slothmeister
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All these posts and no mention of Annie's boobs, colour me surprised.
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Why is everyone so negative about community colleges?
- Thread starter cuevas. PhD.
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Pachterballs
Banned
NYmag or NYtimes twittered that by 2014, some NYC exclusive universities would cost 485k to complete a 4-5 year degree. I literally lolled at that. I'm sure their parents could afford it but seriously whack.
there's a stigma but once you get a job; who cares
there's a stigma but once you get a job; who cares
I went to university 
I went to CC for two years before transferring to a 4 year college, and it worked out pretty well. Like others have said it gets your general credits out of the way and it lessens the hassle once you get to the four year. I also had more than a few great professors while at CC, whereas I can count only one or two quality professors at the big university I went to. I'm not sure how that disconnect works...but it was certainly there for me.
On the negative side there was a definite lack of overall community at CC which meant that it was hard to make friends because you'd really only see them in class. Likewise there weren't dorms (at least at mine) so there was no option to stay on campus. I kinda wished that I had jumped straight to a four year just so I could get the experience, but I'm happy with the way I went. I've made some quality friends from within my major because of the classes we had to take together, so there's that.
On the negative side there was a definite lack of overall community at CC which meant that it was hard to make friends because you'd really only see them in class. Likewise there weren't dorms (at least at mine) so there was no option to stay on campus. I kinda wished that I had jumped straight to a four year just so I could get the experience, but I'm happy with the way I went. I've made some quality friends from within my major because of the classes we had to take together, so there's that.
victreeb3l
Member
it should be, but surprisingly a lot of people dont do that.
like a poster earlier said, CC + public university is probably the best combo for higher education in the states
Where I went to high school (Tallahassee, FL), a lot of people were negative about CC's. Part of that might be the number of big 4 year universities in Florida, with sort of a hierarchy as far as difficulty to get into, combined with the low tuition and ease of getting free tuition through Bright Futures. So the general thought seemed to be you went to a community college only if you couldn't get into a university.
SFCC? Yeah, I thought about taking some courses there when I was at UF.
They do, though not in many places--Canada, Australia, and the UK per wikipedia.
Not necessarily. Originally they came about because there were just too many colleges, so some cut back to two-year institutions. More recently, they've been part of larger scale education plans, like Clark Kerr's California Master Plan from the 60s. In California, they're meant to catch anyone who wants to get a higher education, but doesn't qualify for a UC or a CSU out of high school.
Aesius
Member
The CC in my hometown is and was a major joke. It was full of all the same burnouts from high school who didn't give a fuck about education but were forced into attending "college" by their parents. Most of them dropped out after a year; some within their first semester.
I graduated HS in 2005 and I know a few people who are STILL attending off and on. WTF?
I graduated HS in 2005 and I know a few people who are STILL attending off and on. WTF?
That might be the case for some CCs but that wasn't my experience as a history major. Something else I should mention is that the history professors I had at CC prepared me ridiculously well for full on university. They didn't have babyshit tests, instead we had to write full blown 20-30 page papers a couple times a semester. We were expected to do our own research, and essentially write the things in proper formats. No cut corners. In most cases from what I remember, I actually worked harder on my papers in CC than I did in university until I got to my capstone class. My CC professors kicked ass.
Shouta
Member
They exist in other parts of the world, they just have different names, probably.
OneEightZero
aka ThreeOneFour
Not to down community colleges overall, but my current cc is run like a high school that you have to pay for. I hate it and am so glad I'm transferring out this semester.
Omegasquash
Member
Boom. I did three semesters at CC before jumping ship to a state school for a change of atmosphere. In the end it saved me about 20k, and I even got to avoid some of the BS orientation classes that way.
One of my best friends studied history at a CC. Transferred to a decent university, got his degree, got his Masters, now working on a PhD.
He didn't have the grades for a good university out of high school, but beyond that he really wasn't ready. Never really tried in school. The CC definitely helped prepare him.
Best decision I made. Some of my favorite teachers were from my community college and I was able to transfer to a much better school for going. I will agree about the social aspect, people didn't really put effort into it. Makes the show much more depressing that there wasn't a hot 19 year old in my study group with insecurities.
MorisUkunRasik
Member
My cc education has cost me nothing, for perspective, where I study next will cost me about 20 grand for two years.
