<p>I am a resident of South California. Recently, I applied to all UCs except for UCR, UCSC, and UCM and got rejected from 5 of them and waitlisted into one of one UC university. Then, I applied to SUNY New Paltz in New York (got a good scholarship, too) and Irvine Valley College and other community colleges such as Mt. Sac and Orange Coast College. I have been accepted into SUNY New Paltz and the community colleges and am now hoping to get some advice from the college confidential community. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of going to these colleges (SUNY and CC), in terms of cost, distance, and education?</p>
<p>For cost, you need to figure out what the costs will be at each school, and what the difference means to you and your family.</p>
<p>Academically, consider your interests and whether SUNY New Paltz has offerings for those interests, versus how the community colleges cover the prerequisites for your possible majors at UCs and CSUs (see <a href=“http://www.assist.org”>http://www.assist.org</a> for the latter).</p>
<p>Socially, SUNY New Paltz appears to be very residential, with 95% of frosh living in the dorms (but only 42% overall, presumably because most move off-campus after frosh year), according to <a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg05_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=100”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg05_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=100</a> . Community colleges are typically mostly commuter schools.</p>
<p>SUNY New Paltz is pretty nice and 1h30 away from New York City. It depends whether you want to stay at home for the next 2 years and attempt a UC, or if you would rather discover another part of the country. </p>