I worked so, so hard and got rejected from everywhere. I know I was qualified for the schools I applied to, I did so much research. Countless hours spent at a desk, never enjoyed high school, and when I finally realized I needed to enjoy it, quarantine happened. I got into 2 of my safety schools but I don’t like one of them and the other I can’t attend because the pandemic was hard on my financial situation, and I was really excited to attend that school despite it being my safety. I registered for community college and I’ve never been this upset, truly. My situation at home is not the best and I wanted to experience the real university experience, living in a dorm and figuring life out on my own. I worked so hard, and I got nothing. Did anyone else feel this way? How did you move on? I am motivated to transfer out of cc, I know I’ll keep working hard, but I’m so exhausted.
I know one school is UCR but what is your other school you were accepted? Safety schools are not safety schools if you do not want to attend.
What is your financial situation? UCR is not an option?
Did you update your financial situation with the schools you were accepted? Might be able to get more aid.
Keep an eye out for the list of schools that still have empty seats and offer aid/merit.
https://www.nacacnet.org/news–publications/newsroom/press-releases/collegeopeningsupdate2020/
Take a deep breath. No shame in attending CC for a year or two. Just make sure your classes transfer to the schools you want to eventually attend. Good luck.
You are far from alone. Lots of kids are going through the same thing and are considering a gap year.
Look, the quarantine and the change in your parents finances certainly aren’t your fault - but they are your new reality. Perhaps you should have applied to some different schools but, you can’t press rewind and you are where you are.
You can wallow in your sorrow - or you can move forward with the best path available to you. That may be your less favored ‘safety school’ or a local CC or just working for a year and applying broadly for 21 while your family’s finances settle out.
What are your options and what do you have against your safety school?
I was kind of in the same boat, I got accepted to a few schools but there were so many factors going on in my life that I had to go to community college. I was upset because I thought people who went to CC were dumb and I wouldn’t get a good education. Looking back I’m really glad I went to community college. I got into a school that rejected me when I was in high school. I got more time to figure out what I wanted to do. I was able to get a job at the school as a tutor. I met some really hard-working people who got accepted to schools like UCSD and UCLA. It’s like a second chance I guess. Professors at CC are good some of them have great educational backgrounds and have thought at universities.
Piece of advice makes sure to check what requirements the university you want to go to has, if you do them all you’ll have a really good chance of getting in but some universities are still impacted as you might already know so you might not always get in. Something I wish I knew earlier was that UC’s have a higher acceptance rate for transfers than Cal States.
Off-topic. My situation is kind of funny, I only had one normal semester where I was in traditional classrooms for the entire semester. The three other semesters were basically online because of personal situations and this pandemic. I’m an electrical engineer major. I think I was extremely lucky to be able to transfer out in the span of 2 years. I’m considering staying another year because I really wish I had done more research about what university I wanted to go to because I was just considering the location.
The NACAC list has been published, so go look at that. There might be a place that you like, that has the aid you need, and that your parents would find acceptable given the virus and their new financial situation.
The NACAC list has been published, so go look at that. There might be a place that you like, that has the aid you need, and that your parents would find acceptable given the virus and their new financial situation.
Some California community colleges have dorms on campus or private dorms just off campus. For example, College of the Siskiyous.
http://www.siskiyous.edu/lodges/
If you want to get away from home, can you afford to go to a CC with housing?
I took some classes at a California CC when I was in the military. I thought the quality of the teaching was as good as at the two, 4-year colleges I went to for my bachelors - Ohio State and University of Alaska Fairbanks. In California at least, I certainly don’t sense any stigma in going to a CC right after high school. Back in the 80’s and 90’s, it seemed like half the people I knew who graduated from Berkeley had gone to CC first.
I looked at your previous posts. You were accepted at 4 California universities. You were not interested in the two Cal States, but you were deciding between UCR and Chapman.
