Campgottagopee
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- Jul 20, 2020
Rt on
Arborist here
The College Thread: Skiing, Academics, Experiences.
- Thread starter JTG
- Start date
Arborist here
not2brite
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- Mar 23, 2021
I am 100% in favor of spending at least the first year in CC. I think so many kids would be much better off going that direction, especially those that don't have a clear idea of what they want to do. The cost savings for what is mostly entry level classes is outstanding. Unfortunately I got seriously voted down on going this route for my daughter. Considering the incredible amount of work she has put in since Jr High, plus she has a clear idea of what she wants to do, and technically we can afford it, I figured it wasn't the hill to die on.
Harvey
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Warp daddy
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- Jul 21, 2020
Wise move : the kid if seriously academically gifted "might" have been bored out of her skull in a CC ( said by a 30 plus yr practitioner in a 2 year Technical College and other levels ) . Pacing sometimes is an issue .
Frankly I considered it too , but colleagues in the sciences at the college advised against it for my kid saying he would be wasting his time and be bored. Many tend to work up to the competition
x10003q
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- Jul 21, 2020
I’m no expert, didn’t even stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but….I’m not sure the CC first route is the best one for every student. No doubt that for many students it can save $$ the first two years while knocking out gen ed classes and such, and it could be a good bridge for some students, but I don’t think it works in all cases…..even though it could be made to work, effectively, if finances dictate.
Absolutely for students who might be unsure about college in general, or where they want to be, or what they want to do…getting classes under your belt at a CC can be a good move (heck, in that case a gap year could be good, too). Of course, that also only works if a student doesn’t already have a lot of college credits from their HS career.
That said, for higher achieving HS students who already have a lot of college credits under their belt, who know where they want to be, I’m not sure starting at CC may be the best move. Keeping the momentum of HS, getting your student established and comfortable where they know they want to be….those things might be more important to long term collegiate success than the $$ savings. College is an investment in the future, and sometimes you have to spend $ to make $$.
For my kids it wouldn’t have worked, from a practical standpoint. My youngest just finished his first year, but per DegreeWorks he’s already 50+% with his degree requirements. Between CC and AP credits from HS he had 90% of his gen ed requirements covered, and right from semester 1 he was into his core degree requirements. Being essentially a year ahead he couldn’t have taken general stuff at a CC, and I’m not sure I’d want him taking some of his lower level science requirements (Chem/Bio) at a CC. I think taking those classes at Bing provides more rigor/structure.
The whole CC thing, if you have a choice, really depends on the individual student and the circumstances.
Absolutely for students who might be unsure about college in general, or where they want to be, or what they want to do…getting classes under your belt at a CC can be a good move (heck, in that case a gap year could be good, too). Of course, that also only works if a student doesn’t already have a lot of college credits from their HS career.
That said, for higher achieving HS students who already have a lot of college credits under their belt, who know where they want to be, I’m not sure starting at CC may be the best move. Keeping the momentum of HS, getting your student established and comfortable where they know they want to be….those things might be more important to long term collegiate success than the $$ savings. College is an investment in the future, and sometimes you have to spend $ to make $$.
For my kids it wouldn’t have worked, from a practical standpoint. My youngest just finished his first year, but per DegreeWorks he’s already 50+% with his degree requirements. Between CC and AP credits from HS he had 90% of his gen ed requirements covered, and right from semester 1 he was into his core degree requirements. Being essentially a year ahead he couldn’t have taken general stuff at a CC, and I’m not sure I’d want him taking some of his lower level science requirements (Chem/Bio) at a CC. I think taking those classes at Bing provides more rigor/structure.
The whole CC thing, if you have a choice, really depends on the individual student and the circumstances.
not2brite
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- Mar 23, 2021
All good points regarding advanced students that I hadn't really thought of. My daughter has actually mentioned being bored to tears in anything that isn't AP or College Prep. Probably going more from my personal experience where it took me 2 years to figure out a major. At that time everyone (parents, friends, counselors) always drilled into us the "have to go to college" mantra if you supposedly wanted to get a good job. Problem was it was all "go to college" and very little if any help in figuring out what to take. We started very early with my daughter just getting her to recognize activities and classes that interested her and trying to match some of them up. To me the whole idea of an 18 year old figuring out what career they want and basically setting the course for the rest of their life is kind of ridiculous, not to mention having to throw down a boatload of cash to do it. I certainly don't have the answers, but there really needs to be a better way.
Warp daddy
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- Jul 21, 2020
well said ! Expecting the typical 18 yo to be laser focused on a career is frankly an unrealistic expectation . Hell the new normal for many college grads is 4 changes by 30 years of age .
That is why EQ is actually as important or perhaps more so than IQ . IQ gets that first professional role after that EQ plays a very very significant role in upward mobility .
Look at yourselves ; how many are still doing what you initially trained for ?
not2brite
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- Mar 23, 2021
I was kind of lucky. I went to Northeastern with their huge internship program. As mentioned, it took me sevral changes of major, and a couple job cycles to land in something I really enjoyed and excelled at. Without that exposure to real jobs I have no idea what I would have ended up with. Warp Daddy you probably have a better sense of this from your experience in the field, but I have always wondered why local Community Colleges didn't try something similar. Offer a bunch of internships with local businesses. Maybe some paid, some unpaid while attending class. Seems like a win win for everyone, students and potential employers. Would something like that be feasible?
Warp daddy
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- Jul 21, 2020
You're quite right, some of the more enlightened 2 yr technical colleges do exactly that with internships with firms in closeby industrial parks .
At my college we did that and we also established a small business entrepreneurship center which was both advisory ( business planning ,budgeting ,staffing , training etc)to small business startups as well as incubator space for same. Select students participated in a form of quasi co-op programming
Meaning they were taking on campus courses concurrently with the internship experience for credit.
