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A twenty-year professor on starting college this fall: Don’t

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Re: A twenty-year professor on starting college this fall: Don’t

#101

Post by lilt »

lonelappde wrote: post #75
pfranz wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2) If you are studying a technical field, even if you are average, a degree has greater ROI than just about anything else. You can pay off your debt in the first few years out of school and continue earning dividends for the rest of your life. What's the downside to going to a community college? Where I grew up the credits were transferable. They did say, "Most people spend the first two years figuring stuff out".…

Some people take community college level courses at university, payit inflated prices for the false prestige of a mid tier school like American University. That's a waste. If you start University at a level above community college (which many people here did), and get a decent price, it's good.

If you can do both at the same time, or get basic classes out of the way in the summer at a community college, then it may be ok.

But delaying electives for two years would put you at a significant disadvantage in technical fields, imo. Not to mention the basic classes (math, physics, etc) will be a joke at a community college so you will have a weaker background.

Re: A twenty-year professor on starting college this fall: Don’t

#102

Post by marcinzm »

collegeburner wrote: post #20

I'm looking at college this fall and seriously wondering about this. I'll have to spend a lot of money if I go to an "elite" school, and the point of doing that is to make connections with my peers and with professors. I don't see the point of paying that kind of money for that sort of experience. That aside, not starting college may not be a good idea, either. Does anyone with more experience have advice on this? I…

Top schools (MIT, Stanford, etc.) have generous financial aid packages if you can get in. They'll provide you a well rounded technical education which sometimes is hard to achieve/force one-self to do when self-teaching. Networking should also not be understated since it pays off hidden dividends down the line. In five years fewer will care you went to MIT but if it helped you get a Facebook internship that then helped you get a Google offer that then helped you get a great startup offer it's still helping you indirectly. Right now having no college degree also prevents you from getting certain jobs or makes it much harder.

Re: A twenty-year professor on starting college this fall: Don’t

#103

Post by sys_64738 »

kevindong wrote: post #9
yial wrote: post #3

I think this is a great article, however, I think a more tempered approach may be to take online courses from a community college or similar to begin working on at least some gen eds. This frees you up to do some of these other things that article suggests, while still getting credits under your belt.

It's important to note that some colleges restrict the number of credits you can take/earn during the time between high school graduation and college matriculation. My alma mater, Purdue, permits incoming freshmen to take a gap year (but not purely due to Coronavirus [0]). During that year, the would-be freshmen may not take >=12 credit hours of courses or else their admission will be rescinded and the freshmen would…

Pick a better college than this one then. There are plenty.

Re: A twenty-year professor on starting college this fall: Don’t

#105

Post by pnw_hazor »

wikibob wrote: post #21
frankbreetz wrote: post #18

As a millennial college graduate, my number one piece of advice to college bound high schoolers is do the first two years at community college. The debt is not worth the experience. Most people spend the first two years figuring stuff out, community college is a great place to do that. I didn't even know this was an option until after college and I feel failed by my high school college advisors. Unless you are very c…

Disagree. Graduation rates are drastically lower from community colleges. There is vastly less academic support available. The people around you will be vastly less ambitious. This will rub off on you. Yes 4 year university is now overpriced in America. But if you can, go to a 4 year university. Yes maybe go to an in-state university instead of out of state if that is cheaper, or go where you get the best financial a…

Depends on the schools I guess.

My peers at a top 10 public school didn't get nearly the pre-engineering education I got at a nearby community college.

Primarily because their core courses (math, physics, chemistry) were weed out courses for engineering and med school with 200-300 people in them. In contrast, my core courses had about 20-40 people in them.

Note, I am not claiming any prescience here. I didn't have a choice in the matter. I started my pre-engineering slog at Math 085 (Pre-Algebra 2, I think) at CC after four years in the Army.

Circumstances are much different for my kids, one went to Westpoint (USMA) and the other is going to a big state school, but she is in their honors college. So, honor college courses and AP credits have enabled her to bypass the weed-out jumbo core classes. And, I am paying for everything so loans are not a concern for her.

Re: A twenty-year professor on starting college this fall: Don’t

#106

Post by pnw_hazor »

electriclove wrote: post #83
ForHackernews wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people I went to high school with chose to stay home and go to community college to figure things out. Most of them puttered around for a year or two, studying part time while working, eventually getting distracted and abandoning their degree plans. I think I can count on one hand the kids who actually transferred to a 4-year university and finished their bachelors degree. I guess dropping out of a community…

Not sure why you are getting downvoted. What you said is actually true for many that go to community colleges. Do people disagree about this? I think there are many positives to attend a community college first but there are also several drawbacks that need to be acknowledged.