Chapman was expensive even before Covid-19, and because of Covid-19, you were unable to visit UCR and heard bad things about its location. So that’s how you ended up choosing community college.
Nothing wrong with CC, but I have to tell you that UCR is so much better than you have been led to believe.
My oldest chose to go there even though she had financially viable higher ranked choices, including another UC campus. She graduated two years ago, and she had the best four years at UCR. Socially dead at weekends? I don’t think so. There are plenty of kids that live either on campus or in off campus apartments. The whole entire area around University Village is basically UCR students. It’s right next to campus, so you can just walk to campus too. The city of Riverside is not as fancy as San Diego or Westwood or other Southern California areas, but it’s perfectly fine, and rental prices are very affordable if you decide renting an off campus apartment after your freshman year. And, if you think you would like to attend, the SIR deadline this year has been extended until May 15th, so it’s still not too late!
I think you may be very pleasantly surprised by the quality of education at the CCs. The classes are smaller than you will find at the four year state schools, and they are taught by engaged professors, not TAs. There are many opportunities for clubs and extracurricular activities.
Keep an open mind and get as involved as you can in this odd virus time. I think your views on CCs may change.
Honestly, I understand that UCR has been an amazing experience for some people, but my parents don’t want me going there so I think I’ve just convinced myself that it’s bad. I understand what you all mean. The other school I got into was Chapman, and I contacted them about my situation, they said they’d see what they can do, but I think it’s unlikely they’ll figure something out. I started this forum to hopefully find some comfort in choosing community college. If I don’t get more aid from Chapman I will probably go to community, but I know UCR will be in the back of my mind forever. I don’t know what to do.
Easy to understand why you feel a bit down.
Other posters have shared a resource for you to contact schools still accepting applications which may still have financial aid available.
Some things in life–such as coronavirus & its effects–are out of one’s control. And some things in life are within one’s ability to control–such as attitude.
Make the best of the opportunities which you have. If unwilling to do so, then you need to create new / different opportunities.
You are not alone as many will be impacted by the effects of covid-19.
P.S. Not clear to me why your parents are against UCR. Is it due to finances ?
I’ll take a stab at answering this question, since I’m a CA parent.
Over the past few decades, simply the lack of prestige. It’s considered the 8th best UC (out of 9). And also Riverside, CA is located in the Inland Empire, so it’s hours from the coast and Riverside County hasn’t always had the best reputation. Just not as nice and/or quirky as Santa Cruz, Westwood, Berkeley, San Diego. But more recently, UCR’s reputation/prestige (and the City of Riverside) has really made huge strides. And I’ve certainly changed my opinion.
I think UCR is a great option, if the OP can afford it.
BTW, USNWR ranks UCR #91 and Chapman #125.
I agree with everything @sushiritto said except that Riverside is under 1 hour from the beach, which is very doable. My daughter certainly had plenty of beach days.
@InfoQuestMom Thank you for the correction. But for my own edification, is the one hour to the beach in traffic or leaving at a special time? Every time that I’ve driven on the 91 or 55, I’ve spent an enormous time in terrible traffic.
No one really knows what’s going on with Covid. My concern is that school will end up being on-line for most of Fall semester and maybe Spring semester too. So no one will end up having the on campus experience everyone would normally expect. And even if kids manage to stay on campus, I think it’s going to be a much less experience than normal - fewer ECs, no sporting events, smaller parties, less in person interactions with profs, etc. So I think that going to your least expensive option this year - CC- is probably a great move.
FWIW, UCR is on the quarter system, so the first day of instruction is 10/01/2020.
@sushiritto Non rush hour traffic, because most college kids are not going to the beach during rush hour. The nearest beaches are Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach.
@melvin123 True. Just one thing to bear in mind is that, since it looks like a lot of kids are going the CC route this year, transferring is probably going to be more competitive than normal too.
@InfoQuestMom that’s actually a really good point, I hadn’t considered that…