Fresno City College

Date: May 22 2013
Major: English (This Major's Salary over time)
I've been attending FCC on and off for about 7 years now, and am finally down to having just one more semester left to graduate.

I can't completely blame the amount of time it has taken me to finish on the school itself; I had my own personal issues that got in the way at times. However, FCC and the city of Fresno itself kind of have a wasteland feel about them. I know very few students that actually like the school, and it seems that everyone just wants to get out, but lack the motivation.

As for the faculty, they are overall pretty unhelpful. It just seems like no one really cares, and they're just teaching because it's the only job they could get with their own degrees. I also found some of the professors/instructors to be kind of arrogant and even condescending towards their students. There are a few older professors, though, that are extremely knowledgeable and inspiring.

ANother downside is that because FCC is a community college and Fresno is way overpopulated, there are just waaaay too many people going to the school. It's hard to get enrolled into the classes you need, and even the wait lists fill up pretty fast. And the parking is horrendous. The on-campus parking lots can accomodate only about 30% of the student population, and everyone else either has to stalk people in the lots to take their spots when they leave, park in the surrounding neighborhoods (which aren't very safe, especially at night), or use other forms of transportation (bus, bicycle, walking, etc).

One good thing I will say about FCC is that the campus is actually very nice and visually appealing. There is a lot of grass, trees, and flowers and some of the older buildings (especially the Old Admin. Building and the library) have so much character. They have also done a lot of remodeling and most if not all of the classrooms are now equipped with functional projectors, screens, and surround sound.

It's hard to say a lot of good things about FCC, but most of the downsides are just due to where it's located, the budget, and overall the bad economical state that this country is currently in. Not to mention that it's a community/junior college, not a university, so you shouldn't have very high expectations anyway.

I would recommend this school to anyone living in Fresno who is undecided on their major and just want to get started with their GE classes and at a much cheaper price than a 4-year university.