The State University of New York Westchester Community College

Best kept secret! If you want to work and get a cheap education, WCC is a great choice. I know students that worked hard and have transferred to Ivory League Colleges and are doing great. It all about the student and what they want. Smart students use it to get their associates and transfer with high GPA. Almost all students with high GPA get substantial scholarships to four year colleges. Excellent resources available for students especially in the science and math department. They go above and beyond trying to help. Most professors are so encouraging and go out of their way to provide help. I cant knock the academics. BUT, if you are looking for a good social life you will find it hard here. Its a commuter college, very hard to meet new friends. Students come and go all day long. Very diverse and an increasing number of adult students attending. I don't know much about extracurricular activities. I am one of those students that just go to class and leave again. Best advice, if you want the full college experience this is not the college for you. BUT if you are happy living in your community, able to commute to WCC and eager to learn and succeed, you can really go places. GOOD LUCK

3rd Year Female -- Class 2010

Faculty Accessibility: A+, Surrounding City: D

Do yourself a favor and use WCC as an absolute last resort. Everyone says that it's so much easier to transfer from a two-year-school, but with this school's transfer department you have to bend over backwards just to get some decent information, and the professors don't want to know your name, never mind write you a letter of reccomendation. Of course, there are professors who would prove me wrong here, but they are most certainly the exception.

The professors, for the most part, are decent; but keep in mind that most of the good ones are adjuncts, and the rest are disgruntled-yet-tenured professors. Office hours are usually impossible to make so get used to emailing your professor or staying after class. Keep in mind that this is college- these professors feel that their lectures are in addition to your personal work, not vice versa.

The student body, generally, hates the school. The loners are the "normal" kids, and the huge groups of people that hang out in front of all of the main entrances that block your way to all of the buildings are usually the smokers, stoners, drinkers, and more. Take early morning/evening classes to avoid these people- believe it or not, in most communications/english classes you're forced into doing copious amounts of group work, and these are not the type of people that you want to get stuck with. Also, if you want to make friends, this is not the place to do it. The majority of the campus population is there for one thing: to get their degree so they can transfer. They don't care about you, so do yourself a favor, and don't care about them.

Definately check out the police blotters for Valhalla before coming here. The school attempts to stifle a lot of the violent and questionable behavior of a lot of the students- they'll do anything to avoid bad publicity. Campus Security is good for nothing more than handing out fake parking tickets and calling county cops. Good luck finding them, by the way.

The bookstore is staffed by an outside company who commonly uses temps as their regular staff, but rotates the temps on a regular basis. They are, for the most part, rude and unhelpful. They are also overpriced and constantly packed during the daylight hours.

WCC also has articulation agreements with very few schools. Of course, most other SUNYs will accept their credits, as well as a few local private colleges, but other than that you're on your own. Especially if you want to go out of state- the transfer advisors won't even help you with that one.

Parking is a nightmare. They will actually block your car in so you're stuck there until they get out of class. Also, don't bring a nice car to WCC. They will key it, scratch it, dent it, drive into it, break your windows, write on it, steal your antenna, put all sorts of letters and club promos all over it and more. And there's really nothing you can do about it since Campus Security is useless.

The area around the college is nice, though. Mostly residential with a few stores thrown in random places, but it's close to both major highways. Just keep in mind that these highways are a nightmare at rush hour, so keep that in mind when you're doing your schedules.Other than that, this is your normal community colleged nestled in one of the richest suburbs in America. It sucks, but deal with it. After all, it's only a two year school.

1st Year Female -- Class 2007

Faculty Accessibility: A+, Individual Value: F