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Interestingly enough, my sister , who I've always thought would go to one of the top universities in Texas, decided to go to a community college.
Obviously my parents don't want her to just throw away her high school career, she's like top 3-5%. and probably going to rape the SAT if she decides to take it.
Now her reasoning behind community college is
1) undecided major, and other things but not entirely important
2) She wants to go to a university in California, but quite honestly our family cannot afford the out of state tuition.
So therefore she'll take general education courses, cheap at community college, and work during those years , to make money to enroll in a university at California, and pick the best one suited for her major, if and when she decides it.
(this may not be 100% accurate, but it's what i took from the conversation)
Now, I was never one to try and change her mind, that would be my parents, personally biased because they went to a community college and hated it.
However, i would still like her to be well-informed and if anyone could present a logical argument, I'm sure she would take that 100% seriously , because my parents just going "BUT COMMUNITY COLLEGE BAD YOU WASTE EVERYTHING" won't do anything lol.
What i wanted to say was, the 2-3 years you'll spend at community college, will actually be working years, if u decide to apply to a university in California, and pay off the student loans.
But to be honest i really have 0 clue of what I'm talking about.
I will agree with my parents that she is a smart hardworking student and even though she will make guaranteed A's in community college and transfer out relatively easily, it's still beneath her, and there has to be a better option.
Since TL has first-hand experience with university in California or community college, as i have neither, i was hoping you guys could provide some insight on this.
Thanks.
 
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If you go to a decent Community College and get like a 3.8-4.0 you're basically guaranteed admittance into any of the University of California schools. This'll give her extra time to both work and save up for the UC tuition, decide what she wants to major in, and give her an AA that she'll have just in case the 4 year doesn't work out.
She'll get the same degree and save thousands of dollars.
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United States10774 Posts
wouldn't it be a better option be to go to a private four year university with a lot of merit/need financial aid? i don't see why she has to be restricted by going to a school in California. a community college is completely fine, but i don't see why she has to go to it just for the sake of transferring to a California school later on. she could just attend a regular private university and do well there. (did she look into schools in california that would give scholarships?)
she can look into full-ride programs and such at various universities. if she's a strong applicant she will probably secure a spot at a pretty good school without financial difficulties. no reason to be bounded by university of california schools, seriously.
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United States1865 Posts
Yeah this actually a really smart move on her part.
*edit*
She should take the SAT though and apply for these schools - if she does "rape it" she might actually get some financial incentive to go there. Applying for the tons of available random scholarships is not a bad idea either.
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She wasn't able to score a scholarship at any in-state schools? I had a full ride to a local university and transferred to a more prestigious college once I had my BA. I'd rather see her go to a "real" university in-state than a CC, even if she's going to transfer.
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Top 3-5% + raped sat/act = a lot of free money.
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Baa?21242 Posts
Apply to schools that are known for good financial aid. If the aid doesn't come I guess she can resort to a community college, but definitely doesn't hurt to try.
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She's under the impression she won't get any/ or a minuscule amount of money from California schools although didn't give me the impression she really tried looking for information, so i don't know if it's true or not until i do some research myself.
I asked her about the possibilities of getting a full ride to said , better than community college schools, but she still shook her head, perhaps she has some reasons im unaware of
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United States10774 Posts
well if she's a strong applicant (sounds like it), there will definitely be many options other than community college. i mean she might not get full ride at a top of the crop universities but private schools will offer merit scholarships to have her.
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On October 12 2009 04:54 HeavOnEarth wrote:
She's under the impression she won't get any/ or a minuscule amount of money from California schools although didn't give me the impression she really tried looking for information, so i don't know if it's true or not until i do some research myself.
I asked her about the possibilities of getting a full ride to said , better than community college schools, but she still shook her head, perhaps she has some reasons im unaware of
Sounds more just like she wants to stick to her plan for some reason she hasn't made clear rather than she's considered all of her options.
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United States10774 Posts
On October 12 2009 04:49 Carnivorous Sheep wrote:
Apply to schools that are known for good financial aid. If the aid doesn't come I guess she can resort to a community college, but definitely doesn't hurt to try.
i agree. apply to some schools and see what kind of financial aid they offer also.
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I don't see why so many people put down Community Colleges they usually offer the same classes that University's offer, but cheaper and smaller classes. At least in my case.
