Question for those whose kids went the community college route?
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Anonymous
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My daughter is a good kid, but did poorly freshman year of HS and terribly on the ACT. She freezes and gives up while taking standardized tests. When I see her around her friends, it's not like they are discussing the finer points of Shakespeare and she is talking about the Kardashians. The thing is, she is hitting at a B+ level senior year HS.
Looking at colleges, her ACT score is killing her but schools have said, go to a community college for a year or two, get the grades up, and apply for a transfer. She is heartbroken seeing her friends getting into colleges and talking about leaving home. My point is, it's not where you start but where you finish. About 78% of the kids at our state university graduate within six years so a lot of those who get accepted do not make it to the end. I have also told her to visualize - make her goal being at the graduation ceremony four years from now at State U. with her parents in the stands. And every day work hard to make that goal a reality. And also from Day 1 at a community college connect with State U. so they know she is serious. So my question is, anyone else have a good kid who started slowly, went the community college way, and then finished up at a solid university? Any tips you can provide? Sure, we are all disappointed at how things have developed but there is a "second chance" to get there and I want her to make that happen. |
Anonymous
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I did terribly is HS. I did not do community college, but when to a really low ranked college for the first 1.5 years, transferred to a highly ranked state university (straight A's at the lousy school), went to graduate school, phd, now working as a research scientist.
It does not matter where you start, but it does where you end. Only the last degree matters. |
Anonymous
| Since when does a B+ average give you no options but CC? |
Anonymous
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Just encourage her to work hard.
Has she ever been screened for LD? She may have a different way of learning or requiring a different type of testing to have success. Help her in choosing not just a major/ but a career look into things that play to her strengths. Studying and working towards what your passionate about can make a world of difference. Depending on the CC she might be able to focus most of her courses on her chosen field right from the start and take fewer what I call " filler classes" Tell her not to be shy about seeking out tutoring for the classes she struggles in. Lastly, really consider if traditional college is for her, she might fair better going to a trades type of school and still be wildly successfull. |
Anonymous
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I did one semester at Moco cc. It was great. I took phys and Chem and calc 101 and they all had 30 people in the class
Instead of 500. Then I went to UMD (I deferred for the one semester). Everything transferred and I saved some money. Moco and nova cc are good and Moco has an exchange program with Cambridge in the UK. Not a bad choice if you work hard and plan aMs then transfer to the state school. Saves some money too. |
Anonymous
Exactly! Simply go to a lower-tiered 4 year college, and transfer if you still want to. |
Anonymous
OP: the B+ is only senior year. In fact, we will send transcripts to a couple more places once the first semester ends. It is the freshman year, part of sophomore, and the ACT that is dragging thing down. We were thinking about a lower-tiered but that would involve her moving twice in two years and would cost more. |
Anonymous
OP: thank you for the thoughts. She is very interested in sociology, social work, and criminal justice so not sure a trade school will get her there. One thing we are looking at is a program where you go to both CC and a local college at the same time. This way, she does the CC thing to get her grades up but also has a taste of a four year institution. |
Anonymous
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I met a woman at college who went the CC route for the first two years, then transferred to Sarah Lawrence. It seemed smart to me. It didn't occur to me that she hadn't done it by choice. She arrived knowing what she wanted out of the experience and got the degree. Financially and otherwise, it seemed a clever strategy. DD will run into a new set of people. This, along with the academic piece, will serve her well in the future. I hope she doesn't feel left behind. It seems to me that she's just taking a different path. |
Anonymous
| I work with two folks who did this, one for financial reasons and the other because of grades. While it somehow is a stigma for some, I find them as driven, focused, and intelligent as everyone else at my office. If anything, they missed freshman year underage drinking and frat party experiences, but that doesn't seem like such a loss. Somewhere I saw an article that said that people who go this route get better grades in their last two years at the 4 year institution than their peers who attended from the beginning, but I can't find the link. |
Anonymous
| Look here for colleges that do not require ACT/SAT scores. www.fairtest.org |
Anonymous
| Consider consulting a private college counselor on good choices for her... |
Anonymous
| Op I did two years of moco cc before transferring to Maryland. I went cc route for financoal reasons and I loved it. My classes were small there was no long walks between classes and some of my professors were teaching the same courses at UMD. I ended up going to a highly regarded graduate progr after UMD. My best friend from college also took the cc route and now she is an OBGYN. Some of my professors at MC graduated from IVYs. Also MC posts a list of where people are transferring to and some transferred to IVYs. Mc was the greatest decision I made after high school I saved a lot of money going cc route. Also at UMD I took summer courses at MC to save more. Yes I may have missed out on dorms and parties and sororoties but honestly the education I received there was top notch and I do not regret It for a second! |
Anonymous
| Many students in California do two years at a CC before transferring to a 4 year school. If fact, schools like Cal encourage students to do this because of overcrowding and high tuition. I have plenty of friends with degrees from Cal who did two years at a CC first. I wish I'd been that smart in retrospect. Think of the tuition savings!! |
Anonymous
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I have a similar kid, but one year behind. We'll definitely be considering the CC option, but I have concerns. DS showed us pretty clearly as a freshman that he transitions slowly, and he doesn't show his best work under pressure (e.g. standardized testing). In order to earn the grades needed for a guaranteed transfer, kids need to get consistently high grades from the first semester at CC. A kid who takes time to adjust to the new setting, or figure out how to self advocate and organize themselves can lose everything, or can end up spending years bringing their GPA back up to "transferable level".
I don't know for sure what we'll pick, but my first choice would be a school where staying for all 4 years is an option. If he's ready to transfer to someplace more prestigious after 2 years, great, but if not then at least there's a back up plan. |