<p>It’s really offensive to say that people go to CC because they have no ambition. I think people on this forum tend to forget that some people truly struggle with school for things that aren’t their fault. </p>
<p>As an aside, a promo for a sitcom about community college just came on. It looks like a funny show. :D</p>
<p>I have never heard of stigma associated with starting at a community college. All of my relatives who graduated from college started at community college. My aunt’s heading the OT department at the hospital she works for, one uncle makes 200k+, and another makes really good money in an upper management position after studying business. Aside from that, my brother just graduated with a degree in comp sci after transferring to a state school from community college, and was hired while still in school and then full time after graduating. He makes more money than his wife who graduated from a four year university. </p>
<p>I think there’s something to be said about the college experience to a certain extent, and I can understand why it would be desirable. However, I think those who are claiming that those who go to CC have no drive and are making a stupid decision are just too immature to give that up for the sake of being realistic and prudent.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with community colleges. Sure it can be quasi-depressing when all of your friends head off to Podunk U and Podunk State and you end up at Podunk Community College, however, if you work hard and take the right classes it can pay off big time.</p>
<p>I went to community college straight out of high school, I ended up transfering to UC Berkeley. How did I do it? Well, I made the most out of the resources the community college had to offer. If you stay dedicated and work hard you will be succesful.</p>
<p>Absolutely not. Community Colleges offer a good chance to get a degree. While I believe nowadays everyone should get their BA/BS, I would definitely say that CCs offer a very good start. It saves A LOT of money - not just for people who only do CC, but for StateU or Private school students during the summer. In addition, many can transfer to full universities, allowing a make up period for those who either slacked off in High School, or a nice debt reducing period for those who cannot afford to go to StateUs. </p>
<p>The problems with Community College is in the experience. For starters, you stay in your local community. So that means you don’t move and explore. You stay in the same community that you have been in for (likely) 18 years. You also don’t deal with college problems like universities, like dealing with a roommate(s). Learning to deal with people is an excellent development of social skills, which I feel is vital in development.</p>
<p>Academics can be debated around a lot. As in Universities, it varies. There are some that are bad and some that are good. I can give generalizations though. For starters, you have less competition (usually) due to either a buffer of uncaring students (which is found everywhere, but usually not as often as in CCs). </p>
<p>My parents like to call CCs “high school extensions”. I like to admit they are more and represent a lot of hope for people who may have screwed up and older people who want a degree while working at home. I have seen people from all walks of life from my CC…</p>
<p>The rigor of community colleges probably vary as much as four year colleges do. (There are four year schools with open admission too). While community colleges have young students who don’t take school seriously, community colleges also have a large population of older adults, who are wiser than any 18 year old due to life experience. Right now, many 4 year schools have a hiring freeze, so there are many talented professors seeking positions at two year schools. Finally, Stanford has the reputation on College Confidential to look favorably on community college students when admitting transfers.</p>
<p>Jill Biden teaches at a community college, I believe.</p>
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<p>Fixed. We take school very seriously.</p>
<p>“community colleges also have a large population of older adults, who are wiser than any 18 year old due to life experience”</p>
<p>This shouldn’t be discounted.</p>
<p>At my state uni, I am taking a summer class with 4 returning students out of a class of 20. These four students are coming back for a SECOND degree and are already teachers themselves! Now talk about “competition;” I don’t think you’d have classmates that intimidating at a lot of 40K/yr well-respected private universities. To be competing against teachers is just, ouch ;).</p>
<p>I imagine the same would hold true for many CC classes, where you have a disproportionately high number of returning students who are more knowledgeable/more motivated than the avg. student at a 4-yr.</p>
<p>Yeah, I took a night Calculus class at a CC and I knew of at least 5 guys who already had college degrees, but I’m guessing there were probably a few more who also already had degrees. I guess the one cool thing about the older people is that they’re the most serious about school and they were usually more helpful than the tutors in the MathLab. </p>
<p>One drawback to the older people, though, is that they were more vocal whenever they disagreed with their professors teaching style. In my Microeconomics class, there’d always be these 3 older women who would constantly bicker and criticize our professor. The fact is, they sucked at writing and there were a lot of essay questions on the tests that were based solely on his lectures. He wasn’t a bad teacher, they were just poor writers and the grades suffered as a result of this. Rather than listen more attentively, they called him arrogant and mean and said that he should publish his lecture notes.</p>
<p>sorry to those who go there, but yes. i always joke around with some of my friends and my parents about going to a comunity college, when I really want to go to Harvard.
