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what would you do in my situation

matas

matas

Golden Member
Go to community college for 2 years and then transfer to a 4 year state school or go to a 4 year school right after high school?

Community College:
1.(NJ STARS) - free tuition for 2 years, that is if Governor Christie doesn't cut that program out for student already on it. And then NJ STARS II for a state school ($6000 scholarship)
2. Save a lot of money (like ~20K or more)
3. Shittier Education
4. Live at home (Don't want to do this at all)

4 Year State School(Rutgers)
1. Live on campus (awesome, meet new friends, party a little bit, don't have to deal with parents)
2. Better education
3. Expensive ( got 12k in grants, and 4k in government loans and 2k work study). Still would need like 7k of my own money.

What should I do?

I was not thinking going to a community college at all, but the way the economy is right now it seems that it's really hard to get a job right after graduation. So like lets say I borrow 30k from a bank, how would I pay that back.. I have been accepted into Rutgers undecided engineering program. How is the job market going for engineers, specifically I was thinking about the biomedical engineering.
 
Tough call. If it were me I would pick the 4 year school. Community college is not necessarily shitty... you are going there to get your mundane credits out of the way. If you chose that route, plan on some stuff not transferring. Likely if you are going into engineering, you will probably tap out at the community college the first year. They tend to not cater to the people who need advanced math skills.

Overall I think you would enjoy a 4 year school better. You are figuring 4K in loans plus 7K of your own money... is that for tuition? What about room, books, beer, condoms? etc.

How much do you expect to earn with your degree afterwards?

oh and you would not borrow from a bank like a regular loan. You get a student loan which you have some time after you graduate to start paying back. You can get a lower rate and typically much longer terms.
 
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If it was business degree or something like information systems then I'd say start at a CC, but for engineering, go right to the school of your choice. It's better to get a feel for how that program operates as early as possible.
 
How well would the CC prepare you for the last two years at Rutgers? In the end, 30K isn't a huge amount. I would lean towards the 4 year.

I would recommend that you do the coop program or internships through which ever anvenue you take. Co-op will take you longer to graduate but you get paid and get experience. My friends who did this were hired directly out of school by the companies they cooped/interned with as well as new companies they interviewd with. Those who didn't do either program spent lots of time looking for jobs due to lack of experience.

Rutgers Coop/Internship
 
Go straight to Rutgers. For something like engineering go straight into college, otherwise you get bogged down in transfers and don't know how the system works at the school. As an engineer you will need the support network that only a full college can offer.
 
I personally would go to CC for two years then transfer to a state school. I don't like living at home any more than you do, but saving over $20K is a pretty good incentive.
 
I'd take the CC route for your AA. There's no reason to go 4 years at a state uni unless you have a free ride (scholarships or mommy/daddy), just my opinion. When you graduate no one will care you did two years at CC.
 
Forget school and get a job.

All my brothers and my sister quit after high school and they started working. Every single one of them already owns a home, have combined family incomes over 6 digits each, own multiple vehicles and live quite comfortably.

Me? I went to school...learned shit, and live in the ghetto.

School is overrated. I wish I never wasted my time there.
 
Seeing as you have a fair amount of grants, go for the 4 year right outta high school.

I took the CC route, then 4 year school...better on the wallet.
 
I also took the community college route. The education is superior, cheaper, better professors (no teaching assistants), smaller class sizes, and a CC focuses on educating its students (rather than research). Achieve your basic education at a CC that will focus on the basics. Take all the classes you possibly can.

Use the writing lab, the math lab, and all other resources available to you. My CC actually had a professor sitting in the writing lab full time to help people with their papers. This person had the time to read my papers and offer excellent advice on how to improve them. I took these lessons learned and later proofread papers for friends to learn a lot about various writing methods and styles.

When you get to the 4-year university, it is important to take all the lower level classes for your major. Do not transfer any of those credits for your major. You want to learn the material for your major from the beginning of the four year program and not transfer halfway into it. The 4-year university has specific goals for what they want to teach at certain points in the program. Start your major program from the bottom and you will not ever feel behind, left out, or needing to catch up.

