Best community college in San Diego? (Oceanside, Santa Monica: sales, credit, transferring to)

[mrgrape]

I was wondering what the best community college was in San Diego
I heard MiraCosta's accredation program has recetnly sunk down due to teachers selling school property and education not up to par

Also that Mesa is the best social c.c but
im looking for a C.C that has really good transfer rates to a UC and a place near good areas
thanks!

[mrgrape]

[Nick682]

I have been to Miramar and honestly, I felt like I was going to school in a parking lot, very little character. Some of the teachers were okay. I had one teacher though, that should have been fired. I regret not saying something to the school board. It was a humanities class and "no joke" the guy or should I say she, talked nothing but about his sex change operation for the first four classes. It was unbelievable he just went on and on about every detail. After the fourth class I just dropped, so weird. So I don't like Miramar at all. Never been to Mesa, heard some good things, but I've also heard it's a zoo, and hard to get into some classes.

Palomar has high ratings, but there are a lot of second language speakers and the campus is hot and in a crummy little valley with little scenery, but it's better than Miramar for sure. I went to Santa Monica Community College and it's rated as one of the best in the state. I thought Mira Costa was the best community college I've been to out of all of them. You will get some snotty bratty kids there, especially at the San Elijo campus but most are pretty cool and friendly. The majority of my teachers there were really good, although I did have one or two dud's. I think the campus is by far the best in SD.

The Oceanside campus always has cool breezes from the ocean and it's very nice for a community college, with awesome views of the ocean on the NW side. The library and computer centers are very nice and they have great free tutoring services too. I really liked it there, and I will always see it as my favorite. Same with the San Elijo campus, it's really nice and right by the ocean, never crowded, which I really liked. I just finished my last semester at the San Elijo campus, I started going there exclusively in the end because I liked it so much. Now I am transferring to WWU in WA, as a Bio major. But yeah-- both Mira Costa campuses are great, I've had the best teachers I've ever had at Mira Costa, even better than Santa Monica. I will always have great memories of that college, so I think thats where you should go.

[mrgrape]

wow thanks NICK that was like the best reply ever
bc uve been to santa monica but still liked mira costa better
my mom also told me that i should go to mira costa
its just that i heard last year some bad incidents happened or some sort
whatever i think im gonna go to mira costa for the first 2 years and then transfer!
thanks man!

[NYSD1995]

They're all the same. In terms of academics, none is "better" than any other. Choose the school that has the classes you need to take and is convenient to you. The point of JC is to get through it as fast as possible so you can go to big boy college. Don't get caught up in the "social scene" at JC... save that for the 4-year school.

[LoneStarJerry]

Originally Posted by Nick682

Palomar has high ratings, but there are a lot of second language speakers and the campus is hot and in a crummy little valley with little scenery, but it's better than Miramar for sure.

Scenery?

I mean sure it's nice if it's there, but the important thing is a quality education. Palomar is a fine college, one of the best community colleges in the county.

If someone is looking for cool breezes and great scenery then go to the beach, but I would hope someone doesn't put those things as first priorities when it comes to choosing their college. I don't think someone could go wrong with Mira Costa or Palomar. I don't know much about the others.

[mrgrape]

Scenery and location wise I would prefer the atmosphere of OB or PB but education is more important

the only thing im a little weary of mira costa is
MiraCosta's accreditation status in danger : North County Times - Californian (http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/02/09/news/coastal/21_26_742_8_08.txt - broken link)
i dont want to go there for 2 years and after that be told their not accreddited and cant transfer

[jksouthbay88]

Not SWC.Go there and it is not that great.Maybe Mesa,City,and Grossmont.

[TristramShandy]

The nickname (sort of tongue-in-cheek) for MiraCosta is "the Harvard of community colleges". It gets that reputation because of the professors' salaries - - the average MiraCosta professor salary is the highest of any community college in the nation - - by a mile (I think it is $18,000 over the second place school! ).

I've taught at both MiraCosta and Palomar, and I've had students at MiraCosta who already had their acceptance letters to Penn, Purdue, and NYU as well as more "local" schools like USC and UCSD. The San Elijo students drive better cars than I do, so they may not be the "normal" community college students, but even many of my non-traditionals have gone on to 4-year schools. The reputation of MiraCosta in SoCal is very good. I'm not sure if the accreditation issue is affecting that or not, but historically, MiraCosta has been a springboard to the full universities.

[Nick682]

Originally Posted by mrgrape

wow thanks NICK that was like the best reply ever
bc uve been to santa monica but still liked mira costa better
my mom also told me that i should go to mira costa
its just that i heard last year some bad incidents happened or some sort
whatever i think im gonna go to mira costa for the first 2 years and then transfer!
thanks man!

You're welcome, I've been in the JC scene for a while so when I saw your post I had to respond.

I haven't had any problems with any of my transfer classes, but I'm sure the counselors can answer those questions. Also, you may want to talk with a counselor from the college you plan to attend to make sure that all of the classes at Mira Costa are transferable. My experience at Mira Costa was great, my uncle who is now the VP for airtime sales at the Discovery Channel, went to Mira Costa, and he loved it. He speaks very fondly of it, and he graduated from Pepperdine. Also, I read the article, but from what I understand about it, it just means that if they lost their accreditation, "which I highly doubt will happen". You will not be able to attend any longer, and in that case you will just need to go somewhere else. I don't think it means that all the classes you took will be invalid, I imagine that they would be warning all the students if that was the case, and I have received no such warning. I'm sure the counselors will clear any of your concerns though, have fun. Don't pay attention to Sassaberto, he just wants to disagree with me, because me and him have disagreed many times in the past--childish, I know.