Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

I don't understand why ppl are trying to get a freakin 4.5 GPA and 1450 SAT scores wen you can transfer from JC/CC without trying that hard?

Is it cuz of the "pride" or pressure that ur parents give you?

I mean transferring from a JC/CC to a UC is alot easier/cheaper rite?

does that make you look bad when u graduate? why don't everyone do it then?

or is it a lot harder to transfer nowadays than before?

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Thursday, October 02, 2003 - 08:48 pm: Edit

In Seattle the university of washington, which heretofore has had an agreement with state community colleges that if you have a 3.7 or so GPA with an AA degree you can be admitted as a junior. However, not anymore. UW has about 6000 freshmen in the 2008 class and since many of them will take 4 to 6 yrs to graduate, there just is not room for CC students unless you are truly exceptional. Additionally, the UW does not consider some CC classes to be the same level as comparable classes at teh UW, so you may be given elective credit, instead of credit for the class number at the CC.

By Militarygrade (Militarygrade) on Thursday, October 02, 2003 - 10:18 pm: Edit

Enyce - don't give away the secret! SHHHHHHH!!

I got a 1.8GPA in high school with no EC and a 1100 SAT.

Ten years later, after living a little, I transferred to UCLA on a full ride with a 4.0GPA.

I spend my time in classes with 20 year old's who've never lived a life. They've spent the past ten years maintaining a 9.8 GPA and 1600 SATs and every waking hour doing some sort of EC.

By their second year of college, they are burnt and want to LIVE. And they get bad grades.

Oh well.

By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 02:21 pm: Edit

Community colleges are wonderful resources if used properly. My oldest burned out 2 community colleges and a local university before getting his act together, getting into a college fulltime and completing a course of studies. He has finished med school and is now a resident in a prestigious program. Community colleges augemented his sister's college programs so that she too ended up in medical school where she is now finishing.
However, the problem with going to a community college is that the transfer rates are not very good in highly selective schools. If you think it is difficult to get into Harvard, just look at the number of transfers it accepts each year. So the chances of getting into certain schools diminish greatly for those who have high stats right off in high school.
The other reason people don't often consider community college is that these schools do not often have the residential life that a full fledged university does. Now there are also commuter colleges that offer 4 year degrees that are the same. Many kids want that college experience which means dorms, activities, sports, clubs, kids from all over, etc. Many times commuting to a local school is like a 13th year of high school. The social just doesn't cut it.
I think community colleges can be useful to nearly anyone properly used. My son has gotten some non-major curriculum requirement out of the way at a cc. My kids have also used ccs to take a preview of a tough course--take chem in the summer, then take it a Very Tough U that fall. You have some notes, some residual knowledge , you are better prepared. You get a better grade and you learn the materials better. And for a very small price. If you have holes in your academic knowlege, you can fix them at cc and repeat the course at your regular school. It's done all of the time. Trying to replace a foundation course with a cc course, however could be a problem if it is not taught as intensely as a university might. I took a differential equations course once at a local college in preparation for the real thing at strong, selective, university and it was no preparation at all. The course at the local school was all application and problem solving. Tough U. taught the course as theory. The only thing I gained was for about a measly 2% of the time, I already knew how to work certain equations, but if I had know the way the two courses worked, I would not have bothered to take that summerschool course. On the other hand, a Community college bio course is a great refresher for someone who has not had bio since freshman or sophomre in highschool who wants to take a cell bio course in a university. I had forgotten every bit of bio and there was no way I was going to be able to take an immunolgy course without the cell bio course and that needed a basic bio brush up. At cc, the course was dirt cheap and fit the bill perfectly.
Computer courses can vary. Don't expect a local college to prepare you for an MIT computer science course. Or some engineering disciplines are so difficult that you can feel false confidence taking the subject in community college.
We are lucky to be in a country that offers these opportunities at such reasonable prices accesible to so many.

By Mstee (Mstee) on Saturday, October 04, 2003 - 10:14 pm: Edit

I know lots of people who have gone to community college and then a U.C. I even have a friend whose daughter went to community college and transferred to Harvard. In fact, until recently it was guaranteed that if you went to a community college and fulfilled certain requirements, you would be able to transfer to a U.C. Unfortunately, because of budget cuts in California, this may no longer be true. Some kids may not be able to transfer, or may have to wait.

By Dumbuket (Dumbuket) on Wednesday, October 08, 2003 - 09:28 am: Edit

Some people don't want to screw around in CC. Some people would even rather go to a "less prestigious" college and indulge some sort of "genuine intellectual curiosity" rather than make their life into a name-brand/title searching campaign.

Plus, if you really want a title or a name, you can always mail like 200 bucks to Poland. Seriously, they're selling earlships and dukedoms and stuff at whole-sale prices.

By Apguythesecond (Apguythesecond) on Wednesday, October 08, 2003 - 12:48 pm: Edit

Transferring is *NOT* easy. Many selective colleges take VERY, VERY few transfers and many (such as Harvard) have been known to not take any.

By College (College) on Sunday, November 09, 2003 - 12:51 pm: Edit

bump...