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Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Stigma may endure while in lower level academic attendance or pursuit.
Once graduated, and further, IF EMPLOYED (outside of academia), the proof is in your results. (Actual performance and contribution to employer and society.)
Seldom will an academic 'look-back' result in exclusion of an applicant with CC transcripts if they have solid work and school performance and transcripts from higher level college.
There are all kinds of reasons and benefits from CC being part of your edu process. Those I have worked with, and peers from schools (including HS) are often far more communicative and capable if exposed to a wide variety of learning and living situations. Those who followed a traditional track (HS to U) are often socially immature, selfish, and stuck with a juvenile personality / expectation of relationships. I have found it very evident in dealing with contractual negotiations and suppliers. The 'sheltered' grads are helpless at socially demanding business meetings. (inter generational and inter cultural).
CC often exposes students to a wide variety of cultures, purpose, experience in small classroom settings where they can add vast perspective to their reasoning, compared to typical first 2 yr classes at U with 500 youthful clones all being preached to in an auditorium classroom. Good idea to go head to head with someone on GI bill, or a recent immigrant, or an adult learner who has been to prison or has had an early family to raise. CC can be an advantage and serve a valuable purpose for many.
The top 30 or 50 schools have how much enrollment exactly? I'd wager the graduating classes at those top 30 combined does not add up to the enrollment at Ohio State alone. Especially if we're talking their grad and professional schools. You're talking about a few thousand people out of 2 million college graduates per year.
You lost your wager. Many of the universities in the top 50 have large enrollments (particularly when one adds graduate students); I'm speaking to about 750,000 to 800,000 (due to some fluctuation in the list year-to-year as well as several 'ties'). I certainly don't know where you're getting your numbers (or why you believe those graduating classes, roughly 25% of the aforementioned, don't add up to the enrollment at Ohio State, lol). Clearly, it's significantly more than a 'few thousand' people (without addressing post-graduate students).
That being said, obviously, it's an elite percentage (relative to highly-paid, competitive fields) and has nothing to do with a (nonexistent) 'stigma' to community college. I am a proponent of education in and of itself, separate from my professional opinion relative to business and law. If one lacks the aptitude or interest in a highly-competitive field (or advanced degree), I actually agree with those who feel community college and then a transfer to a solid four-year school is sufficient/a prudent choice for many people - and not much different than one who immediately enrolls in a middle or upper-tiered four year college, particularly depending upon the department/major. I'm certainly not advocating a degree from Stanford or Harvard for everyone (obviously); I was merely pointing out the reality of highly-competitive, high-paying fields in which the University/quality of education absolutely matters and is reflected in everything from (potential) earnings to the competitiveness of the school itself i.e. extremely low admittance rates across the board and so on.
Last edited by CorporateCowboy; 10-26-2020 at 09:23 PM..
You lost your wager. Many of the universities in the top 50 have large enrollments (particularly when one adds graduate students); I'm speaking to about 750,000 to 800,000 (due to some fluctuation in the list year-to-year as well as several 'ties'). I certainly don't know where you're getting your numbers (or why you believe those graduating classes, roughly 25% of the aforementioned, don't add up to the enrollment at Ohio State, lol). Clearly, it's significantly more than a 'few thousand' people (without addressing post-graduate students).
That being said, obviously, it's an elite percentage (relative to highly-paid, competitive fields) and has nothing to do with a (nonexistent) 'stigma' to community college. I am a proponent of education in and of itself, separate from my professional opinion relative to business and law. If one lacks the aptitude or interest in a highly-competitive field (or advanced degree), I actually agree with those who feel community college and then a transfer to a solid four-year school is sufficient/a prudent choice for many people - and not much different than one who immediately enrolls in a middle or upper-tiered four year college, particularly depending upon the department/major. I'm certainly not advocating a degree from Stanford or Harvard for everyone (obviously); I was merely pointing out the reality of highly-competitive, high-paying fields in which the University/quality of education absolutely matters and is reflected in everything from (potential) earnings to the competitiveness of the school itself i.e. extremely low admittance rates across the board and so on.
Ah. I should have said top 10. Ohio State's enrollment is 66k according to google. The top 10 on the U.S. News list have a total enrollment of about 60k ( I think US News only counts undergrad)
Out of curiosity I added up the enrollment for the top 30 and 50 on U.S. News and the top 30 came out 398,941. It boosts up at about #24 when you start getting the likes of University of Michigan and UCLA. Top 50 adds up to 735,340.
There are around 16-18 million college students so the top 30 represents the top 3%, top 50, 5%. Either way, they represent the elite. Obviously 95% of the rest are going to something lesser.
I suspect there's even more distinction within the list that compresses the higher you go. I've seen a decent number of resumes from some of the ones #'s 30-50, e.g.: University of Illinois or UC Irvine, and they don't seem that much better, if they're better at all, than candidates from schools 100 spots lower, e.g. San Diego State #143 or Louisiana State #153 Or even ones on the regional masters or liberal arts colleges lists. I strongly suspect that there are not that many general differences once you go below #65 or so. But there might be specific stregnths in particular programs.
Incidentally Ohio State clocks in at #53 and so I didn't count it.
Last edited by redguard57; 10-27-2020 at 01:05 AM..
Ah. I should have said top 10. Ohio State's enrollment is 66k according to google. The top 10 on the U.S. News list have a total enrollment of about 60k ( I think US News only counts undergrad)
Out of curiosity I added up the enrollment for the top 30 and 50 on U.S. News and the top 30 came out 398,941. It boosts up at about #24 when you start getting the likes of University of Michigan and UCLA. Top 50 adds up to 735,340.
Yeah, there is a big difference between top ten and top fifty. I didn't actually count them - lol, so I'll take your word for it; but apparently I was spot on when I said 750,000 to 800,000 re: the top 50 (particularly when adding in post-graduate students). As I mentioned, there is fluctuation from year to year as well; Ohio State, UT Austin (an extremely large enrollment) and several CA schools commonly float up or down within. It's not a list set in stone (and I certainly don't have it memorized sequentially, lol); but point being (beyond the fact it's more than a 'few thousand', per your post), the undeniable relevance/correlation of a top-tiered school (graduate degree) to earning potential/success in competitive, high-paying fields. Generally speaking, the lower the acceptance rate, the more the degree speaks to the aforementioned value/edge (and a higher starting salary out of the gate) which is common/critical knowledge to anyone who has applied to a top ten or twenty school and/or has an interest in law, technology, engineering, business (MBA) and so on.
That said, people who attend community college aren't stigmatized; rather, I think there is (fast-becoming) a stigma to (current/recent) high-school graduates who opt not to continue their education in any manner. What worked fifty years ago simply doesn't work anymore; education of any sort is key.
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