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why does she wanna go to california so badly
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On October 12 2009 05:09 zulu_nation8 wrote:
why does she wanna go to california so badly
we lived there for 7-8 years prior to moving to Texas. childhood memories i guess
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o ok, she should take the SATs first and apply to good schools to see how much aid she would get. I don't think you need to register really early for community colleges unlike for universities.
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First off, going to a community is not "bad" and her plan is smart since a lot of people are doing it. Just because the parents hated going to a community college doesn't mean she will. Most people just go to community college to do the 2 year transfer plan. I go to De Anza Community College, which is considered top 5 in the United States since we have a ton of international and out of state students. We also have guarantee transfer plans to schools like UC Davis with high transfer rates.
Go to a community college if you're undecided since you'll save money. Not to mention the first 2 years are the same at a university because you just take GE. It may or may not be as indepth as going to a university, but there the same subjects. With the economy's state, a ton of high school graduates are doing the 2 year transfer plan.
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I don't believe that the 2 year CC plan is bad at all, it's pretty smart.
However, i believe she has better options, especially with her GPA and ranking, and I just wanted to know what those options are
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On October 12 2009 04:34 DoctorHelvetica wrote:
If you go to a decent Community College and get like a 3.8-4.0 you're basically guaranteed admittance into any of the University of California schools. This'll give her extra time to both work and save up for the UC tuition, decide what she wants to major in, and give her an AA that she'll have just in case the 4 year doesn't work out.
She'll get the same degree and save thousands of dollars.
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What do you guys mean by "decent community college" , are there different standards of CC's ? If so, anyone know any good ones near houston? <_<
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On October 12 2009 05:09 zulu_nation8 wrote:
why does she wanna go to california so badly
she lives in Texas
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I know my local community college and university have a really good transfer program. I go to Santa Barbara CC, which is supposedly top 5-10 in the state? so it's not all that bad, and a lot of students transfer to UCLA or UCSB from there. I'm sure there are community colleges that have similar deals with schools, and she should look into those. I'm not sure how important it is, but just like universities, there are better CC's.
Go through high school like you're going to go to a university, and if it's true that it'll be cheaper to go the CC route (which is usually is), she'll be out of school in 4-5 years.
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uh Personally I wouldnt knock community colleges so bad. Depends on the university maybe....but for the general reqs like math and chem and stuff id say community college is 100% better. Having 300 person lecture halls and assholes doing proofs the entire class doesnt help you learn shit in science.
I go to MSU and went to Lansing Community College and personally I notice no difference other than the Community College teachers actually gave a fuck once in a while and the math department is 100% better at LCC.(Again at least for the lower level classes which are the only ones that community colleges offer anyway)
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I agree with OneOther. If your sister is a strong student as you say she is, she will have no problem getting a lot of financial aid money. Really try to strive for that before going for Plan B (the one you described).
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The main appeals of attending a community college are significantly lower tuition and smaller class sizes. You also don't have to deal with roommates, but frankly, I enjoyed living in the dorms and miss it now that I'm in a CC.
The thing is, with community colleges, you're missing out on half the college experience. You don't live in huge dorms with a couple hundred new people to meet, it's just who you see in class and that's it. Very few people actually attend a community college because they want to save money; most of the people there are the people who couldn't get into anywhere better. That has a much larger impact that one might expect; People struggle in classes that you think are easy, and you can't help but feel like you're being held back because of the rest of the class. Most CC students still live at home; If you were smart enough to get into a public university with scholarships, you would have, and if you were hard-working enough to get a job to pay your way through a public university, you would. So the kids who are in community college are the ones who A) don't have the grades/test scores to get into a better university or B) are too lazy to get a job to afford a better university.
The general requirements are the same as any other university, but there's the prestige issue too. What do you think looks better, "I'm a sophomore at Virginia Tech as an engineering major" or "I'm a sophomore at New River Community College and will be transferring to VT next year?" You can tell people they're the same all you want, it won't matter. There will always be that slight stigma of attending a community college that you won't get rid of until you graduate from a 4-year college. After that, you can conveniently leave out the community college stint and just say "I graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in [whatever]."
To sum up: She shouldn't go to a community college if she has the opportunity to go someplace better. She might not know what she's missing, but I do, and trust me, she'd rather not miss it.
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I think he plan is pretty stupid. Here is why..