Lasthope106
Member
As a person who went to a CC before University I know a thing or two about your question. CCs work best for people who know what they want - they finish early and save money - or for those who are a little confused about what major to pursue. The tuition is a lot cheaper so you can experiment taking classes from a wide variety of fields. But they are also horrible in watering down the curriculum for dedicated students. Having worked in the CC while I was attending I got the chance to read a lot of the internal communication and it was actually against their mission to fail students or to be "academically rigorous" so that people couldn't pass classes.
Also most of the students at my CC were liberal art students, there were about 10 or 20 people in the entire 2000+ student population that were going into Engineering. For me personally, it was a mistake to go there and not into a University right after high school. In a single semester at the University I learned more than I did in two years at CC as an Engineering student. I was exposed to more ideas, more people, and way better labs.
Of all the people I met at CC, I only talk to a few, but my University network is much, much bigger with people in all disciplines, but mostly in Science and Engineering.
Also most of the students at my CC were liberal art students, there were about 10 or 20 people in the entire 2000+ student population that were going into Engineering. For me personally, it was a mistake to go there and not into a University right after high school. In a single semester at the University I learned more than I did in two years at CC as an Engineering student. I was exposed to more ideas, more people, and way better labs.
Of all the people I met at CC, I only talk to a few, but my University network is much, much bigger with people in all disciplines, but mostly in Science and Engineering.
Franklinator
Member
I'm finishing up my associates's degree at my community college this semester, then in the fall I'm transferring to a university. Overall, it's been a pretty great experience.
This experience is going to vary from school to school though. Hell it will vary within a school. The community collage I went to (Nassau Community Collage) had some 20k students and more then 2k professors. The classes I took there ranged from jokes to harder then anything I've taken so far at the university I've transferred to. Overall it was worth it as it allowed me to get my Gen eds out of the way and figure out what I wanted to major in.
Dude Abides
Banned
The extremely low admission standards mean a lot of mouthbreathers go, which unfortunately taints everyone in some people's minds.
There are good and bad CCs just like anything else. I spent 2 years getting gen-ed stuff out of the way and I don't regret it at all. I even discovered my eventual major because of a great teacher I had at CC.
Ghost_Protocol
Member
It's not a myth. I just cosigned my sister's loans for Arizona State University. Tuition, room, and board runs 100k for a bachelors. It's worse in California, and even worse on the east coast.
As for the CC issue, if you're planning on majoring in Engineering, or something that relies heavily on high level physics/math, CC does not prepare you. You won't care about the money you saved if you get to university and end up having to retake classes there to catch up. This happened to a few people i knew.
Hobbestetrician
Member
I did go to CC with someone who looked like an actual caveman. We called him Prometheus because he was probably the person who discovered fire.
And ASU has the largest student body in the country. Sun Devils be raking in that cash apparently.
AbortedWalrusFetus
Member
People who value an education and financial stability over having a good time with your bros at university?
Zoe
Member
Room and board are the key words there.
Aesius
Member
That probably describes about 20% of all CC students. Most are burnouts who will never even complete their fucking AA, let alone a BA/BS.
AbortedWalrusFetus
Member
The other 80% are probably people who should be pursuing trades instead of going to college anyway. But I can't fault them for trying.
Edit:
The same goes for the 15% or so of university students that drop out.
Evolved1
make sure the pudding isn't too soggy but that just ruins everything
It's true. First year classes are plagued with disruptive retards.
But they're often gone by the second year. And contrary to popular belief, at least at my school, and in the sciences, they do make an effort to "weed out" these people. I would sometimes talk to the chair of the chem department (had considered changing my major to chem after loving the classes) and he spoke candidly about his classes being purposefully rigorous. And because their institution was serous about maintain positive relationships with the 4yr uni's (with regard to credit transfer) that they were committed to sending capable students... which all comes back to the curriculum. Some of the classes were a breeze, especially electives, but my major classes were taught by PhD's from "real" universities and there was parity in the coursework. This was something I've always been worried about, and have discussed with advisors and professors... I think maybe I was fortunate to land where I did. It was the good launching point.
Mr. B Natural
Member
The image of community colleges has gone up for what I've seen. Maybe it's still high school 2.0 for a lot of people...middle ground for C students, but with the costs of college going up and up, it starts to seem like a good deal and nothing to be ashamed of. Smart kids are going to community college because it's economical.
As silly as this sounds its pretty much true. Even now at 27 I irrationally look down on community college. Its just one of those things you learn over time.
