Houston Community College

Date: May 01 2011
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
I graduated in the Fall of 2010 with an Associates in Arts degree from HCC with a 3.43 GPA and now attend a state university. My goal was to earn this degree and then pursue a bachelors which I am now doing. Because the Associates in Arts is an academic transfer degree I did NOT take any vocational classes. (HCC has extensive vocational programs) Therefore I can not comment on the quality of vocational programs at HCC and can only comment on the academic components. (english, math, history, government, etc)

Overall HCC is a good school… the problem is the students. Being a large community college (open admissions) in a large city they attract a large number of people looking to better themselves through educational pursuits. While this is not a problem in its self the attitudes and realistic introspection (as far as

Do I belong in college?

) of the students is.

The students that attend HCC are mostly those people who work dead end jobs (or don't work at all) and got the idea in their head they would earn a college degree to better their career prospects. Unfortunately in almost every class on campus you will quickly realize that these are not people who belong in college. This is reflected in HCC's 10% graduation rate. Large numbers of students are in remedial classes. (read: below college level) Many students dress like thugs, don't show up for class, or create disruptions in class.

Do NOT expect college level discourse in the class room. Take my last class prior to graduation. (SOCI 1301) The instructor passed around a news story about an individual who had harmed a dog and asked the classes opinion on it. All she received were shouts such as "Kill em!!!!" "Man **** that guy" etc. I actually felt like I became stupider during my two years here as a result of having to listen to such… enlightened… comments as these in every class I took every time student thought was solicited by a professor. Don't even get me started on the disrespect students show to faculty such as arriving late and then making a smart comment to the instructor on arrival.

Students also have a hard time separating their personal biases and opinions from academic discussions. For example, in a class I took we were asked to analyze the problems mothers with young children may experience in prison. Instead of actually doing this most of the students wrote about how they personally didn't like such mothers and went on to explain that they didn't deserve kids… even though the assignment was to analyze the problems they face in prison (social, psychological, etc) from an academic viewpoint… not provide your personal opinion of the mother.

Honestly I felt like most students were wasting their time, the time of students who were serious, and wasting the resources of the school. I actually had trouble enrolling in classes I needed to take in order to graduate because they were full and I wondered how many students had enrolled who were not at all going to try and simply fail out.

Furthermore I believe that because of these issues with students who were not college level it detracted from my overall education somewhat. Had I attended a state university for my first two years of college many of these people would likely have been filtered out during the admissions process or placed on academic suspension early on. At a state university college level discourse in the classroom between students is at least somewhat possible… at HCC it's almost never.

The faculty are ok. Although they aren't the best they definitely aren't the worst. Listen to their lectures, read your books, and complete your assignments. If you do ALL of these things it will adequately prepare you for a 4 year school.

Interestingly enough my biggest problem with HCC was when it came time to graduate. I had to go to three different campuses with my application to graduate before I found someone who knew how to handle it and was actually willing to help me. I suppose with a 10% graduation rate staff rarely have to handle such paperwork.

Overall I am glad I attended HCC. I knocked out the first two years of my bachelors degree, did not get in to student loan debt, and have an associates degree to help me with career pursuits while I finish my bachelors.