<p>I wanted to put this out here to the parents. Santa Rosa Junior College is a phenomenal Junior College. A key to every door of opportunity exists at this college. I am just finishing up here and getting ready to transfer and I couldn’t be happier with my experience. </p>
<p>To put it in perspective this is the thought of opportunity that exists in our minds as students. We know that if we get a 3.5 GPA our shot at USC, UCB and UCLA is extremely good. 3.0-3.5 we pick any UC and 2.0-3.0 any CSU. </p>
<p>This place has the best administration I have ever come across, Sonoma State cannot compare to SRJC on any level. It is like a miny Ivy League campus that is littered with scenic views, brick buildings with ivy on them and tons of very old oak trees all across campus. There is a winner mentality type of energy that exists and it is a very proud place to be. </p>
<p>I got a 3.6 GPA here and am headed to an elite east coast school (poly sci major) after only three semesters. </p>
<p>For CA residents the college puts money in your pocket after expenses. The Doyle scholarship exists here and everyone can get it, even out of state. The better the GPA the more you get and minimum GPA is 2.5 and that still pays for everything. Out of state is still fairly cheap and is a very good option if your child wants to go to college in CA. 1st year I would expect to put out 12k to cover everything including room and board. Second year would be drastically cut to only living expenses and then transferring is so easy out of here, not once did I have trouble registering for classes I needed. </p>
<p>Cost of living is not expensive as one may think either, rooms that are walking distance to campus roughly rent for 400-500. A car is not even really needed if you attend here in fact half of my friends found rooms very easily within a 3-4 minute walk to campus in a generally safe neighborhood. </p>
<p>This is likely the most evolved junior college in the nation; I consider this place an academic utopia. The people are very nice and friendly here and I can always find something to do. </p>
<p>I am in the Student Government and an athlete so if you have any questions please fell free to post here or PM</p>
<p>We have family in Marin and Novato and we have heard this is an excellent J.C. What is the student life outside the classroom though? I know that J.C.'s such as Santa Barbara City College affiliate quite a bit with the UC students but wonder what it would be like there for a student outside of the area?</p>
<p>caliqwerty- Thanks for your plug for SRJC. I am also interested in the sort of non-academic life on campus and your thoughts about housing for students who don’t live close enough to commute.</p>
<p>As a current SRJC student, I can say the campus is gorgeous for a CC and I’ve had some great profs. It’s one of the older CCs, but currently there’s a ton of construction going on. The new library is excellent and aesthetically pleasing. </p>
<p>Socially, I don’t know. I’m not a terribly social person. Most of my local HS class went there(including many bright hard workers who could have easily gotten into mid-tier UCs out of HS), so in that sense, it does feel like a bit of an extension of HS for me. However, for a more extroverted person, I don’t think the campus life would be too bad. </p>
<p>Housing wise, there are nearby apartments along Mendocino Avenue, but the rent is high(hey it’s CA!). Finding roomates to split the rent with should be no problem though. I myself live at my childhood home across town. </p>
<p>As the OP said, it is a nice school. I wouldn’t call it a “mini Ivy-league” though. Parking can be problematic(a common problem at commuter schools), but the new multi-story garage is helping with that. The Doyle Scholarship(offered by the local Exchange Bank who donates over 50% of their profits to it) is indeed a great deal. It rewards merit, with the higher GPA you have, the more money you get(goes up to $1600 per semester for 3.5>) and its renewable. </p>
<p>I’m finishing my second semester at the moment. So far, I’ve enjoyed my experience.</p>
<p>SRJC is a mini ivy it’s about your perception of your expierence. I had a couple of professors who graduated from ivy league schools while I was there who wrote me good recommendations. I’m less than six weeks out from finishing my first semester at Columbia and the transition was seemless. Housing is abuduntly availiable around campus and very reasonable if you get a roommate. I had a great life while at SRJC, so much to do and the extra curriculars within the school are top notch such as athletics, thearter, student govt. etc… This JC really does just about everything very well, in fact they do some things a lot better than Columbia. Not to mention I saved almost 100k in tuition costs attending there first.</p>