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Add to FavoritesThe only thing that matters is from which university you graduate, not the one you entered. So much pressure is put on high school students to push beyond their limits so they can enter a top notch university....and go broke doing so. It simply does not make sense.
When young adults graduate from high school, everything they've ever known about the world disappears. It's a tremendously stressful time, but they'll go down the tubes before they admit they're not thrilled to be free at last and heading off to the big time. Entering the overwhelming new world of a university campus after the oh-no-what-now shock of compulsory schooling is over, and most likely a summer of reckless partying to dull the fear of freedom, is often far too much for budding young adults to handle. There's a reason why college drinking is on the rise and the "freshman ten pounds" has now ballooned to the "freshman twenty pounds." It's a bucket full of stress dressed up as success, achievement, and accomplishment. There's got to be some relief from all the turmoil, and often food and substance abuse are the most easily obtained relief values.
Why suffer the frenzy of fierce competition to enter a prestigious university right out of college when at least 20% of those entering freshmen will burn out or be in rehab by their junior year, leaving plenty of space for transfer students? It is worth burying the pleasure of one's last carefree years as a kid in school just to say, "Hurray! I got accepted at a school that scares me to death and my parents can't afford!" Those aren't the exact words spoken, but they are the sub-text.
Community college is a fantastic way to ease into the next stage of journey from childhood to adulthood. It's a chance to get used to handling the freedom of non-compulsory attendance, class schedules that bounce all over the clock, and a class grade determined by as little as three chances to get it right. It's much better to ease into the strange new world of self-discipline if you have the added benefit of being able to fail and get back up again without spending a fortune or humiliating yourself in front of your classmates. A very large part of success in higher education, and life in general, is learning how to play the game. You can't learn without failure, and community offers the opportunity in abundance. There's nothing more valuable we can learn than how to pick ourselves up and keep going. Why not take the opportunity, and take it at bargain prices?
Many young adults leave high school with no clear idea of what they want to do with their lives. This is a good thing. Life is long, and there are so many options it seems a shame to miss the opportunity to explore the broad spectrum of general education at a community college. Was that anthropology class kind of interesting? Yes? If you're at a major university you have no time to fiddle around and take a few more classes to see if that might be the direction you want your life to take. No, sir. University is big money and great expectations. No time to test the waters and paddle around in the shallow end. You're put on a rigid schedule and keep on marching.
The experience gained at a community college, and the advantage of being able to take classes over at a lower price if you should fail, take a tremendous amount of stress off the junior and senior years of high school and add some quality of life to those precious and fleeting years. Spending a few years at community college to cover general education requirements lifts the pressure of a 4.25 GPA in high school, gives you a chance to test many different waters, prove yourself in a new environment, and spread the incredible energy of youth across a broader spectrum. It will also most likely bring some very big surprises. First, you will probably find that general education classes are actually better at a community college than a university. Why? Your professors aren't actually professors at a university, they're graduate students. Professors keep an eye on their teaching assistants, but most of their time and passion is spent on upper level courses and teaching graduate and post-graduate students. At community college your professors are actually older than you and have more experience. Some of them might be bitter that they haven't hit the big time, but most don't want to play the games of complex universities and would rather teach a subject they actually enjoy in an environment they enjoy.
The other big surprise is that you might find yourself accepted into a university you never dreamed would take someone like you. By the junior year those universities are looking to keep their numbers up. They don't want to get stuck with stats that show 1,200 freshmen accepted in 200_, but only 600 graduated four years later. They have report cards just like students, and they guard them jealously. You'll have spent two years studying under less pressure, with possibly better instructors, have some money saved, and find yourself performing better than you expected. And this will be happening just as those universities are starting to have heart palpitations because they don't want their numbers to fall. You might even qualify for scholarships after getting the hang of things at community college.
Why not take off some of the pressure, save some money, give yourself a chance to get used to college life, and then get into a top notch university that hands you a prestigious diploma two years later. Trust me on this. I graduated from USC, and not once has anybody ever asked me if I entered that hallowed hall of academe as a freshman. I didn't. I started at community and had a terrific experience with higher education in every way possible. The best part about going to a prestigious university was being from that university, not driving myself nuts and my family to the poor house to get in as a freshman.
Learn more about this author, Cyd Madsen.
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Regular
I had the aptitude and intelligence quotient to make straight A's as a high school student, but I only applied myself in the disciplines that interested me. I was too preoccupied with my pipe dream of becoming a rock star to take education seriously. Consequently, when I graduated in 1977, it was quite literally by the skin of my teeth. I was near the bottom in class ranking and my grade point average left much to be desired.
I spent the year following graduation rehearsing with rock bands that never seemed to play anywhere for money. All the while, I still lived at home. To my credit, and much to my parents' relief, I did have a decent-paying job and paid my own way for many things. Suddenly, a revelation took hold. The field of music had many different attributes and the fact was that I was going nowhere fast in my many bands. I decided: why not go to college and get a degree in music? Perhaps I could teach or become an independent session player. Who knew? Maybe both.
As mentioned in other articles covering this topic, community colleges were far less expensive and much easier to enter; especially in light of my haphazard high school record. I neither took SAT tests nor prepared myself for a university education, so a community college was my only option. I was 18 years old, and for the first time since I was in about the 3rd grade, I was enjoying school. Furthermore, my grades reflected this. I graduated with an Associate of Arts degree two years later with an overall GPA of 3.45. Now I could enter a University as a Junior level student. Or so I thought.
Community colleges; junior colleges, two-year colleges, whichever term you prefer, is in my opinion merely an extended version of high school. While these establishments can prove to be very useful in preparing one for a specific vocational trade, such as a dental assistant, cosmetologist, shop-related skills such as auto mechanics, or one of many other such skilled occupations, I feel that they do not adequately prepare a person who wishes to pursue a career that requires a minimum of a Bachelor's degree in the Arts and Sciences.
I transferred easily enough to a big university, but I was in for a rude awakening. The classes were much more demanding. The bar was set considerably higher, and the competition was far greater. Once I entered university-level classes, I soon learned that those enrolled will either sink or swim, and it wouldn't be long before the individual knew where he/she stood. I sank quickly; as if I had been pushed off a pier with cement shoes on my feet. Many classes that one will take in a community college that appear to be equivalent to a specified university course often will not transfer. A person finding him/herself in this situation ends up having to start over, and at a more difficult and demanding level to boot.
To conclude, community colleges certainly serve as the means of choice when seeking a vocational trade, but for any other profession where four years or more of college is mandatory, it is wise to prepare accordingly by starting out at the true university level.
This will avoid the very real possibility of setting yourself up for an unnecessary letdown.
Learn more about this author, Patrick Sills.
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