How to get over how depressing a Community college is?

[TheKracken]

In order to transfer to where I want I will have to spend 3 years at my community college and make great grades. I am curious how all of you are able to make the most of it? I am thinking of possibly starting a club, but I do not feel like I have enough course work or experience being my first year to start a club. Also, I do not have a car, so I am subject to the local bus schedule. Anything I can do to make this less depressing? Because it could possibly really hurt my grades. It has not yet, but it is definitely hitting me hard.

 

[linda300]

Some of the people I know drown themselves in computer games, but a handful still aren't doing the best. I guess you could try that. Aren't you living in a dorm or something? Aren't there lots of people around talk to and go out with?

 

[TheKracken]

I have actually been playing a computer game...but that I don't think that is healthy. My community college has no dorms and the campus seems to not be very social.

 

[Bipolarity]

You don't have to start a club. Join ones that already exist! If there are none, and you don't have the time to start one, find some other things to do:

- Find a sport you can play. Doesn't have to be mainstream like soccer/basketball.
- Go to the gym. Lift. You will find brethren there who stave off depression through lifting. In fact, most men are there to blow off steam so you will find a comrades of like mind in the gym.
- Pick up a cool useful hobby, such as photography or cooking.
- Play a musical instrument/go to concerts.
- Don't play video games. They are useless. I regret playing games in high school. I wish I had lifted weights more.
- Make more friends. Have everyone's number and see what they're up to.
- Watch movies/enjoy good music.

If you are new to any of these things it will be difficult at first. But get over the difficulty sooner rather than later!

Most of these should be done when you are done with work. Your work should be your #1 priority.
What state are you from by the way?


BiP

 

[TheKracken]

I am from California! I used to lift weights a lot back in high school for wrestling, since then I have let myself go just a bit...a lot :P I should definately get back into that. Hobbies for me can not cost too much money as I litterally have none. My parents make 0$ income ( no joke) so I could work, but that depressed me for a while as well. Shoot, I just sound like a sad person now. The hardest thing is trying to find people either mature or with similar interests to me. It may just seem all bad right now due to me being only a month and a half in, hopefully it gets better?

 

[Sentin3l]

- Go to the gym. Lift. You will find brethren there who stave off depression through lifting. In fact, most men are there to blow off steam so you will find a comrades of like mind in the gym.

Most of these should be done when you are done with work. Your work should be your #1 priority.
What state are you from by the way?


BiP

This. I lift almost every morning and it helps me reset my thought processes for the day. Very therapeutic and keeps you in good shape to boot.

 

[cjl]

- Go to the gym. Lift. You will find brethren there who stave off depression through lifting. In fact, most men are there to blow off steam so you will find a comrades of like mind in the gym.
- Don't play video games. They are useless. I regret playing games in high school. I wish I had lifted weights more.

Video games can be a stress outlet just like exercise can - many people play video games for exactly the reasons you outline above to work out. Video games are not useless at all - although as with pretty much anything else, they can be harmful if done in excess.

 

[Bipolarity]

Video games can be a stress outlet just like exercise can - many people play video games for exactly the reasons you outline above to work out. Video games are not useless at all - although as with pretty much anything else, they can be harmful if done in excess.

I just feel there are more productive ways to release stress.

BiP

 

[member 392791]

Community college was the best time I ever had in school (just transferred to a UC school, community college is way better). Make the most you can out of it

 

[TheKracken]

Please explain...

 

[member 392791]

You get one on one time with your professors, and you are in a class of 30 instead of 300. I can't even talk to my professor because his office hours are filled up with 30 other students trying to get answers for the homework. It's a lot more pressure and stress at university in part because of the lack of outside help, as well as the fact that the classes are just harder in general.

 

[symbolipoint]

In order to transfer to where I want I will have to spend 3 years at my community college and make great grades. I am curious how all of you are able to make the most of it? I am thinking of possibly starting a club, but I do not feel like I have enough course work or experience being my first year to start a club. Also, I do not have a car, so I am subject to the local bus schedule. Anything I can do to make this less depressing? Because it could possibly really hurt my grades. It has not yet, but it is definitely hitting me hard.

Why 3 years there? Why not maybe 2 years, and then do some courses later at a university?

If you could find a part time job, or some employment in the summers, maybe you will be able to afford some inexpensive transportation, like a small used car, or motorcycle, maybe a scooter. I was aware of a couple of different students many years ago who used bicycle transportation only or almost only. Then again, that is for young people who are at the age that they can tolerate that kind of method and stay in good condition.

 

[TheKracken]

3 years because for CSU Cal Poly SLO and for TAG agreements with the UC's I need to have all transferable course work done which is a lot. I am starting in Trig and I have to take pre calculus and that means I can not start calc till the summer (if offered any where near) and that means I won't get to take the modern physics class offered at my community college. Any advice in the regards?

 

[member 392791]

Just do well in your math courses, and start the semester running.

 

[symbolipoint]

3 years because for CSU Cal Poly SLO and for TAG agreements with the UC's I need to have all transferable course work done which is a lot. I am starting in Trig and I have to take pre calculus and that means I can not start calc till the summer (if offered any where near) and that means I won't get to take the modern physics class offered at my community college. Any advice in the regards?

Some people, but not all, find PreCalculus to be difficult.