1) Texas offers good schools and if she is basing her education and future on her ego then she isn't going to make it out of community college. Why does she want to go to California so badly?Its probably an ego thing where she believes that Texas is to hick for her. She obviously has not been to UT, the exact opposite of what Texas is perceived as. In-state tuition is so much cheaper. I am currently paying 5k/semester 10k annually. Financial aid and my scholarships cover all my bills/living. I actually get an extra 2k a semester to go to school. I will be leaving college debt free and a good amount of change in my bank account to start my career. Your sister on the other hand will not have that same luxury.
2)If you sister wants to do medicine, business, or pre-law then California does not offer anything better than Texas. Get your BA in Texas and grad school out of state is fine. Actually, the Mccombs School of business (UT Austin) is highly ranked among all undergraduate business programs. However, if she ever wants to get into a good college within the university, she can not fuck up in CC. If she does, she can kiss her chances of transferring into a good college within that university goodbye.
3) Contrary to common belief due to general ignorance. Going to CC does not allow you to save money to go to a real university. The tuition may be lower but, the financial aid and scholarships are also lower. On the other hand, a regular university may be more expensive but offers more financial aid and more scholarships. It is essentially the same cost in her situation. (Assuming her good grades and good SAT scores). Unless she is be able to save 20k/year during the 2 years of CC, then she won't be any better off. However, I will admit that for students who aren't that hardworking, the better choice would be CC. Your sister is a has a good rank and SAT scores therefore she should get all the recognition for her hard work.
I have seen people like your sister before. I used to go to high school with people who were similar. Community college turns your brain off and slows your college career down. Worse case scenario is that she decides college isn't for her because of the terrible experience and she drops out.
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You don't know what you're talking about vAltyR and itzme_petey since half your posts are old stereotypes of community colleges.
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CC is great for anyone who isn't sure about their major and any financial restraints they may have.
Now, if you're unsure of your major but you have the money and want to experience the university life, then sure, go for it, but in my opinion they're fucking stupid if they do that. Why? Waste of money, purely and simply. And if you want to immerse yourself in the atmosphere, if that what is really important to you at this point in life, kill yourself.
Now, back on topic, I went to CC for 4 years (took 2 years for me to figure out my major. Last year and a half I only took 1 class a semester, really worked a lot), and basically it was getting my generals out of the way, PLUS any class that would transfer over for the major.
I ended up in PTK plus I also made the National Dean's List, and I made it into a pretty nice university. I've never taken the SATs, PSATs, whatever any Ts a person can think of, I've never taken them. Yes, I sidestepped the system. Point being, if she excels in CC, there's no way a University will turn her down.
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On October 12 2009 08:06 zoLo wrote:
You don't know what you're talking about vAltyR and itzme_petey since half your posts are old stereotypes of community colleges.
Agree, the only reason youd go to a university over a CC is for the university experience if you are moving out of the house. Everything else CC> University.
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Well, I dunno about CC > University lol. I mean, I'm enjoying CC so far since it's pretty chill. Some of the teachers are very inspiring and they jump around to teach at CC's and universities, so classes at CC can be challenging depending on how you learn. Hopefully I can get all the classes I want for the rest of school year, so I can transfer to the university I want in the fall.
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I attend a community college here in Chicago. My main reason for attending community college is the idea of saving money.
I really to take offense to that stereotype of community college students being lazy or dumb that vAltyR so kindly put out there. So far I've meet a lot of different people ranging differently from intellectual capability. Generalizing the whole student body as a whole really doesn't give justice to some of the people I've met.
My girlfriend attended community college as well and transferred to UIC this previous spring semester. If you would ask her she'd tell you that she actually preferred community college. Her main reason for attending was a financial one as well. She says that her previous school had smaller class sizes and most of teachers had the ability interact with her in a smaller environment than at UIC. While, some people like vAltyR might make the argument that you're missing the college experience, I would have to argue otherwise. The college experience is what you make of it.
I don't want to derange the subject. My two cents is if your sister can get adequate financial aid/scholarships/grants to attend her choice school in California, then yes she should go do that. If not, attending a community college is a great way to save money, while working towards your goal. Just make sure you stay deter minded and make the proper preparations to transfer with your credits. As previous people mentioned certain community colleges have a lot of good transfer plans for people to attend different universities in the region/state.
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If she's going to California stop by Riverside Community College I could show her the ropes 
THAT ASIDE
Community College is great choice if you're 'undecided' since high school doesn't do the greatest job in helping you discover what you want to spend your life doing. If you can't get into a good school with just grades and money is an issue then Community College is definitely. a good choice, but living on her own might cripple her resources.
