Expert: Susie Watts - 2/22/2010

Question
QUESTION: I am in a very good situation as far as colleges go. I worked my butt off since 8th grade. I have excellent test scores and almost a 4.0 average. My accomplishments beside academics include volunteer work, student clubs like yearbook staff and the welcome committee, student government, tutoring Junior High kids in math and a bunch of other activities. So many activities that you would wonder when I ever got to sleep.

I have letters from all of the people that I worked with including the parents of the kids that I tutored, a city council member and a small stack of positive letters that is still growing.

I am pretty confident that I could get into any college and so are my parents. I however want to skip applying for colleges and do my first 60 units at a community college. I would take as many units as I could handle and be done in no time. After a year or two in CC I would start applying to Universities.  

My Mother thinks not applying to a University right away is a bad idea. What do you think?

I want to do Community College for two reasons;

1. To have more time with my best friend and girlfriend before leaving.

2. To save money for my parents.

ANSWER: If your mother felt that it was important for you to go to a community college for financial reasons, I would say OK.  However, I agree with your mom. You have worked hard and I think a four year school makes better sense for you.  There is nothing wrong with community colleges, but I think attending a school for four years makes for a far more meaningful experience that can make a real difference for your future.

http://www.collegedirection.org

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: So it would be bad to go to a community college even if I maintained good grades?

To be honest I'm nervous about going away but I guess I will start applying, I told my Mom that I would go with whatever you said. Quite frankly, I thought you would agree with me. So you really think it's better to go to a University right away?

Answer
There is nothing wrong with a community college, but your mother may feel that many of the students there didn't have the grades to go to a 4 year school and that is why they chose a community college.  That is often true because community colleges accept everyone.  Everyone feels anxious about going away but if you could find a school that is not too far from your home, I think that might be ideal.  It is getting a little late in the college admissions process for seniors so you may not have the choices you would have had earlier.  I think your mother probably objects most to your turning down a college opportunity to stay home with your girl friend.  I would have to agree that that is not a real good reason and many people regret it later when they do that.

http://www.collegedirection.org