My community college offered calculus III, differential equations, finite math, organic chemistry, and the three basic classes for physics. I was able to learn the basics at a school that focused on the basics. I even took business classes at the CC that provided for a minor later at my 4-year university. These business classes included accounting (financial, management, cost), economics (micro and macro), and finance.
 
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chusteczka said:
I also took the community college route. The education is superior, cheaper, better professors (no teaching assistants), smaller class sizes, and a CC focuses on educating its students (rather than research). Achieve your basic education at a CC that will focus on the basics. Take all the classes you possibly can.

Use the writing lab, the math lab, and all other resources available to you. My CC actually had a professor sitting in the writing lab full time to help people with their papers. This person had the time to read my papers and offer excellent advice on how to improve them. I took these lessons learned and later proofread papers for friends to learn a lot about various writing methods and styles.

When you get to the 4-year university, it is important to take all the lower level classes for your major. Do not transfer any of those credits for your major. You want to learn the material for your major from the beginning of the four year program and not transfer halfway into it. The 4-year university has specific goals for what they want to teach at certain points in the program. Start your major program from the bottom and you will not ever feel behind, left out, or needing to catch up.
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So, you've never been to a university? Because you sure are making a lot of assumptions about them in order to come to the conclusion than CC is better.

I'd go straight to Rutgers if you can make the money work at all, OP. You'll likely be able to get a job pretty quickly as an engineer, especially in four years.
 
If you think you can make the budget work, I would go to 4 year university. You won't have to deal with the transition and I think you will get have a better time socially by not having to move to a new school and area after just two short years. In addition, you can get a bit of a feel for your major by taking basic engineering courses the first two years. This should help you with your undecided engineering major. I do not think you would be able to get such opportunities at a community college and by the time you get out to a university you would have less time and options to change your choice of study.

Also, you will probably have better work opportunities at a university. Use their placement office and job fairs as much as you can to secure internships during the summer. That can give you some extra scratch to help back off your reliance on loans.
 
amdhunter said:
Forget school and get a job.

All my brothers and my sister quit after high school and they started working. Every single one of them already owns a home, have combined family incomes over 6 digits each, own multiple vehicles and live quite comfortably.

Me? I went to school...learned shit, and live in the ghetto.

School is overrated. I wish I never wasted my time there.
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Because you either picked a shitty major or did piss poor you have come to the conclusion that higher education is a waste of time and money? It isn't anyones fault but your own if you pissed it away. A good education is one of the best investments you can make on yourself.

OP: If you can swing it I would go straight to Rutgers. Being in the program from the beginning will benefit you a lot. Not to mention the life experiences you gain. If you can't afford it your not going to be crippling yourself by going to a CC, many folks do and succeed just fine. Good luck, that engineering degree will do you well.

As someone else mentioned, do a co-op or internship. I don't care if it turns the program into five years. It is more than worth it. The real world work experience will put you head and shoulders above your classmates that don't when it comes time to find a job after graduation. Not to mention the better than average chance of getting hired by the company your worked for during your education.
 
rcpratt said:
So, you've never been to a university? Because you sure are making a lot of assumptions about them in order to come to the conclusion than CC is better.

I'd go straight to Rutgers if you can make the money work at all, OP. You'll likely be able to get a job pretty quickly as an engineer, especially in four years.
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Yes, I transferred from a CC to the best public 4-year university in the area. Yes, you are correct that I am making assumptions. I can only speak on my experiences and what worked for me.

The answer to the OP's question really depends on his own academic prowess.

If he is focused, has a solid base, and the 4-year university he chooses will teach the basics. Then it will be good to go straight to Rutgers.

After transferring to my 4-year university, I had to take an "advanced level" English literature writing course. It paled in comparison to the "lower level" literature classes I had already taken at the CC. The calculus classes at my 4-year were a lecture hall with 150 students, the math lab had competent TA's available 3 or 4 hours per week, at my 4-year. The experience of the CC with 30 students in my calculus classes with a math tutoring lab open all day (not just according to a TA's schedule) fit my needs perfectly.

