I got accepted into some nice universities, I am not a dumb kid scored higher than ~94 percent of students who took the SAT and ACT(this is according to wikipedia), and got a 95 out of 100+ weighted GPA in HS. The problem is, I didn't get into any universities that I consider to be top universities(I'm sorry but A&M is NOT a top college). I've heard many stories of how CC kids can just "show up" and get an A. Kids at my school that take courses at CC say the same thing basically. You see, cost will be a factor for me, I'm looking at maybe 20,000 a year(or 10,000 a year since I got a scholarship at LSU). I don't see a point in making friends and connections if in my head I know that I want to transfer to a better college. It would just make it harder to transfer. I know that getting a 3.8+ GPA at a CC will make me a nice candidate for the colleges that I want to go to, maybe crack at a top 20 university. The question is, is CC easy like that? Or am I just being delusional.
I think this comment is more delusional than anything else you've said. To answer your question, community college probably is that easy, but transferring into a "top university" from a CC is probably a lot harder than getting in straight up.
Community College is easy but it won't get you into a top 20 university with anything less than a 4.0 (at least it shouldn't) and even then your odds won't be that great. Remember you're competing with other transfer students who attend non-CCs and have 3.8's or 4.0's. Why don't you goto A&M (which will be much cheaper for you than 20K a year), do well and then attempt to transfer from there? I find it funny you disparage A&M and then talk of wanting to goto a Community College (and this is coming from a longhorn).
Schools don't have advisory anymore? Go to A&M. Transfer if you can to the so called top 20 school. The tuition is less than 5K/semester at UT, it is probably the same at A&M. If you graduate from A&M, yet a even better school, don't worry about the money. It will pay for itself. It sounds like your a minimalist. Doing the least amount of work for the best payoff.
You are delusional. The only factor that should play into your decision is money when considering community college. If you can't afford a university for 4 years, CC is a good choice. It is a breeze and you should be able work and save for the final two years of college so you can graduate with no debt. All that being said if you have a chance to go to LSU or A&M I would jump at the chance, excel and worry about going to a great Grad school. Plus, the connections you will make will be worth the extra tuition. On top of that, CC will NOT get you into a top 20 school.
you would basically have to get straight As and also go to a reputed CC in your area. there are two big CCs here in La County that are known for having a lot of transfers to major universities in california. i took a semester at one of them to take some GEs on the cheap i could transfer over when I switched majors at ucla (had to take two quarters off) and I took the most number of classes possible like 5 or 6 of them and i had no issues whatsoever in any of them. they were all a lot lot easier than any of the classes i had at ucla, some were even easier than my AP classes in high school. i was able to cruise and get As without issues. the only thing that pissed me off was they count attendance so i was forced to go to every class. i didnt even buy books for 3 of the classes. i would say if you can get into one of the schools you can straight out of high school go for it. if not then CC maybe the way just need to make sure you go to the right CC and talk to a counciler there right away about what you would need to do. the two people i know that transfered to Cal/Berkeley from a CC spent 4 years at the CC. i know a girl who transfered into ucla as a third year after 4 years at a CC (but it wasnt one of the major two in socal i noted above)
You can get into UT with a 3.8gpa at JUCO if you take the right classes. Don't expect any out of state universities to give a damn what you did in JUCO though. TAMU is a good school. You probably couldn't even get into its business school and wouldn't last in its engineering which is probably the best in the state.
I agree with this. I wish to all hell I'd gone to community college first. You'd save a ton of money while getting your basics out of the way without the distractions of the typical freshman and sophomore collegiate experience. I spent several years drunk, stoned, chasing girls, etc. I had a lot of fun, and I did eventually graduate, but I'm still in debt up to my eyeballs. In short, for me, I wish I'd gone to CC, stayed at home, and had my family around to help me stay on the straight-and-narrow rather than acting like an idiot and wasting money for as long as I did. Don't knock CC, especially if money is an issue. Just my two cents.
if it helps, UT-San Antonio and UT-Dallas have transfer programs to get to UT-Austin. You might qualify. Better off going to a lower-tier school and transferring into a top tier school. I would not consider any CC better than that Texas Agricultural and Mechanical School. (I'm a Longhorn grad, but still - come on...A&M isn't a bad school by any means.) If you feel you can't get into to A&M or UT, apply to TTU, Baylor (may be harder, who knows), St. Edward's, Texas State... Community College is not the answer if you're that good.
U.S News Best Colleges 2008: 62. Texas A&M University 62 out of 2000+ four-year universities is pretty impressive I would say.. from the Washington Monthly: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_08/011908.php
go to LSU since you have gotten a scholarship there. if you do real well your first year (>3.8 GPA), then you should consider applying to a better college. do not go to community college even though you have been accepted to a major university. a 3.0 at a major university looks a lot better than a 4.0 at a community college, and a 3.0 isn't hard to get at ANY university.
wrong.. top engineering schools in the nation: S.No University/College 1 Massachusetts Inst of Technology 2 Stanford University 3 University of California-Berkeley 4 California Institute Technology 5 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 6 Georgia Institute of Technology 7 University of Michigan 8 Cornell University 9 Carnegie Mellon University 10 University of Texas at Austin 11 Purdue University 12 University of California- San Diego 13 University of California- Los Angeles 14 Texas A&M University
Texas has a better graduate program in engineering than A&M. Now if you split majors at the undergraduate level it varies. For example A&M has better petroleum program, but UT's finest is in its chemical engr dept. Mechanical is about even, and for biomedical engineering UT's cracked the top 20 for only 2 graduating classes (program's 5 years old). Civil's probably better at A&M.
forgot the link: http://www.graduateshotline.com/ranks/ btw, Rice checks in at 33.. and I was never into all of that ranking crap anyway.. you can rank universities however the heck you want, but no one can deny that for its price, TAMU is one of the best universities you can get to.. Rice tuition: $29000 TAMU tuition: $7800
If you plan on working in Texas, A&M is as good as any school. I had fun there. We are a Fortune 50 company and when we recruited, we recruited equally from A&M and UT. Of all the Longhorns and Aggies that work for me, I think they are all pretty equal. I also like to note that almost in every ranking A&M and UT are within 10 or so spots of each other every year out of 2000 or so schools.
I don't really plan on working in Texas, but then again, I'd go anywhere that the money takes me. Even if I DO get a 4.0 and don't get into any universities, I would still be able to transfer into A&M or UT, so what is the sacrifice of trying something out? I get to save some cash too.
I went to North Harris College out of high school, then I transferred to Stephen F. Austin. The classes I took at North Harris were much harder than the ones I took at SFA, granted the classes I took there were in my major.
I had been accepted to several colleges my senior year, UT, A&M, Rhodes in Memphis, and for some reason chose Baylor. I guess because they offered to pay for a little more than half the tuition...still was a buttload of money though, my parents' money I ended up squandering by spending time every week in Austin and never studying. ALMOST got put on academic probation. Now I'm at UH and every day of my life I wonder why I couldn't have just settled on going here in the first place...the classes here, even the advanced senior level classes, are easy as hell and I KNOW I could've gotten an awesome scholarship had I come right out of high school. (Not only that, but I am 3 miles away from the Toyota Center). Anyways, I would go to Comm Coll to save money. If I had to do it all over again, I would've gone to UH on scholarships and if scholarships weren't available I'd have gone to HCC my first two years or something. Spending full University tuition on core classes is a joke and I wish more people would have brought that to light in high school.