But it offers a cheap alternative and decent education, so if you can’t afford it, it is a great college.</p>
<p>It depends on the school. Some are really good, some are really bad, and some are in the middle…but it’s the same with 4 year schools. People just make a big deal about CCs for no reason because they often are good, and for lots of people are a great way to get a foot in the door!</p>
<p>I think the quality of a community college education is really dependent on the person. They can be a really good resource for someone who is unsure of what they want to study and don’t want to waste money taking random courses tryign to figure it out. For example, my brother’s friend did that. She ended up discovering she loved astronomy and after two years transferred to a really good astronomy program (can’t remember where). In contrast, some people don’t use community college properly. My friend ended up at our CC because he only applied to two music schools and then cancelled his audition for one of them. He then proceeded to take random classes at the CC which wouldn’t really help him improve as a musician should he want to transfer… like japanese. He is an example of someone CC isn’t doing much for. But then again, idk that someone like him belongs at a 4-year college either. Basically, CC aren’t good or bad. It depends on how you plan on using them. If you intend to really learn something and get your degree and transfer to a 4 year after 2 years, there’s nothing wrong with CC. Ultimately, its how you look at it.</p>
<p>my parents are also asian and also dislike Community Colleges, theyre allergic so I dont blame them. IMHO i dislike them also, probably because of 16 years of “community colleges suck” running through my body</p>
<p>I attend the best community college in Michigan and I love it. I am doing extremely well in my program, its 20 minutes from home, the academic resources are plentiful. I’m 50 credits into a 91 credit Articulation Agreement with a 4 yr college in Michigan. This means I take 91 credits at CC and they all transfer… thus I do 34 credits (2 or 3 semesters depending how u schedule it. I’m going to shoot for 2) at the University. I get the same degree everyone else gets for a fraction of the price. CC isn’t for everyone… especially those who want the whole dorm experience. I never wanted that and enjoy living at home for the moment. I have a scholarship so essentially I get paid to goto school so I have no complaints. My goal is to graduate with a solid gpa and volunteer work so I can get a Graduate Assistantship for my MPA. If there is an opportunity for me to have less debt I’m all for it!</p>
<p>Opportunity is beautiful.</p>
<p>My experience with community college has been great. I imagine there are some poor CCs out there just like there are poor four-year colleges, but it’s certainly not accurate to say that ALL CCs are bad. The mix of students makes it more interesting, since you not only have kids right out of high school but also a large mix of non-traditional students, veterans returning to college, retirees who can take any class for $6 a credit, and so on. Class discussions are fascinating when you have that range of experiences. Personally I haven’t come across the legions of slackers who supposedly roam CC campuses, perhaps this varies from area to area or perhaps it’s due to the classes I chose.</p>
<p>However, you have to be very involved about choosing your courses–visiting the transfer advisor (if you intend to transfer), double-checking to make sure classes will be accepted at the four-year you want, and so on. It’s easy to screw up and take courses that won’t transfer. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!</p>
<p>Community colleges definitely don’t offer the social experiences of four-year colleges; it’s more like a job in that you go in the morning, do the work, and go home. Sure, there are clubs and events, but they aren’t as prevalent as at a four-year college. (I guess some community colleges do offer dorms now but it is unheard of where I live.) I can understand some people wanting to get the full four years of “the college experience”, but it’s been a great experience for me.</p>
<p>People tend to frown upon community colleges and I’m not sure why.</p>
<p>I love our local community college, Montgomery College. If you get a 2 year degree from there, you are automatically guaranteed admission to any school in Maryland to complete your degree.</p>
<p>the truth is that almost anyone can go to a community college, but can they succeed? Even though the admissions are easy, your progress might not be as easy as you think. I, myself, before going to the 4 year university, I went to a CC. It was not easy considering how easy is it to get in. To be honest, I learned more in the CC than in the 4 year uni because usually the professors in the CC are actual teachers while the professors in the 4 year uni are usually researchers. If you’re determined to not be a slacker, I highly recommend you to go to a CC because it’s both cheap and sometimes very efficient. You can save so much money in your first 2 years…</p>
<p>The students around you aren’t top-notch students. But I got a much better education at CC than I did at a Tier2/3 University in comparable classes. MUCH better.
Better teachers, smaller classes, just as hard if not harder classes at CC.</p>
<p>I took 12 hours of summer classes at my local CC, which actually recently turned to be a 4-year school. It was horrible. The lack of professionalism was blatant, students would ask the professors for writing materials… The instructors were simply reciting lectures from memory because they had taught the class many times before. I think CC is valuable for knocking out core classes that would otherwise rape your gpa, but nothing else. The atmosphere is also quite depressing; I found that the majority of students there could not converse at any reasonable level. The older patrons were the exception to most of what I have stated.</p>