The Community College of Aurora

Date: Dec 26 2009
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
I attended CCA for two years before transferring to Colorado State University. I can attest that community college is definitely the way to go if you're looking to save money before going to an in-state institution. Even if you're not looking to save money, community college is highly underrated.

In many ways, my experience at CCA has been better than my experience at CSU. The classes are much smaller and you actually get individual attention from your instructors-you're not just a number here. Nearly all the instructors were enthusiastic about the courses they were teaching and many of them had impressive credentials. I'm especially glad I took my science courses at CCA and would recommend for anyone to take advantage of challenging science and math courses while they're at community college. At CSU it's not uncommon, in math and science departments. for over 60% of classes fail major exams due to the lack of quality instruction.

While CCA isn't known for a great social atmosphere, there is strong fellowship on campus. After attending for a year, I was constantly running into and striking up conversations with classmates and instructors. I also became involved with theatre- something I would be too intimidated to try out at a larger school- and met a lot of great people.

The only downfall to choosing community college over a four year institution is that the transition will be tougher socially. I transferred to CSU at 21 and have found that most students have already solidified their friendships from their first year living in the dorms. Worse, the campus is so large and impersonal that it's difficult to strike up meaningful friendships. However, that reflects more on my current school than it does CCA. I enjoyed my time at community college and would definitely do it again.