But then my situation was much different from the OP's. I was a military veteran returning to school at the age of 24 rather than a strong high school student who could properly handle the challenges at the 4-year right away.

My calc III and differential equations classes at the CC had a few high school students who planned to transfer to strong 4-year engineering programs after they graduated high school. One of these was going straight from high school to MIT but was taking math classes at night at the CC to prepare.

IMO, if there is any question in the OP's mind of his ability to handle the immediate pressure and academic stress at Rutgers, then it may help to first prepare at the CC. The CC will offer a slower pace, focused teaching styles, and a solid opportunity. The CC should not be considered a lesser option.

We can only provide our experiences. It is up to the OP to determine what route is best for him.

From my experience during and after school and at work, my years at the CC provided a strong educational base.
 
matas said:
I was not thinking going to a community college at all, but the way the economy is right now it seems that it's really hard to get a job right after graduation.
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That would make sense if you were graduating this year but dude, that's not for another 4 years(at the minimum). Your decision should be based on what you wanna do, not how the world look like right now compared to 4 years from now which you can't possibly know.
 
Go straight to Rutgers. Avoid the party scene as much as you can - but still have fun every now and then.
Dont worry about job demand now - you wont graduate for another four years, and anything can happen in that time.
You will make better connections at Rutgers than you would at CC and this will help you find jobs after graduation.
Rutgers - all the way.
 
Not sure how it is in Jersey but in Virginia the community colleges and Universities have to agree on transfer rules so a lot of people here go to CC and then transfer because every single credit if you follow the course plan transfers and you save...20,000 or so plus depending on where you transfer the 20 people courses beat the heck out of 200 people courses for actually learning the material.

It's all about personal choice though, what makes you happy.
 
I contemplated the same thing when I first entered into college. I picked the midway option which was going to a state school for my undergrad. When I look back now I really wish I had gone to a major university right off the bat. My education would have been excessively better and I wouldn't have had to do my graduate education.
 
Pegun said:
I contemplated the same thing when I first entered into college. I picked the midway option which was going to a state school for my undergrad. When I look back now I really wish I had gone to a major university right off the bat. My education would have been excessively better and I wouldn't have had to do my graduate education.
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May you please expand on that last part? It interests me and I do not know why you said that.
 
If I did not have a nice scholarship, I probably would have done 2 years community college.

A big "con" of community college is missing out on a big part of "college life" which can be more educational in many ways than the actual classes. In addition to this, there is potential that since you're living at home you could maintain relationships with other people from your hometown that are "going nowhere" and can sort of hold you back. Not that you might not develop destructive friendships away at school, but you get something of a clean slate.

A big "pro" of community college is that you may not actually get a shittier education. In my experience, there are plenty of excellent teachers at community colleges. For one thing, there is less focus on "research". At a big university you find professors who are primarily researchers and view teaching classes as the unpleasantness they have to deal with before they can get back to their research. At a community college you've got a lot of people that have a "day job" in the field and are teaching because they just plain like to teach...and generally those that actually enjoy teaching are pretty good at it. It's still a crapshoot as you may have a teacher who is just trying to make some extra money teaching night school and hates every minute of it, but the shittiness of the education is far from guaranteed - I took a few classes at the community college and those three teachers are easily in the top 5 among all the teachers I worked with.
 
dquan97 said:
where's the poll? I'd go straight to 4yr univ
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Ditto. Sometimes the extra cost is worth having a better experience. You only live once. IMO, you will definitely receive a better and more respected education.

I went straight to a 4yr school and have never regretted it, even considering the 30k in loans after all was said and done. 🙂
 
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Shit, living at home for college would have been miserable. I'd pick whatever option there is to avoid that.
 
If you're going into engineering, I'd go straight to the four year. Most engineering programs take at a minimum of four years to finish, and CC is only going to set you back. All my friends here at MSU who started here are graduating in 4 years. All the ones who went to CC for a year or two before MSU are taking 5 years.

The hardest part is that you can't take any core engineering classes at CC. Usually you can take all your math classes, but beyond that you're stuck trying to fit 4 years worth of engineering classes into 2 years.
 
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