Beware of taking ANY mathematics course during summer session. Scheduling is condensed to get as much material through during the summer term so you have less than a semester's time to learn and do all the work. Also, in case the professor or instructor does not actually finish teaching all the material, you MUST study the missing topics on your own before enrolling into the course which follows.

 

[johnqwertyful]

I just feel there are more productive ways to release stress.

BiP

What if you don't feel like being productive?

 

[lisab]

What specifically do you find depressing about going to a CC? The instructors, your fellow students, did you expect to be at a university by now, or is it something else?

 

[TheKracken]

The people around and instructors are all depressing, no one wants to be here. The teachers dislike teaching and the students dislike learning. I go to my local university (where my girlfriend goes) and the social life is amazing, students ask questions, people care and are getting involved. The instructors know what they are talking about.

 

[IGU]

So go to your local university, tell the people in admissions what you're telling us, and ask them what the simplest, fastest way is to be there instead of where you are. Seriously. If you won't do something to improve your situation, nobody else will.

 

[TheKracken]

My local university is very competitive to get in, and they will laugh at the fact I am asking what the quickest way to get in is. THey won't even reply to me about how a "W" on my transcripts will affect admissions.

 

[IGU]

My local university is very competitive to get in, and they will laugh at the fact I am asking what the quickest way to get in is. THey won't even reply to me about how a "W" on my transcripts will affect admissions.

Yeah, I guess you're right. Those sound like good reasons to not try.

 

[TheKracken]

sarcasm...alright, I will email them again, I just wish they replied to my emails.

 

[IGU]

sarcasm...alright, I will email them again, I just wish they replied to my emails.

Uh, no. Busy people pay no attention to e-mail. Go there. Figure out who is the right person to talk to (hint: not the ones who say no). Ask your girlfriend to ask around about who is reasonable and useful in admissions. Talk to that person. Impress that person that you are capable and care and want to be there. Do something to demonstrate it. Take a class there (informally) and get the professor on your side. Don't give up until you have some good answers.

Seriously, that's what trying looks like. People let you do only what you've already demonstrated you can do. So go do it, or part of it, or something like it. Then people believe you when you ask to make it official.

 

[symbolipoint]

In order to transfer to where I want I will have to spend 3 years at my community college and make great grades. I am curious how all of you are able to make the most of it? I am thinking of possibly starting a club, but I do not feel like I have enough course work or experience being my first year to start a club. Also, I do not have a car, so I am subject to the local bus schedule. Anything I can do to make this less depressing? Because it could possibly really hurt my grades. It has not yet, but it is definitely hitting me hard.

The discussion puts you back where you began it. Study hard for the first two years (already began); try to find and keep a part-time job, and maybe buy some transportation - a bicycle at minimum, or a low priced car at maximum. Prepare for transfer to a university during your third year at your community college. Also keep studying hard. At least one course on computer programming will likely be very useful.

Starting a club is probably not the best use of your time, but this is only opinion, while I do not know your goal or skills. JOINING an already existing club focused on your interest could be more practical.

 

[Vanadium 50]

THey won't even reply to me about how a "W" on my transcripts will affect admissions.

Of course they won't. It's kind of naive of you to think they would.

The admissions department is not going to say anything that can possibly be construed as "if you do X, we will admit you" That's a contract, and now lawyers can get involved. Besides, this question is completely unanswerable without the rest of your application - the answer might be "it doesn't matter, because we aren't going to admit you anyway".

You've made a number of poor decisions. The 1.9 GPA was a poor decision. Locking it in by going the CHSPE route was a poor decision. You're now somewhere where you don't want to be as a result of these decisions. Not getting straight A's in community college because you don't find the experience as enjoyable as you might like would be another poor decision. I hope you have noticed that each of these decisions is taking you farther and farther away from your goal.

 

[IGU]

You've made a number of poor decisions. The 1.9 GPA was a poor decision. Locking it in by going the CHSPE route was a poor decision.

Not so sure y'all understand what the CHSPE is. Okay, so you take the CHSPE and you now have the legal equivalent of a high school diploma, right? No, probably not the way you think you do. Nor do you have a GPA.

From another thread a year and a half ago:

Alright, so I am 16 years old and just took the CHSPE test (California High School Proficency Exam) which is equivilant to a high school diploma (So now at the end of the school year I am free to go to community college full time.)

The California community colleges are required to treat you as though you have a HS diploma, but you don't. You have no high school GPA and you have not graduated high school. This is a good thing. You can treat yourself as home schooled at this point, treat the CC attendance as dual enrollment towards graduating high school (although that has certain disadvantages too), and invent yourself a high school graduation and diploma whenever you feel like it. Home schooling rules are pretty lax in California.

But primarily you need to decide what it is you want. I've mentioned before that you should talk to Wes Beach. Your path is non-standard and there are ways you can use the system to your advantage and (many more) ways you can make it hard on yourself. Right now you seem to be pretty clueless about the rules and the possibilities -- you're playing the game without having learned how and you're getting crushed. Fix that! Learn the rules.

I think that with a little work you're a home schooled student who has not yet graduated high school. You would probably have to get the CC to retroactively reclassify you as never having been a degree-seeking student. You can probably have your parent sign you up for a charter school and they will actually provide you with money to pay for educational things. You can take classes at the CC for cheap or free by way of dual enrollment. But you have to pay attention and do things according to the rules. Consult an expert and do something constructive. Complaining about how the CC you're in sucks gets you nowhere. You're too young to be stuck.