Community college ——-> University path

[Anonymous]

Apologies that I have not been able to read through the entire thread, but I graduated high school in the 90s and know many people who went to CC because they could not get directly accepted to the state flagship. Back then the path in our state was quite straight forward. There was an established curriculum and a minimum GPA and if those requirements were met, once you received your AA you could transfer as a junior and your credits would transfer. The only downside was that you may not have the pre-reqs to get immediately accepted to the degree program of your choice. The people that I know that have done this are quite successful today.

There was also another group who went to CC from my HS. That group went because they could not think of anything better to do and it was basically a continuation of HS for them. These people were mostly already working almost full time at the mall or chain restaurants. Most of these people did not finish their AA at all or took a very long time to finish and have not had very successful careers.

So CC can lead to very different paths, it’s really a question of goals for attending and motivation.

[Anonymous]

A lot of Vietnamese refugees came to the US in the 80’s and 90’s attended NVCC for two years. They transferred to UVA, VT, and GMU after spending two years at NVCC. All of them are successfully today.

[Anonymous]

My sibling attended CC for two years then finished their BS at U of R. Great grades, math major, did it to save money, worked a part time job and still kept up a 4.0, went on to success in small business.

I went to UVA, then decided later I wanted to go to medical school and took classes at NVCC and LFCC. I paid for it as I went since I was working full time and didn't want to have debt from a formal post-bacc program. It was great as the classes like organic chem and physics were small, so I got a lot of individual instruction and was well prepared for the MCAT. Got into med school on my first application cycle, but this was in the mid-2000s so I know things are more competitive today- but the virginia community college classes were considered acceptable everywhere I applied.

I think if you're a smart and motivated person, you can get a lot out of community colleges, especially as there are many PHDs who have industry/"real" jobs but teach part time because they like it.

[Anonymous]

I did it and graduated with zero debt and never looked back. Guaranteed admission by following the program. No brainer but so many people around here have to say their kid goesto xyz school to make themselves feel better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did this round, 2 years cc & 2 years university. All credits got transfer into university but not GPA. Level 300 & 400 at university classes are harder to keep high GPA. If I have money, I would let my kids go to 4 years university to keep the grade higher. 6 out of 7 us went this round. So far, all the second generation kids go to 4 years university

I've seen at least one other poster say this, but in my engineering program I felt that the 300 and 400 classes in my program of interest were much easier. They were smaller, and not 500+ person weeder classes. My grades also reflect this. I've often thought that my HS classmates who transferred from the commuter campuses and CC were better off financially too -- most of us part all or part of our tuition minus any aid or scholarships.

[Anonymous]

My brother spent almost 6 years getting his AA degree from Nova Community college. He blamed a lack of counseling and having to take different requirements when he changed majors (twice), but I think that is it easy to coast for a while there while working part time, hanging out with friends, etc. Also, the class costs are so low, it was easy for him to justify taking a partial load and dropping hard classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For a variety of reasons, it’s looking as if going to community college then transferring to a four-year university may be the best path for my child. If your kid has done this, could you share your experiences, tips, advice? (Please only your own family’s experiences, not what you’ve heard from or observed in others.)

Not family, but my DC1's BFF from HS. He went to a cc college in Central Virginia and transferred into UVA after 2 years. Mom told me it's guaranteed transfer with 3.4 GPA. Kid did great at UVA with ZERO setbacks or educational weaknesses from cc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew is doing this right now in California. He's one of the top students in his HS but didn't get into the UC he wants to go to so is taking advantage of the free CC option there. It's becoming a much more common path for high-achievers in CA who want to go to UCs since admissions has become so difficult. He's in a honors program at the CC so that keeps him with other focused students who are aiming for the transfer to a 4-year. I know NVCC offers the same thing so I'd explore that.

And, my son is going to VT and I can see that their housing options include a living-learning community just for transfer students, which seems like a great way to integrate into the campus as a transfer.

my sibling did this ... went to local c.c. then to Cal. Did this due to finances. Pretty common in CA.

Yep, very common in CA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually attended community college for two years then attended UC Berkeley. I graduated with honors and went on to top 20 law school. I did it so save money, but I think I received a better education at community college rather than if I had started at UCB because the classes were smaller and actually more rigorous in the sense that I had papers due every work, more tests, etc. than my friends at UCB. Also I was actually taught by the teachers and not TAs. Perhaps it was easier to get an "A" at CC, but that works also to your advantage at CC as you won't have lower grades from the first 2 years dragging down your GPA. You graduate from university with just the gpa of the last two years at university. Hope that makes sense!

Also, two of my teachers were retired from UCB and were fantastic!! They would host parties at their homes for students and we'd get to know their families. It was a friendly "community".

I feel like Californians are FAR more comfortable with the community college to university path than DMV folk. Perhaps there is a good reason for this-- perhaps the community colleges just aren't as good as the ones in CA?


TL/DR-- I attended CC prior to university in California and have no regrets.

Hope that helps!

Me too! This was my path. And the professors at Cc were just as good with more personalized attention than at UCB. Almost everyone I know did this path and are super successful today. It's the path we want for our children.