I was recently rejected by all the UC’s I applied to, and was only accepted to cal poly slo. I was wondering if it would be better for me to go to community college and try to transfer to UCLA or UCB. I am fairly confident that I will succeed at community college, and will be able to have a chance at UCLA or UCB, but I’m really conflicted between the community college route or just going directly to cal poly slo.
As of now, my major is accounting (not sure about what I want to do exactly, but i’ve narrowed down my choices to possibly pursuing an MBA or a J.D.).
The root of my conflict is deciding whether or not I want to suck it up at community college in exchange for a school with higher prestige and spend another year at home, or if I just want to move away immediately to enjoy college.
My family really wants me to go to slo, saying it’s a good school, but I believe I should be at a school with more prestige.
Another factor that is causing conflict is whether or not the name brand effect will matter to me in a year from now, thus making attending UCLA or slo seem irrelevent in the future.
Thank you for your help.
Your worry about “prestige” is for naught, unless impressing your HS pals is still important to you in the future. Law schools care about LSAT and grades, not the name of the school. For the other path, you don’t get an MBA right after college, any good program expects you to have a few years work experience. “Aha!”, you say, “employers care about prestige.” Well, some do. For someone hoping to work in consulting or on Wall Street the Berkeley name will help (not so much UCLA). But… It likely won’t help you. Your diploma doesn’t say you attended a CC, but your transcripts do. Every consulting or Wall Street employer will ask you to bring an unofficial copy of your transcripts to your interview. So they’ll know.
If you want a law degree then take a lot of courses that demand writing to sharpen your skills. If you want an MBA then you need internships to get a good job out of college, and taking part in student clubs helps you land internships if you can show leadership there.