800-448-3000This Is Not The School For Me
Question
I am going to a community college and don't like it at all. I got accepted to a four year college for this fall. My dad wants me to get a general studies degree. The community college I'm attending is not the one for me. I want to tell Dad to let me go ahead and just transfer to the four year college and not graduate from the community college. I'm scared in what he will say. The community college does not really have good teachers and I feel that I'm not successful in this college. They are not helping me with my needs and I feel like I'm failing more then I'm succeeding. Dad has already paid for the fees at the four year and I'm supposed to graduate this summer after my summer classes but I do not feel that I can go to a college that I don't feel that I'm successful in.
Counselor response
We are glad you are reaching out for some help with your college situation. Some individuals attend a community college to get the basic requirements out of the way at a cheaper rate than the 4 year colleges. The teachers are not less educated than college staff from traditional 4 year schools. It is simply a different program. Due to the time of year this is, you may not be able to transfer your classes to finish out the school year. Many schools end their semesters in May. Summer sessions often start a week or two later. Those are extremely work intensive as the material that is covered in a semester are squeezed into about three weeks.
Take some time to think about the reasons you are not succeeding at your current school. Are you doing the class work regularly? Are you attending all of the classes and labs? If you are not, then it is not the school that is poor. Most college students get as much out of their classes as they put into them. If you are not attending classes, you are missing the materials that are not covered in the text books. If you are not reading the text books, you are cheating yourself out of the information the instructors feel you need to learn to pass their class. College is a huge step above the level of expectations from high school learning.
The other issue that is occurring here is that you are not sure about talking to your Dad about your thoughts and feelings. He is most likely not a mind reader, so if you do not tell him what you are thinking, he will not know. Teachers in college do not have parent teacher conferences – the instructors talk to the students if the student approaches them. There are several short tips articles about talking with parents that may help you approach your Dad to discuss this.
Give the ideas in these two articles some thought then put it to work for you.
Karen, counselor