Dutchess Community College

Date: Mar 22 2010
Major: Music - Composition/Theory (This Major's Salary over time)
I ended up at DCC by default for I had no idea what I wanted to do yet. My first year was socially great. I met friends through friends, but as the semesters passed, those friends left and I was left with less people to socialize with. If you are coming to DCC without anyone from a previous school, don't plan on meeting too many people. On average, there are about three or four people from each of my classes that I acquaint myself with and have one of those "hi in the hallway" relationships. It never extends into hanging out with these people out of school.

Most of the professors are great. They have mandatory office hours that no one goes to because a lot of the students at DCC don't care about grades or their education (I used to be one of them). But if you're interested in boosting your grade a letter, I'd recommend visiting your professors every now and then and going over some of the class material that you may be fuzzy with. This allows the professors to connect with you on a personal level. I'm currently great friends with some of the department heads. Even if I don't currently have them as a professor, I sometimes go in just to say hi. Because of this, I've been invited to dinners or speakers that come to Dutchess. The head of the history department is in a band and invites me to all of their shows. So if you show interest in learning, the professors will absolutely notice and treat you like a friend.

This also provides you with a huge connection for letters of recommendations. I've applied to about 8 schools for Fall 2010 and have literally had a different professor write me a letter of recommendation for each school. This way, I don't annoy the hell out of one or two of them.