How the hell does anyone in California get into college?
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Anonymous
You’ve just confirmed that you are an idiot. Thanks for letting us know. |
Anonymous
I'm in CA and very familiar with CC offerings at multiple campuses, know nothing about how they compare to other states. E.g. look here: https://foothill.edu/math/schedule.html. Courses don't have a textbook, they require purchase of online content meaning all assignments and assessments are canned. That's fine it's a quick way to secure credits, but it's not quality. |
Anonymous
Nice try using a summer schedule. I fixed it for you https://foothill.edu/schedule/index.html?dept=MATH&Quarter=2025S |
Anonymous
Where's the contradiction? E.g. this is the text for Differential Equations: https://www.pearson.com/en-us/subject-catalog/p/fundamentals-of-differential-equations/P200000006302?view=educator&tab=digital-features There's nothing wrong with learning this way, but it's basically getting credit for working through the equivalent of Kahn Academy. |
Anonymous
Then you don't know Lynbrook and Cupertino, should not compare TJ with them in first place, TJ ranked at #12, other two are 86 and 218 in US news, not even close, noted TJ was ranked at #1 for many years before admission policy changed. Btw, Langley and McLean are ranked at 148 and 218 even with most top students going to TJ. |
Anonymous
Nonsense, who's bragging here. |
Anonymous
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There is no stigma to CC in CA. At least in the Bay Area, they are full of kids who do it because they want to go to a better UC, want to save money, haven’t figured out what they want to major in yet etc.
CC in California do not all follow one curriculum and they aren’t identical even though they are coded to align with UC and Cal state GE requirements. CC have honors classes, regular classes and online classes. UC and Cal state have transfer guarantees in place to accept these courses. The rigor of the class is dependent on the faculty member. The quality of the discussion is dependent on student peers. At the UCs your lower division courses are mostly lecture hall with a TA running your lab or discussion and grading your work. If you take in person honors courses with a good faculty member you will be well prepared. If you seek out online classes so you can cheat you will not be well prepared. Some UCs have transfer admittance guarantees if you maintain a specified GPA. However, not all school have TAG and not all majors are eligible for TAG. Part of transferring is meeting not only your GE requirements but pre major requirements. Those differ across the all the UCs. Those classes are not all offered at every CC. A lot of students end up having to do a third year of CC because they missed a pre major requirement. More recently additional programs have emerged called TAP and honors to honors. These increase your chances to 70-80% at Cal and UCLA and others. The problem is that they are only offered at some CC . If you want Cal you have to do DeAnza, if you want UCLA you have to do WV etc. |
Anonymous
There are also SoCal feeder CCs for the kids down there. It is a very smooth process for majors outside of CS as long as the kid puts in the effort. |
Anonymous
Keep dreaming my friend. I have no connection to either school but you have no idea of what HS is like in a real arena. TJ and TJ kids would be nothing special in the bay area. They wouldn't be known for anything except possibly their parents whining. |
Anonymous
Who's whining here? someone, offering no facts, tried to brag about two high schools in bay area, discredit TJ, did anyone say TJ kids are special than other two's. |
Anonymous
Winning? bragging? I have no skin in the game for either school. I have two kids one done and one about to enter college. They went to the privates that fit them (Harker for one and Mitty for the other) and both ended up at schools people on DCUM dream about all day because they went to schools that fit them and excelled. TJ is a great place for the right kid but people around the DVM think that it is a unique environment where half of the class should be at an Ivy and since they aren't people are screwing them. But it's not special outside of the DVM. Stuy in NYC is a better 'test in' and local bay area schools like the ones that I mentioned have kids that give up nothing to any TJ class. TJ parent need to get over themselves and understand that their kids are very fortunate, they will do great things, and that they are in a place that isn't any different than several hundred schools across the country. |
Anonymous
It’s getting less smooth every year. I agree if you are doing TAG to a specific major that is not impacted then it’s straightforward. Everything else is starting to crack under increased demand. More majors at schools are being pulled off the list. Administrative problems get in the way. Every year there is a burst of problems with UCI transfers which get worked out on appeal but still.. Some CC have really bad counselors that don’t give students the info they need so they are not realizing they need to find a class at another CC to hit the desired school’s pre major requirements. For non TAG schools are using their own criteria. Berkeley reserves almost half its spots for low income students. It is not difficult for a good student to get straight As for two years in CC especially if you are motivated by your dream school. This used to work very predictably but the number of students doing this is exceeding the spots. With less academic differentiation, you are back in the diversity of your background bucket. |
Anonymous
| What people aren’t mentioning is the social cost of attending a CC. The residential college social experience and the attendant networking are what makes college so special in the US. Tagging into a UC as a junior makes for a very lonely existence. You can read all the personal accounts in the various UC subreddits. I wouldn’t do that to my kid. |
Anonymous
I attended a CC in Calif before transfering into Cal. I didn't find transferring into Cal as a junior "very lonely"-- I lived in a small co-op, worked part-time jobs, volunteered in the community, and joined the bike team. Please note that you can have a "very lonely existence" at Cal even if you start as a freshman there if you don't have social skills/confidence. For me, it was absolutely fine to take the risk of possible social delay in the Cal community because I couldn't see taking out loans just because it could possibly be socially awkward to join as a Junior. Cal is so big that 1) no one cares that you are new and 2) you can find your people. N.B.-- I believe I received a better education by having my first 2 years at CC rather than at Cal. My classes were actually more demanding than Cal in the sense that they were taught by actual professors (many retired from Cal), in smaller than Cal groups, with more work demanded-- I.e., a paper due every week, and I'd get feedback and opportunity to improve based on the feedback-- something I didn't get until I was a senior at Cal. At Cal the first 2 years are (generally) classes that are large and taught by a TA and you are graded based on performance on only 2 exams in the semester. At least that's how things used to be at Cal in early 90s. I kind of missed having more "work" due because I really liked getting feedback from the professors at CC. It's a shame that CCs don't have better reputations in the DC area. |
Anonymous
My kid at an East Coast university has taken Math classes at Foothill, they were easy As compared to similar classes at the public University which were way more rigorous. |