College Life

i actually heard that sum universities prefer u do prerequs at a community college..im doing community college too so props!

 

I went to a big school. It's cool how it's basically its own isolated world, but in hindsight, it probably wasn't worth the price. Basically, living on campus, there's always something cool going on if you look for it, but some people find that really distracting, and it encouraged me to pick up terrible habits with my sleep.

Also, you never see children on a college campus. It was really weird to realize that after about a month in a town where people don't exist until they're 18.

 

I'm at a big university right now (like, 50,000 people on campus big). So far, it's pretty similar to what TigerStripes said. I'm sure there's plenty of stuff at your college to do though, so don't be afraid to get involved! Find a club or something and meet some friends. :icon_wink

 

Coming from someone who started freshman year going right into a four year school, I think it's worth it to go to a two year school first. If I hadn't already completed my general ed in high school or if any local colleges had the degree that I wanted, I would have definitely stayed home and commuted. At 18 (or 17 if you're a youngin' like I was), being dropped off at a university hundreds of miles away from your home with little guidance is bound to do nothing but demoralize you from the start. That's why I feel like it's so important to stay local or take a gap year if you can in order to build up that maturity you need to thrive in college.

But to answer your question, there's almost always some sort of organization that let you meet other LGBTQ students, even in community colleges. On the off chance that there isn't, I wouldn't worry about it. I never joined any LGBTQ groups and still found plenty of LGBTQ people just by joining different service clubs and talking to people in my dorm and my classes.

 

Waaayyy back when I went to college (back when printers printed in pencil - o.k. not quite that bad), it made more sense to go to a four-year school and I went to a mid-size (about 20,000 students) school. But today, with the extremely inflated costs of higher education, I think it makes way more sense to go to a community college for a couple of years to get basic studies completed, then go to a university to complete your degree.

Of course, from a social standpoint, that kinda leaves you hanging, but that's a personal decision and there is nothing to say that your final two years at the university won't be as rewarding socially as they are educationally!

 

I went to community college before University for the same reasons.

There are two types of people who go to community college. The people who strategically are there to save money and then transfer, and the people who are there almost by accident.

FIND the people who are there strategically. Seriously, your social life, the opportunities you will get, and the amazing people you will meet are largely dependent on this fact.

Do not go into community college with the thought of "pausing" your life until you get to university. Those first 2 years were incredibly important for me as a person, a leader, and it gave me an advantage over other kids at university once I transferred.

One of my advisers at community college was a woman named Isa Adney. She really helped me out and she wrote a book about some seroius advice to make sure you are able to succesfully do community college.

The main advice is to get active in groups (it doesn't matter if you don't really like them since the options will be limited at CC. Just choose your best pic and go), find your people, and then keep being involved.

I personally started the GSA at my school. It was a terrifying process, but I learned a lot and made amazing friends. I also met my husband through the group, we both transferred to university later on, and we have been together since then