Montgomery College - Takoma Park

Date: Feb 02 2009
Major: Unknown (This Major's Salary over time)
A very good school to get an associated, or if you (like me) just wanted to get some core classes out the way. Honestly for people intending to major in liberal arts, (sciences, arts, humanities, etc.) no matter what university you want to transfer to, you can't really go wrong going with MC: Takoma Park. I transferred to a highly regarded liberal arts school within a year and a half (not trying to sound arrogant, just trying to tell you what MC can do) with virtually no credit problems. (They even took my BS 'Chemistry and Society' class) If you're planning on majoring in business, nursing, architecture, engineering, etc. you'll need to be more selective on the classes you take.

I won't say the coursework is easy, because I don't know you personally. However, I will say that for the most part it is not as intense as course work at major universities. College level classes are, well, college level classes, so it's not like you're learning less, just that it may be easier to pull get an A or B many of the classes. However, MC definitely has its fair share of tough classes. Expect challenging course work for any above-100 class that's designed for biology/chemistry/physics/engineering majors. Also, English 102 (and even 101 in some cases) isn't a cakewalk. Math is a bit harder to evaluate. Most UMD/UMBC students I know say MC math is significantly easier. But then again, these are engineering/science majors, so I wouldn't take that for granted. For me, while Math 103 was pretty easy, the lower grades on my transcript were from Pre Calc and Calc. Consider I didn't study nearly enough, so with practice and maybe a few trips to the math lab if you need to, you should be okay.

In terms of diversity, this school is what the elite colleges TRY to emulate. The school is nicknamed "United Nations" for a reason. We're not talking about 'African American' or 'Asian American' we're talking about significant amount of students coming from Nigeria, Eritrea, Cameroon, Vietnam, France, etc. And that's even including the local population that are Salvadorian, Ethiopian…the list is endless. Honestly, what school do you know that has a 'Ethiopian Student Association?' I can write a whole paper on how successful diversity is implemented into this school. Clubs, groups of friends, everything is made up of 4 or more different races. The best part is, the diversity isn't forced. I love my new school and all, but it's not Takoma Park. The school's diversity is me with a couple of other black kids and maybe one or two Asian or Latinos. And well, people are very nice, but the social scene is just pathetic. I miss Takoma Park's crazy white hippies/punk rockers and beautiful African girls.

Couple things. If you know what you want to do and where you want to go, don't bother with the counseling center, unless you have very direct questions that you don't want to research on your own. (It's really easy to do your own research…colleges have so much info on their websites) To be real, only go here (or college in general) if you know exactly what you want to do. Also, food is a bit pricey, so don't count on it as being your daily meal. And watch out for Ambassadors for Christ. They're good people and I love God and all, but, they're a bit… well… 'evangelical.'

This might be jumping the gun a bit, but I recommend Takoma Park to anyone who has an open mind. While Rockville may have more resources, the social experience at TP is something you can get at VERY few places in this country. Whether you're straight out of high school with a 4.0 GPA and high SAT scores, or you graduated with less-than-stellar grades 10 years ago. The stellar students can benefit from the very well-regarded honors program, but it's best in my opinion to just do your own thing.

Overall, if you're considering the liberal arts, humanities, visual arts, or nursing, and you're in the D.C. area or plan on living there, definitely consider attending this school. For students interested in other areas, (engineering, architecture, business, etc.) MC is a good option, but these programs are more competitive to transfer into at most good universities. And damn, I really miss ethnic women…