six essays, etc. Now, I can't say if the professors grade the essays any harder at the uni; I just don't know that.

So yeah, I've had all types of courses at my CC. Some have been incredibly easy, and have been a cinch to get an A for the course (ex: History, Psychology), while others have been very challenging and require a great deal of work be put into them (ex: Biology, Calculus).

Also, regarding the types of students who go to CC, I've found that there is a wide variety, just like anywhere else. Some students I've met/seen are the most incredibly lazy bums on the face of the planet, while others are some of the brightest, most driven people I've ever seen.

And, regarding transferring, a good GPA should be able to get a CC student into most schools. I will (99% sure) be graduating next month with a 4.0 GPA, and I've gotten offers from universities all around the country, including Columbia and Cornell. So, transferring from a CC isn't usually a problem.

Anyway, sorry this got so long-winded, but my main point of all of this is that you can't really generalize too much when it comes to CCs. Some are bad, some are good. Some are better than unis, some are worse. Some students are lazy bums, others are driven...you get my point.

Just my .02 for what it's worth.

[aisasami]

CC's are the best or the worst of your college life, depending what you do.

I just finished up two years in CC and I can say I loved it. Small class space, nice and helpful teachers, and a small community. I am not saying that CC is better then a University but I am kinda happy that I took my basics there (especially when I heard that most schools had their basics at 200 or more and had not the teacher always teaching, which I really couldn't survive). I was able to get a full ride in terms of scholarships because of my 3.2 GPA (unweighted) in high school and maintaining a 3.5 GPA in the college. I was kinda active in the college with being the community college (once held as the best of Maryland) and two honors societys - PTK and a The Society of Leadership and Success. I am leaving there in the fall because I found my dream 4 year (even though, I was considering to a college that I now absolute hate now during before CC). But if CC wasn't invented, I would not be in college and never had the chance to improve myself because when I was high school, I was a good school but not awesomely awesome that most colleges look for (My SAT and ACT's scores were so minimal that they barely helped me get out basic courses).

[l_payne]

Hey, I agree that a great majority of students who go to CC are returning adult students!

My uncle (who is almost fifty) finished up a diploma program at his CC after having been out of high school for years. Interestingly enough, while he was getting his one year diploma, my cousin (his daughter) was finishing her senior year at a university. My uncle finished all his coursework before his own daughter graduated, and he makes more with his diploma that he got from the CC than my cousin makes with her four-year bachelor's degree in religion.

What does that tell you?

[ALoudSilenceJing]

Hm. I'm not an expert on this, but community college students seem very serious about their work. I visited CC library out of curiousity and it was completely silent, and tables were full of kids hunched over books and papers.

I'm also taking a Chinese class for language credit (I'm in high school) and the students are very very very eager to learn. They ask questions all the time, and the teachers are more-than-happy to answer. Also, it takes a lot of self-discipline, esp. in lang, since you need to review a lot on your own and everything.

Overall, my two-semester experience in CC really changed my views on CC.