Both college and universities have some of the same courses, but which professor / instructor teach the subject better? Would it be at a college or university? Which would be easier?
I go to community college and majority of my professors used to teach at UC Berkeley, and they’ve said they teach and expect the same out of community college students compared to former university students.
I think there are equally skilled instructors at universities and community colleges. Granted, I attend a CC in a town with a state university, so a lot of the instructors teach at both places. I remember asking an advisor once if cc classes were easier than uni classes, and her response was that the classes have to be equivalent in difficulty, since a large portion of cc students are on a transfer path (myself included).
As for the actual difficulty level of the classes, it depends on the instructor. I have had teachers who blatantly state that they give cc students less coursework than their university students because there’s a larger demographic (more students with full time jobs attend cc than uni), and other instructors that don’t vary the coursework at all. It is all dependent on the teacher.
I think it also depends on the size of the college. Since I attend a small school, and the university I will be transferring to is also small, the instructors are better because they have more time per student. The average class size is 25 - 30 students at both colleges. In larger universities, where class sizes can be as large as 500 students, it’s much more difficult to find quality instruction (according to friends who attend universities of that size).
This is a big topic of debate at our house, because we live very close to a CC and a state university. Our son is in high school but has dual enrolled at both (the majority of his hours are at the CC).
It seems like there are more sections to choose from at the university, especially for Gen Ed credits, but my son has had a good experience at CC too. Sometimes it’s good to be a “big” fish in a little pond. Other times it’s nice to access the broader range of university classes.
Though it’s certainly not fool-proof, we also look at professor review sites before we register.
It’s hard to make a blanket statement because every situation can be a little different.
All classes are NOT created equal. While a lecturer may teach the same course at both (why not if you can get such a great deal? The hard work for the teacher is in lecture prep, not giving the lecture) and it may be the same quality, that would be an exception rather than rule. I took part in a program that prepared me to teach at the collegiate level (I have a PhD). The “rules” were explained to us that every school has certain expectations that are largely unspoken but which you must meet. You can’t flunk everyone in your CC class by teaching too hard, or at a certain school you might be expected to give a really nice curve of grades… or not. For example, Profs can accomplish this through controlled extra credit and allowing students to drop a test grade or re-take a test. Another difference between Unis of different caliber will be the textbooks used. One elite private school used the SAME textbook to teach an undergrad course that I used when I studied the subject with med students in grad school, as a good example of this.
Some of my professors worked at both the community college and university.