Colleges?

Question

So I went way off topic commenting on another post, and I want to see if people shared the same opinion as I. 
In high school, my group of friends I had would seriously overwork themselves to maintain a high class rank, pass all the AP classes, do as many sports and extra curriculars they can, just to not get accepted into any university they apply to. 
Me, I did half of what they did. I had a 3.5-3.7 GPA, did no sports, but was involved in a club and leadership type class my senior year. I got accepted into all 5 universities I applied to. 
My friends were so stressed out about not staying in town and that they wanted to leave as far away as possible, and not end up in the local community college. 
I never really saw the stigma around community colleges either. I think they’re fine. I ended up taking that route and have saved myself a lot of debt. 
What is your opinion on basically draining yourself in high school to get accepted into a university? Do you feel as if too much pressure is placed on kids to get into a university? And finally, why do you think people view CC’s as “awful?”
Thanks for answering!!!

Answer

It depends honestly. Going to a community college was not an option for me if I wanted to go to vet school. One of the requirements for vet school when I applied was that you needed to have 30 credit units with a 70% average (that was a minimum- in reality you needed around a 90% average to be truly competitive) from a degree granting institution. Most community colleges I know of are not degree granting. I wanted to get into vet school after only two years of a undergrad degree to save money. I did that. And yes I had to work like a dog in high school and university to get the marks I needed for vet school (and that was a whole different kind of hell). 
Had I gone to community college I’d have had to switch to a university after a couple years. So not only would I have had to transfer schools, move cities if not provinces and then pay for an Addict all two years. So it wasn’t a good option for me. 
I also know people that really know they want to pursue a certain career and they want to go to one school for four years. They don’t want to transfer. I think if you don’t know what you want yet community college is a great place to figure that out as it costs less. My husband did a year at one to boost his marks to get into a university for engineering (which you need to do at a university to get professional status and a degree). 
Community colleges are not universities and are not at the same caliber. That doesn’t mean they’re bad, but they’re not going to get you into every field of work. They can be a great stepping stone. Some people really want to go into a certain field where a diploma from a community college is adequate qualification so that’s a great option for them. But if you know you want to pursue careers like engineering, human medicine, RN, veterinary medicine, law and even education then going to university straight from high school is a good choice. It might cost a bit more up front, but you avoid the hassle of transferring and you might really want to move away from home or love the university campus and want to experience that. 
So it really depends on what you want from your experience in post secondary education and what you want for the future. There’s nothing wrong with slaving away to get into university out of high school and there’s nothing wrong with community college either.

Answer

It depends on the line of profession the person wants to be in. In most cases, community college is a smarter way to go because you save a ton of money on the general ed classes everyone has to take within the first two years. 
I think also some parents might instill that pressure in getting into a university right out of high school for several reasons, including personal. 
If the individual is on the path of completing the schooling necessary to get into their desired profession, it doesn’t matter what school they go to - wether it’s technical, art, cc, etc.

Answer

I think it is a good idea to understand the standards of your top school choices. I had an idea of where I needed to be GPA wise and SAT wise (i'm giving away my age here, I didnt have to take the ACT) to get into my schools so I made sure I was there and I wrote a killer essay for my applications, plus a couple of extracurricular activities....but I didnt bother to stress myself out beyond that. And I was accepted into every school to which I applied.  
Doing a university transfer program at a community college the first year or two is a really good option for saving money. 
But I think if you want to get accepted into a prestigious, selective university then you're going to have to put in the extra work and deal with the extra stress 
State universities usually are not as selective

Answer

Community college is fantastic, especially for your prerequisite classes. I think people put too much pressure on themselves to get into a university, and to have the full college experience. 
I’m in community college. It was the best decision I could have made, because I was awarded a full ride scholarship for two years. I’m now in nursing school and I’ll have to take a loan out to finish, but it won’t be that much. It might be a few thousand, whereas if I had gone to a university I’d be in much more debt. 
I understand the appeal of university though, and some people like to get everything out of the way as quick as possible. For some people it may even be the better choice to go to a university depending on the degree. But for me, I’d rather save some money and get my associates first, get a job and pay off my debt and then go back to school to pursue a higher education. Some jobs will even pay your tuition if you go back to school. It just wasn’t worth it to me to go to a university right off the bat. Community college can be easier to get into, easier to get scholarships, overall a cheaper option, and typically just as good as a university education.

Answer

I do t see anything wrong with Community colleges. Hell that where I’m going right now. Saved me a lot of money.  I have a better change of getting into the university I want because I have been doing great in college.  Never did to good in high school. I had a 3.5 I think.  But now I have a 3.98. I will have 3 associates when I leave the community college and move to the university. Oh and I have NO debt.  So ya.  Community colleges are great and a start way to go!!!

Answer

I think it depends on the person and their ability. Most people I knew at my university didn’t have to struggle to get there. If someone is struggling to get into a university, then they should reconsider why they want to go. I’m glad I didn’t go to a CC because I enjoyed living in the dorms freshman year and staying at the same school to get my degree. I also benefited by attending a research heavy school with graduate students to mentor me when I worked in a lab. Others may be happy that they did go to CC because it it cheaper and if they decide they want a BS or BA they could always transfer to a traditional four year institution. It’s not black and white since we all have different aptitudes.

Answer

I had scholarships and was top 20 in my grade in high school. School comes easy to me. I decided to go to hair school instead and went to college later on. I used my state scholarship for community college and I completed my associates with no debt. The university I transferred to have me a partial scholarship because of my gpa. I finished my bachelors at a University also with no debt. 
While community college isn’t the same caliber as university, it is a great stepping stone. I never understood why people disregard community college. Look into transfer scholarship opportunities.

Answer

I’ve always wanted to pursue careers that don’t accept community colleges, so I’ve always been more leery of them. However I got shit grades freshman year and because they average gpas, mine sucks. Right now it’s like. 4.2 so I’ve been stressed about getting into college, but I do see the draw backs to draining yourself in high school. All my friends are doing better than me, but all they do is study. It all depends on the person.

Answer

I think it's a waste of money to not do community college first, especially if you dont know what you want to do. GERs are all basically the same.
My state has a system where if you get an associates from community college you are automatically accepted into the states university. I know some people prefer private schools but I honestly dont think that matters either. I know a few with doctorates from top tier schools who started in community college.

Answer

I barely tried in high school, only really did two extra curriculars and got accepted into every college I applied for including NYU, Penn State, and like 6 others I can’t even remember it was so long ago and I didn’t end up going to them. I ended up leaving college after 3 semesters when I ran out of money. The thing about killing yourself to get into a school is that you’re setting yourself up to be in a place where you will continue to have to work your ass off to graduate from college. I went to school with a lot of kids who worked really hard to get into the school, just to fail out because they didn’t have the natural ability to keep up couldn’t maintain the even harder larger workload from college. I take classes now and then because I’m still enrolled as it was my choice to leave and wasn’t thrown out. I make decent money, I own a house, I have a comfortable life. My lack of degree doesn’t effect my day to day. The people I know who did complete school aren’t in better positions than I am. Some were Ivy Leagers, some went to community college. Ultimately personality, mental capacity, work ethic and privilege are what will determine a persons success in life, not where you went to college. For your question about CC, only people who think their faceless baseless opinions are law don’t fit in here.

Colleges?

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