First year community college needs advice.

[Joeglaw]

I am a first year community college student. I plan on transferring to North Carolin A&T State University, and majoring in mechanical engineering. I am having trouble getting any meaningful advice. If anyone can offer any advice it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[member 392791]

As a current community college student, my advice is to have a counselor help you figure out what classes to take and what semester to do it, and to actually stick to the schedule so you can transfer out in 2 years on time. Second, study and learn the material well.

 

[Jorriss]

I went to community college and if I could go back, I'd redo lots of things.
1) Take every class you can while at community college and, if comfortable, take large course loads to get done quickly - without sacrificing your grades or learning. Don't hold off taking physics, linear algebra, diff eq, etc, etc.
2) If a local university offers it, cross enroll to take a class a semester at the university that is not offered at CC - namely upper divs.

Community college was good for me but not starting upper division courses until year 3 or finishing lower division courses set me back, no doubt.

 

[Joeglaw]

They do not offer a cross enrollment. Were you able to complete a bachelor's degree in four years going that route?

 

[Jorriss]

They do not offer a cross enrollment. Were you able to complete a bachelor's degree in four years going that route?

I am going to finish my bachelors in four years (I'm in my last quarter now), but I did not cross enroll, it's just something I wish I had done if I could redo my community college time.

Otherwise, just go to classes, study hard and learn the material.

 

[ChaseDuncan]

Don't take calc 1 and physics 1 concurrently.

 

[member 392791]

my school's physics 1 has a prereq of concurrent enrollment in calc II anyways, its necessary very early on to understand integrals, which a calc I class wouldn't go into until halfway through the semester.

 

[moouers]

I'm a community college student as well. If I have one suggestion (aside from the "study hard" thing, which you should already be doing), it would be to take advantage of the smaller class sizes. Get to know your professors and visit their office hours for clarification on concepts or to simply ask questions that pop into your mind during your reading/lectures. I also agree with the above poster who said to take as many of your classes as you can while at your community college. You'll save a lot of money!

 

[Jack21222]

I am a first year community college student. I plan on transferring to North Carolin A&T State University, and majoring in mechanical engineering. I am having trouble getting any meaningful advice. If anyone can offer any advice it would be greatly appreciated.

Advice on what? You haven't actually given a situation for which advice is usually needed. Perhaps that's the reason you're having trouble getting meaningful advice.

 

[QuarkCharmer]

Make sure whatever courses you take will transfer to where you plan on attending. Be sure of this fact by checking with the university, not the community college. Be sure to check the syllabi of any major-related courses you may take (calc, physics, chem) to be sure that the course at the community college is not leaving anything out.

 

[Joeglaw]

Advice on what? You haven't actually given a situation for which advice is usually needed. Perhaps that's the reason you're having trouble getting meaningful advice.

I meant advice in general from someone who might have gone the route I'm taking.

 

[MathWarrior]

If anyone can offer any advice it would be greatly appreciated.

I find its extremely logical to look up professors on http://www.ratemyprofessors.com before enrolling in a course so I know what I am getting myself into. A good professor can make a large difference.

Furthermore, I would buy supplemental textbooks to read, in case your primary textbook is lacking, and view online videos when in need of more clarity such as khanacadmey.

If you haven't taken calculus 1 and 2 yet, http://press.princeton.edu/video/banner/ supplemental book can be extremely useful, when needing more practice or just general studying.