Staying home and puttering around at a CC can be a better choice than spending time at a big school if you are not ready for it. Especially if you are paying private or non-resident tuition.

My daughter's freshmen dorm roommate should have stayed home. She spent much of her time pining for her boyfriend at home, rarely doing anything outside of class. She got pregnant by the boyfriend and now is dropped out. Kind of a bummer really, she is an under-represented minority who had a full-ride for Chemical Engineering.

Re: A twenty-year professor on starting college this fall: Don’t

#107

Post by derangedHorse »

kurthr wrote: post #80
pfranz wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2) If you are studying a technical field, even if you are average, a degree has greater ROI than just about anything else. You can pay off your debt in the first few years out of school and continue earning dividends for the rest of your life. What's the downside to going to a community college? Where I grew up the credits were transferable. They did say, "Most people spend the first two years figuring stuff out".…

The downside is that you basically won't get into Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Yale... or most any other "top" college after going to community college. I know of one counter example, and I know of many very smart capable people who would have been capable and profited from such a degree, but missed their chance... which in turn made it VERY difficult to get any advanced degree. Maybe that doesn't matter in CS/programming…

And where are you getting this information from? Just anecdotes of people you think are smart, went to community college, and got rejected?

Re: A twenty-year professor on starting college this fall: Don’t

#108

Post by derangedHorse »

lilt wrote: post #100
pfranz wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2) If you are studying a technical field, even if you are average, a degree has greater ROI than just about anything else. You can pay off your debt in the first few years out of school and continue earning dividends for the rest of your life. What's the downside to going to a community college? Where I grew up the credits were transferable. They did say, "Most people spend the first two years figuring stuff out".…

I took some community college classes in high school through a program we had with them. The environment and students were very underwhelming. Your mileage may vary. I got to take relevant classes (CS) in my very first quarter of college. The first two years it was a 50/50 split. The biggest benefit was being among smart, interesting people. College was way better than any previous educational experience, by far. Tha…

You don't have to put anything on hold. If you're motivated, you'll start learning what you have to on your own.

To be transparent, I went to a community college for 2 years and honestly can't recommend it enough for the reasons listed by the OP. I learned a lot better in the small class setting, and a good ratio of my professors were actually good at teaching (unlike the university I ended up going to where teaching was a necessary evil for professors).

Re: A twenty-year professor on starting college this fall: Don’t

#109

Post by ng12 »

kurthr wrote: post #80
pfranz wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2) If you are studying a technical field, even if you are average, a degree has greater ROI than just about anything else. You can pay off your debt in the first few years out of school and continue earning dividends for the rest of your life. What's the downside to going to a community college? Where I grew up the credits were transferable. They did say, "Most people spend the first two years figuring stuff out".…

The downside is that you basically won't get into Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Yale... or most any other "top" college after going to community college. I know of one counter example, and I know of many very smart capable people who would have been capable and profited from such a degree, but missed their chance... which in turn made it VERY difficult to get any advanced degree. Maybe that doesn't matter in CS/programming…

Depends on where you live. The state schools in California are part of one big system so it's very easy to transfer from a community college to a UC (e.g. Berkeley) as long as you have the grades/aptitude.

Re: A twenty-year professor on starting college this fall: Don’t

#110

Post by derangedHorse »

MyHypatia wrote: post #68
frankbreetz wrote: post #18

As a millennial college graduate, my number one piece of advice to college bound high schoolers is do the first two years at community college. The debt is not worth the experience. Most people spend the first two years figuring stuff out, community college is a great place to do that. I didn't even know this was an option until after college and I feel failed by my high school college advisors. Unless you are very c…

Strongly agree. Community college enabled me to knock out almost 2 years of school in 1 year by taking classes during the regular semester, weekend classes, online classes, and summer classes. I also saved tens of thousands of dollars, and had much smaller class sizes than at the university. My professors were only focused on educating, not research, not arguing over grant money, and not flying around to conferences.…

I've noticed that a lot of the students at the community college I went to were more mature as well. They all had stronger convictions for going to school as most of them were older and had spouses and children they were trying to build a better life for. Other types I found were people who were switching careers due to a life-changing event (pregnancy, work accident, rent increases) and even a good amount of immigrants who were fervently trying to pursue the American dream. All of them had a lot to lose if they didn't succeed, and I believed they worked so hard because all of them knew what it was to fail, unlike many of us high school grads. Needless to say the mentality at my community college helped build strong study habits within me, and inspired me to hang in there when times got tough (just like the classmates I used to work with did).
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