But at the same time, there are obviously going to be some bad apples here and there. You could have the best teacher in the world but if you are surrounded by people that have no desire to learn and end up distracting you then it doesnt really matter. It'll definitely affect your overall quality of education. I also think that community college isnt so great for some fields. Graphic Design is one of them. I used to be involved in interviewing for my last job and the work coming out of those schools were terrible compared to places like SVA and Parsons. In CC, I imagine you have to take your education into your own hands a bit which they dont seem to encourage.
Zoe
Member
The CC here actually offers trades programs.
This. I just finished up my freshman year at Community College, and some of the people I've met just make me wonder. I think the highlight was someone who thought Detroit was the largest city in the state of Chicago.
AbortedWalrusFetus
Member
If I could go back and do it again? Me. I never had any interest in getting involved with college life, so I could've saved myself a ton of money those first couple of years.
What makes it like high school, though -- besides you possibly still living at home? The CC near me (College of DuPage in the Chicago suburbs) doesn't seem like high school at all. I took a couple courses there for fun, and it seemed like... a college.
Ghost_Protocol
Member
ASU and plenty of other schools require freshman to live on campus and purchase meal plans. Some require you to stay on until you receive enough credit to "qualify" as a sophomore. And some..... just want to see the world burn, so they charge you extra for NOT living on campus. In summary, they get that money.
Even if you avoid all of that and you're living on your own somewhere, your cost of living over 4 years plus a bachelors degree will be close to, at, or exceed 100k.
titiklabingapat
Member
My plan is to attend one of the community colleges here on SoCal, then transfer to a UC or CSU school after two years. I know that the state includes CC into their higher learning strategy so I'm wondering about the quality of most CC. Anyone knows?
I did a year of dual enrollment in high school at a local community college and a year of cc after that, so I did two years there (one class from an associates). It saved me some money, but I ended up doing 4 years at my university (art degrees are hard to get in 4 years). I also took a lot of extra classes that are hurting me right now (went over 140 credit hours, costs 50% extra per credit hour). It was an alright experience I would say. No real sense of community like others said, but it wasn't terrible.
Harry Dresden
Member
I love how people say that CC is like High School Year 13. Thinking that Freshman Year of any 4-year is some holy grail of higher learning.
For the most part your 100s and General Education courses are going to be High School cont. because that is what their fucking purpose is.
A Community College has to go through the same accreditation process as any other state school. They are there to provide education for people everyone, the community.
There is no admission requirements. If you want to take a class at a community college you take the class.
For the most part your 100s and General Education courses are going to be High School cont. because that is what their fucking purpose is.
A Community College has to go through the same accreditation process as any other state school. They are there to provide education for people everyone, the community.
There is no admission requirements. If you want to take a class at a community college you take the class.
cuevas. PhD.
Member
I would call the university and see which schools they recommend.
Harry Dresden
Member
The schools have articulation agreements. If the 4-year University didn't trust the quality of the CC's courses then it wouldn't accept their credits.
Your community college should have transfer and articulation advisers that do nothing but help students learn the best way to get their classes and transfer on to bigger schools.
I work at a community college. Our bread-and-butter are transfer students and adult education. We also have a great 2-year nursing program, and a lot of 2-year trade programs that are always full to capacity.
Angry Fork
Member
Community Colleges have a negative stigma because there's a higher likelihood of idiots and/or failures going there and they may not have the same hunger for knowledge that students at MIT have.
I haven't been to college yet but that's just my interpretation. It seems like the higher tier schools have students that want to be there, they want to learn more, debate with each other, discuss ideas etc. Community college is like when you fucked up in life and are trying to start over (me at the moment). Then there's the debate on the quality of education and the teachers/professors, because you'd think if a professor was great they'd be working at a more prestigious school.
Again I don't know if any of this is true, that's just what it looks like from the outside.
I haven't been to college yet but that's just my interpretation. It seems like the higher tier schools have students that want to be there, they want to learn more, debate with each other, discuss ideas etc. Community college is like when you fucked up in life and are trying to start over (me at the moment). Then there's the debate on the quality of education and the teachers/professors, because you'd think if a professor was great they'd be working at a more prestigious school.
Again I don't know if any of this is true, that's just what it looks like from the outside.
it sounds like you weren't exactly challenging yourself...not the fault of the university?
