Is it woth it - going from a California Community College to an out of state 4 year school?

Question

I was admitted to Arizona State... though, i just found out half of the classes i did here at my community college won't even work for my general ed. So I have to take more classes ... like science and math. Whereas if i went to a school in Ca. all of my general ed would be done. Has anyone else had this problem when going out of state from a 2 year to 4 year? Is it worth going to ASU and still having to do all of this? Or should i wait until spring and re-apply to cal states or maybe even UC Santa Cruz ( I applied to Cal states for fall 2007 and i was accepted to all of them... however, i declined the one i was going to; Long Beach after i found out i got into ASU... this was before i found out about the units/credits not being able to be used for general studies). So, what would you do if you were me? Should i wait it out until Spring and then re-apply to Cal schools?

It just pisses me off, because i was going to go to Cal State Long Beach. ASU is screwing me over!

Answer 1

ASU is a really cruddy college - I got my BSN in Nursing there - and if I hadn't moved there to join my BF, I would never have gone. I didn't like it, didn't get good support, and the only good thing about it was that once I was in the upper level programs the College of Nursing itself was fairly self-contained. Of course, I found that community college nurses were more prepared for hospital work than I, even if I did have some of the critical thinking skills that they lacked. I would not have been prepared enough if I hadn't take a job in a hospital as an aide while going to school.

Financial Aid people are bureacrats and absolutely no one is going to go out of their way to make sure that you actually graduate. In itself this is probably a great course in self reliance.

Many of the courses you can pass without even showing up to lecture. And while the education is certainly adequate - and some of the schools within the university are nationally ranked (not top ranked, though, mind you) the university in general is a C+

The Genetics Professor (mid to late 90's) was such a witch that even though I never had to personally interact with her (after watching how badly she verbally abused students - not even ME and it still infuriated me! - during the first week of class, I only showed up for exams and still pulled a B+) that I still feel compelled to talk about her now. She was pure liquid evil.

A friend had a female poli sci prof who during the height of Desert Storm was showing Iraqi propoganda film (it literally stated in the credits that it was produced by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry) and presenting it as fact.

I'd call around and see if it isn't too late to get in where you are. If it is, try out ASU for a semester - who knows, it might be a good fit for you. I've heard that the business school is great, and if you are good with foreign accents, the Physics dept is pretty good, too.

Answer 2

If you'd prefer to go to Cal State Long Beach or one of the other CA state universities you applied to, and they accepted you, it's not too late to get admitted there even if you've declined them initially. Contact the schools and request that you be admitted as your other plans fell thru. Don't talk to the lackey they initially connect you with; they'll turn you down. Ask to speak to their supervisor. I guarantee you the schools all have ways to admit you even if you've declined. One friend of mine got into SDSU after having been rejected by them...showed up in registrar's office first day, begged to be admitted, they said no, he returned next day, did the same, they said the same. On his fourth day of doing this they said, are you going to keep coming back here until we admit you? and he said "yes" and they admitted him that day. I know other similar stories. Since you've been accepted initially, all you'll need to do is get to the right person to let you in. Trust me, it happens all the time.

Sorry about ASU. If you really want to go there then just take the extra courses, or when you get there apply for a waiver of requirements and you might be able to get that to work for you (again, happens all the time; I got 3 classes waived based on previous classes I'd had and that was to meet graduate school requirements!) If you have to take the extra classes, well in the bigger picture of things, you'll never notice.

But if you're already upset with ASU and that would color your experience there probably better to go elsewhere. Everyone gets pissed at their school eventually but it's not good to start school feeling that way.

(By the way, Santa Cruz is awesome...)