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Fairly sure she doesn't want anything medical/ pre-law / business related. for some reason i think she's gonna be a computer programmer <_<
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girls are ridiculous, dont ever try to argue with their logic. its like beating your head against a brick wall
going to CC and transferring is fine though. doesnt sound like shes really taken the initiative to look for scholarships to make it easier though. also, why hasnt she taken the SAT yet? is she a junior? if not she should have taken it a while ago and already began working on apps/submitting them by the end of the month.
and the "college experience" is fucking sweet i cant imagine living at home and going to cc ><
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does she want to go to cc in california or texas?
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United States10774 Posts
it doesn't make sense to me why she would choose to go to a community college without taking the SATs and trying to find an affordable university. i am not trying to put down community colleges, but why choose it over a regular university if money isn't an issue? also, what grade is she in? she has never taken the SATs?
Agree, the only reason youd go to a university over a CC is for the university experience if you are moving out of the house. Everything else CC> University.
...
that's simply not true lol.
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On October 12 2009 11:54 zulu_nation8 wrote:
does she want to go to cc in california or texas?
Houston , Texas CC i believe
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She's a senior and is going to take the SAT in a week i think? On a related note, I don't think she studied for the subject tests at all , i crammed for them last minute anyways so meh.
Actually my valedictorian from last year took the SAT in mid oct. as well so i don't think it's a huge issue with applications although i think they moved up the due date this year for several universities.
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On October 12 2009 11:48 decafchicken wrote:
girls are ridiculous, dont ever try to argue with their logic. its like beating your head against a brick wall
going to CC and transferring is fine though. doesnt sound like shes really taken the initiative to look for scholarships to make it easier though. also, why hasnt she taken the SAT yet? is she a junior? if not she should have taken it a while ago and already began working on apps/submitting them by the end of the month.
and the "college experience" is fucking sweet i cant imagine living at home and going to cc ><
Hey, i linked her this thread D:... bad decaf!!
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First off, what grade is she in? Also, she's planning on applying for financial aid right? Thats like $5,000+ every semester(4 year school).
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On October 12 2009 08:41 Sadist wrote:Show nested quote +On October 12 2009 08:06 zoLo wrote:
You don't know what you're talking about vAltyR and itzme_petey since half your posts are old stereotypes of community colleges. Agree, the only reason youd go to a university over a CC is for the university experience if you are moving out of the house. Everything else CC> University.
pretty much this, i wish i would have gone to CC first and stayed at home, would be in much less debt when i get out this december, and would have been better integrated into the college scene with the smaller sized class, than going from small town with 50-60 graduating class to 350 people in one classroom. if there is a good cc close to home with credits that transfer easily i would recommend that hand down.
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There's nothing wrong with going to a community college, it basically lets you take all the bullshit first 2 year courses (electives and CORE shit like English, history, writing, speech, w/e) at 1/5 the price of a good university.
She's actually saving your family (and herself) thousands of dollars. Also, MOST community colleges have special programs for transfer for in-state universities. So a CC transferree with 3.5 gpa will have higher priority than a random high schooler with 4.0 gpa and they also guarantee that most of your credits will transfer.
So the kids who are in community college are the ones who A) don't have the grades/test scores to get into a better university or B) are too lazy to get a job to afford a better university.
That's quite condescending and not true at all. A lot of people are there just to save money, because it doesn't really matter where you get your first 2 years since it's all gen ed 100-200 level courses anyway. Kids getting a job to afford a better university? What job is a 18-19 year old going to have that's going to pay for "a better university" while also being a full time student?
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On October 12 2009 08:06 zoLo wrote:
You don't know what you're talking about vAltyR and itzme_petey since half your posts are old stereotypes of community colleges.
Based on her grades, school standing, and high SAT scores; it is better that she go to a 4 year university.
I understand that she wants to save money. I agree that it will cost less (out of pocket, assuming no grants/financial aid) to go to a CC instead of a 4-year university. However, the only reason she will not have money to go to a 4-year is because she wants to go to an out of state school. That is honestly the biggest underlying problem. A 4-year in-state university will not cost that much more than a CC.
If she is determined to go CC then out of state route. Heres what she can do.
1. Apply to Houston Community College
2. Speak with counselors to ensure that her credits will transfer to California's education system
3. Certain basic courses are required in Texas but not in California (Texas requires American history as well as Government, not sure if California is the same)
4. Take as many placement tests and AP tests as possible (Im assuming she is still a senior in HS)
5. Transfer those credits into Houston CC and from there to California
Hopefully she can cut down 1 year of CC and transfer to Cal.
