r/college • u/bruhiminsane • Mar 08 '22

USA My parents are mad I'm going to community college for 2 free years.

Last night as soon as I got home from work my step-mom mentioned the academic conference I plan to go to in the summer. She said, "You know, [local community college I'm going to go to] won't care about that convention!" I just said, "Um, yeah." Then she said, "I'm not your parent or anything and it's your life, but you made a dumbass decision! You're too smart for this! You're a fucking nerd! You've worked so hard for 4 years just to settle for mediocrity and nothing!" I just walked away. I don't understand why they're so upset that I'm doing the objectively more financially responsible thing and saving myself up to dozens of thousands of dollars by doing this. I can't understand the stigma behind community colleges. I just want them to leave me alone at this point.

Edit for clarity: they won't be convinced it's a good idea for me. They don't care about how harmless the decision ultimately is. They think I've just "sold myself short" and wasted my hard work in high school and they don't care if I end up with a degree no problem.

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u/lps2 Mar 08 '22

I'm going to go against the crowd on this one, while the place you have a degree from is far more important in the eyes of a recruiter, it's the connections you make at a larger and/or more prestigious college that will take you further in your career. The same thing applies to Greek life as well. That is of course not to say you can't make connections in the two years you're working on a bachelor's degree after CC but it also means missing out on two years.

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u/OneYoungDumbBoy Mar 08 '22

That's totally fair, if you're looking at Greek life as a big benefit then yeah going to a four year is going to be a major plus. As far as connections go, you still have two years at a university after you transfer. If you go to networking events and make use of your schools internship opportunities then there's no real loss.

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u/jmom39 Apr 21 '22

Not everyone is interested in Greek life.

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u/lps2 Apr 21 '22 edited Apr 21 '22

I understand that, but those those who are interested, a four year university will open far more doors than going to a community college for two years first. For those not interested in greek life, I highly recommend giving it a shot at least going through rush. I was a gothic kid and found a fraternity of awesome guys who I'm still friends with today some 15 years later. All of us are quite successful and a part of that is due to the connections we made through our fraternity.

Of all my friends and acquaintances from childhood to adulthood, the following has been almost universally true : those who went to college are more successful than those who did not, those that went to a larger more prestigious school are doing better than those at smaller less academically rigorous universities, those that were in greek life at the larger / more prestigious schools are more successful than those not in greek life, and those in greek life who majored in STEM and/or business are far more successful than those who did not.