Community College? You must be stupid.

i get some "looks" as to why i chose an adn program over a bsn. when i say the main reason is cost, i typically get an "ooooh, that's so smart..." i really could care less what others think of my choices. we are not required to justify anything to anyone, because we all must make decisions that best suit our individual lifestyles. cc vs. univ...in my experience, it all depends on the school and the professor. some are good, others not so much. again, you have to make that choice for what's best. i worked my butt off to get into what i consider a challenging adn program. and trust me, with all the hoops they forced applicants to jump through, it was no walk in the park (i.e. stellar grade requirements in addition to red tape). the only issue that concerns me now is that many hospitals "require" bsn rather than "prefer". also, they may not even consider you eligible for externships etc. if you are not part of a bsn program. having a previous degree is of no significance.

what gets me heated is that due to the economy and the plethora of new grads being churned out by overpriced nursing programs, hospitals are able to draw all of these new guidelines based on titles and some $$$ bottom line (i.e. magnet status). then organizations continue to boast about titles that seem to benefit only the hospital and not the nurses who are used to attain them. if nurses actually benefit, why are so many becoming unionized at hospitals with this special status?

choosing to attend cc is a personal choice, just know that you will have to continue your education if you plan to work in a hospital. before our eyes, the bar has been raised.

I don't think it's the fact that community college people (our TAFEs are the same in Oz I think) are not smarter than university people, it's just that at university we are not spoon fed much - you have to be incredibly motivated to do a lot of your own study and research, and give up the time to do that. Especially if ur full time and you study externally like I did. I studied every day, rain or shine, and put off going to outings etc, to study.

Maybe in a way university DOES make you smarter, because it's supposed to stimulate your thinking in different ways - and that is just the start of your uni education! I think it also matures you in a way - though I wonder about some people.

Do what makes you happy - not everyone else, otherwise if u run around trying to please everyone, you end up miserable and ur mental health will suffer.

what does LMAO stand for and ROFL?? I've never had a tranlation for these!

thanx

When I run into this type of situation I remind them that I'm the one laughing all the way to the bank because I paid for my education out of pocket and they are thousands in debt.

I received my ADN at a community college, then a few years later my BSN at a larger university. I wouldn't trade anything for what I learned at my C.C. There were several hospitals in my area that would hire an ADN as a new nurse as opposed to a BSN because of our quality of pt. care. I was told that the BSN new grads were more management-focused & less attention & detail was given to the patient. I never really understood why until I went back to complete my BSN. Those courses are largely managment-based. Thankfully, I already had my patient-care background & that wasn't about to change just because I was learning about the $$ end of my profession. As I embark on my FNP degree, I am proud to say that I received a firm foundation as a registered nurse from a local community college. Not only has it made financial sense, but I feel that I was able to grasp the key concepts to good patient care because of my smaller classes & more detail-oriented instructors. Best of luck to you in all your educational & professional endeavors

This makes me laugh. I have two bachelors degrees from two private universities. I think the stress that you're spending a lot of money at a university, particularly a private university, makes one anxious to choose a major so quickly so that you can graduate in the minimum amount of time possible. To be honest, I used to look down at those who were transfer students in my university...years later (i.e., NOW), when trying to finally fulfill pre-requisites for a healthcare career, I realized what a fool I was to not take community college classes for my general education credits during my university years. I would have saved a lot of money and have been exposed to a diversified group versus those who just graduated from high school and were getting their tuition paid by Mommy and Daddy (i.e., ME).

Anyway, there's always going to be someone who raises his/her eyebrows and says:

1. "Oh really, you went to Wharton for business instead of Harvard?" (or vice versa)

2. "Oh, you went to Eastman for music instead of Julliard?"

3. "Oh, you only have a Bachelors and not your Masters?"

4. "Oh, you only have your Masters and not your Doctorate?"

5. "Oh, you have your Doctorate but you got it at THAT school?"

6. "Oh, you're a nurse and not a doctor?" =)

In any case, I'd rather have a nurse who knows what he/she is doing versus a nurse who went to a reputable school and knew how to pass tests without learning anything.

Before I transitioned into nursing as a second career I worked in a energy and soul-sucking job that my B.S. degree got me, and was bringing in around $45,000. I got some surprised looks and snarky comments from some of my peers when I decided to pursue an ADN at the local CC. Now that I am making nearly $60,000 (with overtime) and have four days a week off they aren't laughing any longer.