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The financial reasons should not be a big issue if she is a strong student, even going to a 4 year university. IIRC, my university gives half tuition for 2000+ SAT or 30+ ACT (not positive on numbers, but it is not high at all) and that is set-in-stone merit-based scholarship. Not taking the SAT is a huge mistake, because that will completely limit her options. She should at least prepare for it a little and take it to see how she does because many colleges have online scholarship estimators or set-in-stone scholarships based on such scores and having that SAT score let her decide later if a CC is something she really wants to do or if she wants to attend a 4 year university because they promise to give her a significant amount of money for her SAT score instead of forcing the CC option. In addition to the scholarship aid, the amount of financial aid you can get can surprise you. For example, two of my friends who are currently attending the University of Texas are paying nothing and under 5k a year, and they're not even extremely poor (it even surprised them). There's enough scholarship opportunities out there (even small ones on fastweb.com if you can't land big ones). The scholarships coupled with the financial aid should almost nullify the financial problem completely. You'd be surprised at how much scholarship Universities like A&M, Baylor, and other non UT/Rice Texas universities will give you.
IMO, if she can get satisfactory scholarships to attend a 4 year college in California right away, she should, but if she still is short financially, then it's not worth going through two years of CC just to get there. I know that you should choose your university based on where you want to live for the next four years of your life, but giving up two years of the great experiences of a 4 year college that a CC lacks (university activities, living in a dorm, just having fun) in order to achieve that final dream college is not worth it since she has other options. Yes, the basic classes are the same, but college isn't one of the most memorable experience of one's life just because of what you learn there. She shouldn't limit herself to just California and accept the options that her grades grant her instead of going to both extremes (one extreme being straight up attending it since she has enough money, and the other one being dropping down to a CC just to attend that on college). Texas public schools are required to accept the top 10% automatically, and she would easily get into any public school she wanted here in Texas (and there are great schools here in texas). Why not try attending an in state university that you can easily afford? I was offered 100k to go to an out of state university, but I still would have ended up paying 7k/year despite that, whereas that money in a Texas school would've been more than enough for everything (Texas public schools average like 7-8k/year for tuition only). While it may seem like I'm dissing the CC's, it's true from my experience and those of others that CC's lack a lot of the great experience of attending a 4 year university. Giving that up due to financial reasons spawned from nostalgia is not worth it IMO.
As for the undecided major reason, that shouldn't matter at all. Many people attend 4 year universities and are undecided for a long time. No matter what college you go to, your first couple years will be fulfilling basic requirements common to all majors, and you can use that time to decide. If anything larger universities have more opportunities for research and interactive learning that will help you decide what direction you want to go. It should only factor in a little if you have existing financial problems, and I like mentioned above, they won't exist if you take the SAT's, and if they do, you have ways around them that are better than going to a CC.
I'm sorry if my post is a bunch of garbled nonsense and I seem to jump to baseless conclusions because it's 2 AM here and I'm extremely tired.
In summary, people go to CC's because a) not enough money for initial choice, and b) not enough grades for initial choice. People go to 4 year universities right away over transferring from CC's because they want to enjoy college to its fullest and there are more extracurricular things to do. Besides taking the SATs, regardless of what she wants to do, the first thing do is decide if she's truly willing to give up that 'fun' part of a 4 year university for two years to attend her ideal school. It should be this factor and pretty much this factor alone that decides her path. Financial problems should not exist (and if they do, then going in state while giving up her ideal school will solve it, which, IMO is worth it), and academic reasons obviously don't exist.
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She isn't too big on the whole social thing, so i don't think that wil be a huge factor in her decision, although i could easily see her changing that, she looks fine and could easily make friends.
I don't think she's going to take many AP tests. Although i don't know , she might have been studying during the summer or something, i gave her my old AP study books.
To be honest , with FASFA and scholarships, an in-state university would probably be cheaper than a CC for her, at least i would think so.
Speak with counselors to ensure that her credits will transfer to California's education system
She's gonna talk with some people this week, i'll tell her to mention that.
You'd be surprised at how much scholarship Universities like A&M, Baylor, and other non UT/Rice Texas universities will give you.
lol i'll look into A&M, Def. not Baylor though, she tried medical (went to this academy for 2 years and didn't like it).
Hopefully we can just knock out the whole financial deal, i know i was pleasantly surprised when i saw my tuition last year.
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EPT