I hate CC's because of what they have done to most of my friends. "Oh I'll just get the basics out of the way" turns into "It took me 5 years to get my associates...". Thats why they have a bad reputation. They don't offer many classes that come close to simulating a university level course unless you are there for practice stuff like welding, technician work, dental assitants, etc. By offering classes like that, people just kind of...meander and never fulfill their potential.
Real talk.
I went to a CC in the area that people referred to as College of the Desperate. Of course, anyone who referred to that would eventually come back after a failed year of college away. A lot of it has to do with the general sense of leaving the valley since it's fairly calm and boring. Great for raising a family, but not for the family grown up. A lot of kids want to get out and have fun, and the majority overdo it. There's a sense that you will be stuck there but a lot of people do bad on the assessment test and have to take extra classes that stall your progress. I got out in about 2.5 years and I'm now going to a 4year and I have zero debt
StrikerObi
Member
I work at a major state university, and from my point of view there are two kinds of students that come from community colleges.
1) Smart students. Some are just short of major state university requirements and are doing their first two years at a CC so they can transfer to a university once they earn their AA degree. Others are value conscious and realized that you can get all of your state-mandated liberal-arts requirements out of the way for far less money at a CC before transferring to a University for their major studies. These students are great. But from what I see, there aren't many of them compared to group 2.
2) Dumb students. They don't know what the hell is going on with their education typically. They're just taking courses and think they will magically get a bachelor's degree. They typically have no idea what they really want to study and often times are WAY off track of their major and despite meeting general requirements are often denied to the university because they are missing tons of pre-requisite courses that they SHOULD have been taking at the CC for the last 2 years. A lot of them are interested in transferring into the absolute easiest majors with the fewest admission and graduation requirements. Basically they just want "a degree".
Unfortunately, from my point of view at least, it seems like there are far more of the latter group, and they give the entire community college system a bad reputation. Honestly, I blame the education system as a whole for these students. Lots of them probably shouldn't even be in that system. If you don't know what you want to study, you shouldn't be in college (unless you only want a liberal arts AA degree - which isn't very useful). But society pushes them to go to college for no real reason. They do it because they're "supposed to". I'm not sure there is a solution to the problem.
Some of them should probably be at vocational schools learning valuable (and high-paying) skills but unfortunately they shy away from that option because the vocational schools have even worse of a reputation than community colleges.
Also THIS. Lots of CCs have horrid retention/graduation rates compared to their university counterparts. It only takes 4 terms to get an AA but if you really buckled down you could probably do it in 3. Anybody taking more than 6 needs to re-evaluate their education goals.
1) Smart students. Some are just short of major state university requirements and are doing their first two years at a CC so they can transfer to a university once they earn their AA degree. Others are value conscious and realized that you can get all of your state-mandated liberal-arts requirements out of the way for far less money at a CC before transferring to a University for their major studies. These students are great. But from what I see, there aren't many of them compared to group 2.
2) Dumb students. They don't know what the hell is going on with their education typically. They're just taking courses and think they will magically get a bachelor's degree. They typically have no idea what they really want to study and often times are WAY off track of their major and despite meeting general requirements are often denied to the university because they are missing tons of pre-requisite courses that they SHOULD have been taking at the CC for the last 2 years. A lot of them are interested in transferring into the absolute easiest majors with the fewest admission and graduation requirements. Basically they just want "a degree".
Unfortunately, from my point of view at least, it seems like there are far more of the latter group, and they give the entire community college system a bad reputation. Honestly, I blame the education system as a whole for these students. Lots of them probably shouldn't even be in that system. If you don't know what you want to study, you shouldn't be in college (unless you only want a liberal arts AA degree - which isn't very useful). But society pushes them to go to college for no real reason. They do it because they're "supposed to". I'm not sure there is a solution to the problem.
Some of them should probably be at vocational schools learning valuable (and high-paying) skills but unfortunately they shy away from that option because the vocational schools have even worse of a reputation than community colleges.
Also THIS. Lots of CCs have horrid retention/graduation rates compared to their university counterparts. It only takes 4 terms to get an AA but if you really buckled down you could probably do it in 3. Anybody taking more than 6 needs to re-evaluate their education goals.
Aesius
Member
It certainly feels like the 13th grade when half or more of your classmates are the same dumb fuckers you went to high school with. Oh, and the professor actually has to DISCIPLINE people due to class disruptions.
Face it -- CC attracts a shit ton of people who don't belong within 500 ft of a college campus.
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