I made $60,000 and a $8,000 bonus to boot at my previous job in finance (not accounting, just being a regular ol' marketing person) but...it wasn't fulfilling and people would freak out over something that did not concern life and death. It just was truly meaningless to me with people getting fired over "I don't like that you wear a lot of makeup". So I left to freelance pulling in probably $20k now so that I could take my pre-requisites.

Anyway, my point is that if I'm going to get stressed out (and get paid for it), I'd rather spend my time helping someone than sitting at my desk pretending to work while surfing the web like those yahoos did. =)

I agree completely with everything you said. People equate a degree with intelligence and education. The reality is, holding a degree has nothing to do with intelligence. I know plenty of folks with bachelors, masters, and PhDs who are complete and utter morons. Literally. However, they had the ability to study something and regurgitate it out on an exam and write papers to the satisfaction of their professors.

And ignorant people will ALWAYS be ignorant until we take the time to educate them. It has taken me 10 YEARS to complete my bachelor's degree. I putzed around community college for 5 years trying to figure out what I wanted to do before I settled on computers. Finally finished an AAS in that and transferred to a great four year school (Drexel University) where I completed my BS in information security in a little over 2 years online. And I STILL get people who go "Oh.... you finished your degree online...." and they give me that condescending/patronizing half smile and nod you mentioned. To hell with them! When I see that crap out of someone I immediately outline for them how hard I had to work for my degree. And let me tell you, the work load of taking three online classes a quarter from Drexel in a highly technical field was killer. I would have at least 40-50 hours of assignments, papers, reading, discussion board postings, and exams PER WEEK. And that was at a minimum. AND that was on top of working full time and a myriad of other responsibilities. I still get the same attitude when I tell people that I went to a county college. And then I tell those people that if it is so easy, why is it that every smuck from the four year school looking to take a summer class for quick and easy credits (I have actually heard this from people sitting in lab classes with me) ends up failing out or barely passing? It's because community colleges (at least in my area) are actually HARDER than the same classes taken at the four year schools. And why is this? Because the professors at our community college have looked at the statistics and found that a large percentage of their students will not go on to a four year university. So they take the stance of "Well if this might be the last schooling you receive, we are going to make it count!".

You are absolutely right that a person should be proud of the education that they have earned. And I will emphasize the part THAT THEY EARNED. The person who went to ANY school and skated by doing the bare minimum necisary to obtain their degree and engaged their brain only enough to keep from falling out of their seat during class is a disgrace. The funny thing is, is that it is usually these people who just happened to do it at a higher degree level than someone else are looking down their noses at everyone else. The folks who legitimately worked for their degree, no matter what level, are the ones who truely appreciate how much commitment and effort it takes to educate yourself and do not look down at others for doing so because they may not have gone as far as they did.

Oh, and one last thing that is just a pet peeve of mine: people that cannot form a coherent sentence in speech or writing have no business talking about other people's education or lack thereof. Not saying that is an issue with any of the posts here, but it makes me laugh when one person is calling another person stupid and they couldn't be bothered with capitalization or punctuation AND they spelled it stoopid.

:heartbeatwent to CC, so I lost focus at paragraph 3 :)

LOL, nice!

I think a lot depends on the school as well as the department. At the CC I did my prerequisites at that DH is now going to, the core humanities are a joke. His freshman writing class is devoted to writing a basic 5 paragraph argumentative essay, and they're only reading one book over the course of the semester in that class. My middle school English classes were more rigorous than that.

The math and science programs at the school are another matter. I was never in the science major track classes, but even the classes for health sciences students were challenging. DH is planning to complete a science degree and I know he has his work cut out for him.

You do what's best for you, and ignore those who don't know what they're talking about!

I agree with a lot of what you said, but most courses at most CC are certainly less rigorous than the same courses at most Universities. That doesn't mean those of us that took them there weren't smart enough to take them elsewhere. We make our choices for a variety of reasons. I really don't care why other people make the choices they do, nor do I care to justify my choices to others. I have worked hard, I am proud of my achievements. I hope all others can say the same, but at the end of the day, I am really not all that interested in what you (generic "you") did, where you did it or how you feel about it and I don't understand why you (generic again) would care what I or anyone else thinks either.

Make the best choices for you and to he!! with what the rest of the world thinks about it. Seriously.

I would disagree with the term MOST being used. I could agree that in SOME cases, county college classes are easier. However, I know in my state the classes can and usually are harder. Especially when you are speaking of 100 and 200 level mathmatics, science, and english courses. A previous poster mentioned that humanties are more or less equal across the board in terms of difficulty and that I would have to agree with.