When you think of community college what comes to mind? Cheap, slackers, immature kids with bad grades. These are the first things that popped into my head when I had to make the decision to go there for the semester before I transfer schools. I thought it was going to be pure hell, but instead it’s actually kind of my idea what college should be like, minus a few things. Here’s what to expect if you’re going to community college next semester or summer.

The Good:

Free parking! - I was pumped about this, since parking at my last college (NC State) was about 200 bucks. This is also a bad thing because everyone can afford to park, so I have to leave my house 40 minutes before class (and I live 15 minutes away) to beat traffic and find a spot next to my building

The Fests - Back to School Fest, Fall Fest, Latin Fest, Halloween Fest….there’s always some type of “fest” going on….and they all involve a DJ, a moon bounce and loads of free food!

Online classes with NO extra fees - Most colleges label online classes as Distance Education and slap a few extra fees on the courses so that you’ll actually come to campus and not sit in your dorm/apartment/parent’s house watching your lecture via laptop wearing your your favorite tee and a pair of sweats (heaven!). Well, because so many people go to good ol’ community college (mine has 4 campuses total and is 40,000 strong), they actually prefer if you take a class or two online. But be warned: most online classes don’t have deadlines and it can be tempting to slack off. I’ve been taking Ethics since August and haven’t taken any tests just because I don’t feel like it! Read More »

I am the biggest. idiot. ever. Why? Because I will be spending one dreaded semester at home. That’s right, I gave up my freedom so that I could come home to spend a little extra time with the ‘rents. No, I’m not one of those people who can’t bear to spend time away from my parents, I just made a couple of mistakes…well, let’s call them choices…

Rewind to the end of senior year when a certain girl was debating between College A and College B. College A is the largest school in North Carolina, is very serious about their sports program (which means tons of fans to party with, plus I love college football) and just happens to be an hour from my boyfriend. College B is a smaller but well-known school located right in the middle of a booming city not to far from my home in Virginia that also happens to house an insane Arts/Fashion program.

Of course, naive senior Amber picked College A so she could get a degree in Fashion but still tailgate, party like crazy and spend time with her beau.

One cringe-worthy break up, one failed class, dozens of racial/socioeconomic clashes and too many drunken nights later I decided that it was time to transfer. My decision was a good one, but was made too late; by the time I submitted my application to another school (College C, I guess), it was impossible to receive housing and a decent financial aid package. Then I remembered good ol’ College B with the awesome Fashion program and decided going there was worth spending one semester at a sh*tty community college while having to obey Mom and Pop’s rules.

Some of you may have decided (or been forced) to stay at home too, or maybe I’m just hoping I’m not the only one that gets upset when I see those back to school commercials with all the cute dorm furniture and kids running through campus. Either way, there are pros and cons to movin’ back in with the rents and I know all about them: Read More »

The University Experience sure has changed. It’s now normal to take longer than four years to complete your degree; students are known to switch majors repeatedly (and often at the last minute); and transfer admissions offices are swamped with applicants who realize that the college they chose senior year of high school just isn’t making the grade.

I know all about the stress of transferring and adjusting to a new school. When I began my undergraduate career, I wasn’t content with attending the state university that 83% of my classmates were enrolling in. Oh, no - I had to get away. So I enrolled in a small private school in London, England.

My freshman year was a blast– I was in a major city, surrounded by hot men with hotter accents, and I didn’t even need a fake ID. But eventually, reality sank in, and I opted to transfer back to the same state school that I’d once adamantly rejected in order to prevent graduating with student loans up the wazoo.

My first semester at the state university was miserable. I’d missed out on all of the freshman year bonding, got stuck with a lame random roommate, and when I did go out, it was because one of my high school friends was kind enough to let me tag along with her group. It was so bad that I took a semester off to figure out if I wanted to go through the transfer process again. I ended up going back to the state school, and - thankfully - things got better. In fact, college kicked some major ass.

So, having been on the Maybe-I-Should-Transfer fence and a member of the Transfer Students Association, I thought I’d share some pro’s and cons with anyone who isn’t quite sure that they are attending the right school. Read More »

Last week, I warned you that the grad school application process is quite a time consuming effort. Well guess what folks? You’re going to need to put ample time into choosing your prospective grad schools too! Sure, this might seem a bit obvious, but this columnist doesn’t always think things through.

For me, grad school was a roll of the dice, and six possible schools came up for me: Georgetown, Rutgers, Ohio State, North Carolina State, San Francisco State, and the school I eventually chose, hereafter refered to as X University.I chose these schools on a whim. Georgetown was my “reach,” and the closest I could get to Ivy League while maintaining a glimmer of hope for acceptance. Rutgers was relatively close to my hometown (by close I mean a 5 hour drive); Ohio State is a party school notorious for it’s tailgating parties (I swear, that’s why I applied- don’t judge); North Carolina State was an hour from my only other friend attending grad school; and San Francisco just seemed like a cool city to live in, as did the location of X University.

Rule number one in choosing grad school? Don’t be superficial when planning your future! Read More »