Taking the community college and transfer route after high school

Given that college season has passed, along with national decision day on May 1st, many students—including myself—are feeling lost and undecided about their future. Putting things into perspective, many of us seniors this year had to deal with rejections and a handful of waitlists from the four-year universities that we’ve been working hard to get admitted into. However, many students often forget that there are different paths that we can take aside from committing to a four-year institution directly after graduating from high school, and one of these paths involves going to community college. Today, we will be receiving insight from a few students who transferred successfully into a four-year university after taking the community college route once they graduated from high school.

UC Berkeley graduate Alec Li, from the School of Haas, shared his experience as a transfer student. “The first thing I can attest to is how becoming a transfer student opened up many pathways for me to meet a diverse group of people. Transfer students can be students who transfer in two years after high school, while some of my fellow students even came from the Marines. I had a classmate who was 57 years old. You don’t get that type of diversity anywhere else, and I think being able to immerse myself in a diverse group added to my college experience,” Li said in a Zoom interview. 

Moving forward, Li also discussed how community college provided him with the necessary space he needed to grow and learn more about himself. “I think I took on a lot more responsibilities coming into community college, first off because if you go to a four-year school, chances are you’re going to be a full-time student immersed in learning and campus extracurriculars. I find that a lot of community college students have plenty of extracurriculars in the sense that we might take on jobs that look different. For me, I worked in retail to make ends meet so I could pay my tuition, and for some people, it might be babysitting their siblings. Becoming a full-time student and taking on these responsibilities offered me a little bit of time to mature after high school,” Li shared.

UC Santa Barbara Sophomore Teia Barbosa shared how community college provided her with a helpful experience. Making the switch from a Business to a Communications major, Teia recounted how that decision helped her “receive internships” and led her “to work as a social media marketing manager at Ohlone.” 

“I also made connections with a professor there who told me about studying abroad, so I ended up studying abroad in community college, which is something that I didn’t think I could do in college,” Barbosa said in a Zoom interview. “What I liked about community college was how it opened all these doors for me, doors that I feel like wouldn’t have opened if I went straight to a four-year because community college allowed me to travel at my own pace.”

UC Davis Sophomore Erin Roldan also benefited from taking the community college route. “I’m very thankful for my time at community college because I learned a lot,” Roldan said over a Zoom interview. “It was a very fulfilling time for me because I was able to grow on my own, and it was also the first time I was away from my friends. Through community college, I  learned how to become more resourceful and independent.” 

Although all three students were still successful in their academic endeavors after going to community college, many of them had to deal with the stigma surrounding community college. 

Barbosa shared her opinion on this and stated, “I think that the stigma is more set on people being afraid of how they are being perceived by other people.” 

Roldan gave a similar opinion with Barbosa. “Given the environment we’re in, especially at MHS, which is super competitive, there was always a pressure that students needed to go to a UC, an Ivy League, or even a private university after graduating high school,” Roldan said. If students didn’t make it into these schools, it was almost seen by others as if they “didn’t try hard enough.” As can be deduced by Barbosa and Roldan’s perspective on the community college stigma, this specific level of thinking has been prevalent in high school culture for many years now, and it continues to be prevalent today.

To end on a brighter note, it can be seen that pursuing community college and transferring is one of the most viable options a student can pursue after leaving high school. For those who are reading this and are considering the community college and transfer route, it’s also important to keep in mind the “TAG program,” a program that gives students guaranteed admission to a select few UC’s upon eligibility.

Offering some advice, Barbosa discussed how “taking advantage of the TAG program is a great resource for transfer students, considering that the program guarantees admission to a handful of UCs for students who meet eligibility requirements.” Some general advice provided by Roldan is to also “research your majors early on, since some college applications include essay questions about how you prepared for your major.”

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