Getting Advise on College: Should I Change Schools?

[mcknia07]

I currently go to a community college in my home town and it seems I am taking classes that I don't need to really graduate. Should I try to go to another college to finish my schooling? Do I need to do something else? I need all the advise I can get. Please help!

 

[cristo]

Can you undertake an entire degree at a community college? I thought they were sort of a stop-gap between high school and college. Still, I know nothing about this. However, it seems that your question is more of a "should I move college?" than "which college?"

 

[mbisCool]

Do you mean you are taking classes the community college only requires, probably random requirement towards can associates degree? If so I would say don't take them, just take the prereq courses for whatever program you intend to transfer at the 4 your institution. Whether you met the requirements for an associates at the previous school you transferred from is not going to be of great importance, especially since those credits more than likely won't transfer. You are just losing money.

Another option would be to do well in your courses and tranfer as soon as possible.

Obviously you would need to decide for yourself in the end so these are just my thoughts :)

 

[mikeknick04]

Hum, I see...

My younger sister just finished high school in the spring and came to me for advice about going to college.. so I've seen this before.

She's intelligent and loves math and science.. wants to be an engineer.. though I think she'd be better suited in the medical field.. but anyways.. another story there.

I recommended she go to a community college starting out.. She's pretty shy and wasn't 100% on what she wanted to do. So she's working on pre-reqs and gen ed courses right now.. she says it's too easy.. so she's probably going to transfer after next year. But she likes it alright.. she's gotten over her shyness and is hoping to move onto a bigger school with more activities going on. She did athletics also, so she wanted to play a couple more years in her sport.. and the cc gave her that opportunity.


It really depends on your goals though.

You have goals of being a Mechanical Engineer, you are probably going to run of out the gen eds at the cc. I know my sister's school has already ran out of Math classes she can take that will count toward an engineering degree.

If I were in your situation, I'd definitely transfer.. and see what else is out there in the world, it's scary, but well worth the risk.. unless you want to finish your Pharm tech associates.. just guessing though.

crap.. side note.. it's that sister's b-day today.. what are the chances..

 

[mcknia07]

Well thanks for you input...and I think you need to call your sis up and wish her a happy birthday!

 

[mikeknick04]

Haha, on the phone w/ her now.. it's 1.15am here.

So what kind of goals do you have for yourself, if you don't mind me asking.. I like hearing people's goals and helping them out.

 

[mcknia07]

Well, I plan to try to finish up college in a good amount of time amd get a good job, like at a Honda plant maybe...I've already had a few job offers from places, so I'm keeping my mind open to everything.

 

[WarPhalange]

I have no idea what just happened, but if you live in the US, you usually cannot get anything past a 2-year degree in a Community/Junior College. You have to transfer to a University of some sort for that.

cristo: Not really a stop gap, but you can't do much in them. A lot of people opt to go to a CC for the first two years of their schooling because it is a lot cheaper and you are guaranteed entry. Then you can get your grades up if you had bad grades before and not pay as much.

The down side is that a lot of the time a University won't accept your credits. They view the Calculus 1 you took as not being the same as their Calculus 1. Some CCs have deals with Universities where they get their classes on par to make it easier for students to transfer.

 

[jtbell]

A lot of people opt to go to a CC for the first two years of their schooling because it is a lot cheaper and you are guaranteed entry. Then you can get your grades up if you had bad grades before and not pay as much.

The situation varies from state to state.

Some states (most notably California) push students towards community colleges for their first two years towards an undergraduate degree because the state-supported four-year universities don't have enough room for everyone who wants to start a four-year degree. It's cheaper (for the state) to have them go to a CC for two years than to expand the four-year schools to accommodate them all.

In other states, although it's possible for students to transfer from CC to a four-year school, it's less common, because students who are capable of succeeding at a four-year school usually go to one to begin with, unless of course they have financial problems.