Howard Community College

Date: Dec 03 2009
Major: Engineering Department (This Major's Salary over time)
Well, I've seen the positive reviews on HCC, and although I'm pleased so far with the first semester, my review is tilted to be positive, but it's more of neutral review and not necessarily positive.

Positives: Most of the students are friendly, approachable and decent to be around with. My classes are decent, moderately challenging, but you have to "apply" yourself in order to get good grades, especially in the areas of math & science, since I'm an engineer transferring to Maryland or some other college (in case I don't get in.) At HCC, I've had a heavier courseload than others (5 classes + chemistry lab, so that makes 6), so adapting and trying to multi-task everything at HCC has been a bit difficult for me in the start. All of the classes that I've had so far have been satisfactory and you feel a "geniune connect" with your professors and others in the class. The environment at HCC After a few days, I started going to the library and applying myself, so that burden has gone down since. The surrounding city is also nice to be around, Howard County is one of the wealthiest counties to be in, in Maryland (ranks higher than Montgomery County), so the surrounding are has a low crime rate, the Columbia Mall/other amenities are nearby on Broken Land Parkway, so there are plenty of things for you to do off campus. There are many events that occur on campus, and the RRCA 10 miler is hosted annually in Februaries especially for the runners/other athletes that attend HCC. There seems to be an outlet for everyone.

Negatives: HCC is a good school, although there are some problems that act as an "undercurrent" at the school. Some of the students have a bit of a disconnect with learning, ie, not attending classes or leaving when there is still 45 minutes or so left in the class period. Also, obnoxiousness lingers within some of the student body. In the library for instance, there was a day when somebody "Patel", kept causing a lot of raucous and disturbances in the library. They were eventually called up to the Circulation Desk later on. The thing that perplexed me to write a neutral review instead of a positive review was what I saw when I went in the Clark quad where there was a large horizontal poster laying on a table where people could write their stresses about final exam week. Some of the things written include "slapping hoes", and "hoes and bitches". Some of the girls here are fairly attractive, not just the white girls, but in general, and a lot of them would just throw themselves at stud guys (maintaining constant eye contact), I'm one of them, although I'm black. Some of the girls can act a little obnoxious at times and act too "easy", however. So a bit of a problem here is that some guys demoralize women a bit when they get pissed off about something, which is a little offending when it's expressed to the public. You also have to look at the Campus Crime log on HCC's website, which isn't necessarily completely based on crime, it's also based on dumb stuff that people do.

Summary: Despite an undercurrent of minor problems that are at HCC, if you're a smart, civil/ethical guy or girl, you should be able to find that HCC is a decent school, and may write a similar review to what I've already written. If you don't apply yourself to higher academic standards, or are loud, obnoxious, and cause problems this CC may not be the best place for you. HCC is a decent school in my opinion, and although it isn't the #1 community college, it's good enough to have a satisfactory community college experience before transferring to a 4 year university.