I’m in a catch 22 situation. I want to go to a four year college, but I was previously placed in the remedial track and have a poor academic standing. If I go to a community college, I could improve my grades, but the material they cover is a replacement for high school classes and I’d be precluded from signing up for entry classes at the four year college. This seems like to would put me at a disadvantage when that finally happened and I would only be setting myself up for long term failure.
I’d consider CC if I could “transfer” in as a freshman to a four year, but the colleges I looked into all have rules against applying as a freshman if you have two years worth of credits. When I tried CC, the material was absolutely high school level just with smaller font in the textbooks.
Some state college programs are designed so that CC credits are counted the same in a state university. I even know some people who did that.
The trick isn’t to transfer into a four year college as a freshman, but as a junior.
Yep, that’s what I did. Went to community college and graduated with what they called a transfer degree. All the credits basically knocked out two years from a4 year college, but without having to pay as much.
Well, there’s two ways forward, one is that you bite the bullet and get your AA which almost always transfers as most of the first 2 years and you’ll be on to most of your degree course work.
Or, you apply directly college again and you write tour essays on how you’ve grown as a person. The second one will require some time between being suspended and applying again so I don’t know if its an option and that usually requires you have something to show for your about face, I.e. you’ve worked your way up in some kind ofcareerr for a few years. So that can be a real trick.
They aren’t concerned with if you’ll be learning anything while you raise your grades, they are concerned if you are going to put in the effort and stick with it so they don’t take an opportunity from someone that actually wants to put in the work.
It’s kinda BS, but also, its adult consequences in an adult world. At the end of the day, you made decisions that make colleges think you need to do some highschool work again so, you’re going to have to deal with the consequences, and that includes doing redundant work, both in cc and then to fill in the gaps once you transfer.
I wouldn’t have a problem with convincing colleges I’ve competent. I’m friends with plenty of college facility and get asked to be an “Industry Expert” for high school judging events they run. It’s my academic ability I don’t trust. I can self teach if I have a project to do, but I can’t self teach if I don’t know about the concepts. One time I tried CC for their geometry classes, they said I tested out and refused. Currently, I’m struggling with an online high school’s geometry class and would really benefit from having a classroom and schedule. Wish some of the online high schools adopted the “virtual classroom” model that all the public schools tried during covid.
FWIW my biggest (late 1990s) college regret is that I didn’t do community college for 2 years then transfer to university. The university I wanted to go to allowed for direct credit transfer (from the nearest CC) after 2 years and one of my friends/roommates took advantage of it. He lived in an apartment with us university students and didn’t really miss anything other than 2 years of student loans.
But what was your goal?
I’m not sure I understand the question.
My friend who did 2 years of community college before transferring to univerity went on to become a veterinarian.
My goal is to maximize my time in a research college and do good there. Starting as a freshman means two more years of networking and access to the school’s facilities. What happens after is irrelevant. I already have a career.
My only question was about college preparation that doesn’t involve cc credits. Not life advice.
I know lots of folks that have gone to college on the “5 year plan”. Does the school you’re going to kick you out if you haven’t obtained all the Bachelors degree credits in 4 years or less?
I don’t know. Is there a way to reset my academic record if things go wrong? I got locked into a piss poor high school record(this post was about circumventing that) because of an over ambition child study team and a helicopter parent. If I get into financial trouble, I can declare bankruptcy, but I can’t redo high school or college? The colleges I looked at all say if I don’t declare all previous education, it would be considered fraud and I would get expelled. I can’t try community college for real because there’s no going back if it’s not good enough.
Hell, I didn’t even fulfill the basic requirements dictated by the state for a high school diploma, but the state board of ed didn’t feel like receding my diploma. If not for that, I would have been able to go to a charter school.
I don’t do well in traditional semester college cuz adhd.
So, never went to college. Started in fast food, last job was 75k/ year tech job.
I took a lot of short term accredited programs. ROP certifications. LearnIT. Studied on my own to test MVP certifications for excel, PowerPoint, word. You can study on your own to take A+ certification exam. I took community college non credit classes about various applied arts.
So, I’d show up at job interviews with no traditional college degree, but a ton of certifications, short term classes, etc. They were fascinated by my diverse tech skills, it showed I had ambition. So I got a lot of jobs easily this way.
Also, try being a career temp for a while. If you prove you’ll show up for the gigs professionally, they’ll send you to more assignments . I did this for a decade, got phenomenal skillset, different industries , lot of diverse experience.
I have a job. That’s not what the post is about.
I don’t understand much here.
You’re struggling in self taught high school geometry, but tested out at CC.
You took HS, CC, and online intro to biology classes all at the same time.
The CC wouldn’t let you run experiments due to lack of facilities.
You are used as an expert judge in competitions in your (unknown) field.
You want to maximize time in a college or university research lab.
I’ll say this, you most likely won’t be in a lab much as an undergraduate, so don’t worry about transferring as a freshman. Why not ask all the friends and acquaintances in the research labs for advice and help? If that’s where you’d like to end up?
Also, if you can already enroll in the college, then they, and no one, cares about your academic past- especially high school…
You’re struggling in self taught high school geometry, but tested out at CC.
You took HS, CC, and online intro to biology classes all at the same time.
These didn’t happen at the same time.
The CC wouldn’t let you run experiments due to lack of facilities.
This college bragged about their shiny new science building, but they cheaped out in every way. The rooms were even too small, so people were having their backs touch if they sat opposite each out at adjacent tables. Hillbillies make moonshine in the woods, but they couldn’t grow a little biobutanol?
It’s the attitude “don’t try anything hard, you might fail” that was pressured on me all though compulsory education that I hate. There are high schools with better labs and more expectations for their students than that community college. I know, the judging competitions are state wide science fairs. And I’m not giving my field of expertise because I’m not doxxing myself.
I’ll say this, you most likely won’t be in a lab much as an undergraduate
That’s literally what UROP is. Many colleges have it. You just have to ask.
You might check with the college to see if it’s possible to test (or re-test) out of remedial courses. If the answer is yes, buckle down with old textbooks, the local library, YouTube, free online courses, local tutors and whatever else you need.
The one caveat here is if you’re taking more math courses later, you really need to get these basics down, because the later courses will build off of this content. So don’t just “study for the test” and then forget it, try to really understand what you’re doing and why.
A couple comments, from personal experience: first off, there are different ways to teach math. I’ve had teachers who explained something so beautifully and clearly that, if I happened to forget a formula, I could remember the explanation and recreate the formula. And I’ve had teachers that were teaching me stuff I already knew cold, who had me so confused on the stuff I definitely already knew, that I had to switch sections before they hit stuff I didn’t know. Do you might need to look at a different book or course or something, if it doesn’t make sense to you.
Second, when they assign a handful of problems out of the back of the chapter, don’t do just those problems. Do every single exercise in the back of the chapter, and check yourself when you complete each one. If it’s the wrong answer, do it again. If it’s still the wrong answer, keep going until you get the right answer, but pay attention to what you’re doing: you have some basic misunderstanding of what you’re supposed to be doing, and you want to identify and correct that misunderstanding so it doesn’t screw you over later. Math builds on math; if your foundation is shaky, you’re going to collapse when you get to the upper levels.
