Community College Problems

Having to always eat dinner in your car commuting between work and evening classes.

Wanting to make friends, but will probably never see them again.

#272 Financial Aid office employees

How many friends I have made at college 👌, how many friends my highs hook friends have made since they move in 👦👧👩👨👵👴👱👲x100. I feel so left out, even though I know it I worth it. However, if I see one more person post how exausting it is for the to take 15 credits at college and live in a dorm away from home with no job, I may scream. I not only live at home and have to commute 30 minutes to CC every day, but I took 18 credits, I work full time, and I still manage to complete my chores around the house. So all of the college students who think I’m being over dramatic, let’s switch place for a day, actually a week, because my 4-5 hour sleep a night is sure not cutting it….

I didn’t make life long friends mostly because I was working full time. But that was on me, I know I could have.

The transfer process is very complex and the fear of not transferring in 2 years is actually pretty real and legitimate. I want to start out by saying that it’s okay if you don’t transfer in 2 years. Literally nobody cares. Not your employers, Not the school you’re transferring to, nobody. So it’s okay if it takes a bit longer.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, the transfer process is easy in theory:

- Attend Community College- Choose a field of study- Choose a goal college- Find out college pre-req’s- Find out major pre-reqs- Plan schedule out for 2 years- Take classes- Apply in the fall after your first year- Transfer.

It sounds easy enough, right? Here are the complications.

1. You don’t meet the minimum requirement for some of your classes. You have to test in for English and Math. Sometimes you don’t meet the pre-requisite, so you have to waste a class taking the pre-requisite, earning no transferable credits, and putting you back at least a semester. Worst case, you require more than one semester of pre-requisites for more than one subject.

2. Classes are full. The more popular classes are the ones that fill up quickly, so if your registration date, which is contingent on the number of credits you have earned, is late, you might not get the class you want.

3. The classes you need to transfer are not offered every semester. If you miss taking it two years in a row, then you’re there for another year.

4. The classes you need aren’t offered at all, making you un-competitive to your dream school.

5. Life. Simply put, you might mess up and fail a class. Or you end up needing to reduce the amount of credits you’re taking because something comes up. There are an infinite amount of possibilities.

That all sounds really scary right?

Okay. Breathe. These are all possibilities, but you can counteract them as well.

First, take the time to carefully plan out your requirements for each semester/ quarter that will ensure you meet the minimum number of credits to transfer as well as the course requirements. In planning you might realize that your transfer path will be pretty complicated and will involve some of the problems I’ve detailed. Here is where I counteract them.

1. This one is the hardest to overcome, I think.

If you’re already graduated and you don’t meet any of the requirements, then the only recommendation is to start early by taking summer classes, and continue to take summer classes. This gives you a two semester head start. I know it’s a bummer to take summer classes, but hey, you wanted to transfer in 2 years.

If you’re in high school, DON’T TAKE IT EASY. I know it’s tempting since you’re going to community college and you don’t need to be accepted. But if you can’t even meet the requirements when you start, then you’re only hindering yourself. Take up to Algebra II and make sure you pay hard attention in your English classes. Algebra II is the pre-requisites for all the college level math. And for English, you’ll most likely need to test out.

2. Don’t take no for an answer. Professors usually have room to add students with slots for students who don’t show up, or just out of whimsy. If your classes are full, attend the first day anyways and show interest, in taking the class. Either find time to speak to the professor before the class or after the class and explain the situation. There might not be room the first day, but chances are people will drop and if you keep showing up, you’ll definitely be added.

3/4. See if there are any community colleges near you that either offer the class in person or online and take them there! During the application process you can add other community colleges you have attended.

5. BREATHE. Life gets in the way of school a lot. You need to focus on your mental health before anything else. So take time to relax, for yourself, stuff that helps ease the stress of school.

It’s actually not as hard as it would seem! You just have to put yourself out there! Put yourself in a situation where you are likely to interact with a lot of people (eg., clubs, study groups, sports teams). 

That being said, you are a Running Start student so you’re going to be at a different point in your educational career than other people. I recommend being very open to people from other styles of life. I would also tell you to be wary, as some people might not be as likely to communicate with you -- because of your age. Don’t let that stop you.