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So don't go into student debt. Go to your local community college and then transfer somewhere affordable. I've now worked with grads from all over the place. I

So don't go into student debt. Go to your local community college and then transfer somewhere affordable. I've now worked with grads from all over the place. I honestly can't tell the difference.

nunez 9y ago
There are a LOT of factors that you're not considering with that statement. For some (many?), the decision isn't that easy. Here's why: - Are you going to college to escape a really bad situation at home? - Are you going to college because your local community college isn't good at preparing you for a four-year college and has a bad/incompatible atmosphere? - Are you going to college because you'll be ostracized by your family (that you love very much) if you don't, even if you (or they) can't afford it? - Are you going to college because the study that you feel is your life calling can only properly begin at a reputable four year?
- dkarapetyan 9y ago
  I don't get what point you are making. How is any of what you said reason to go into huge debt?
  - wmichelin 9y ago
    Agreed, sounds like this person is trying to make excuses for themselves or something.
  - nunez 9y ago
    because sometimes you do whatever you can to get out of a bad situation, even if it means taking on student loan debt but clearly you've never had to deal with that; be fortunate for that
- wmichelin 9y ago
  At the end of the day, you will be the one in debt. It's your own stupid fault for giving into those pressures if they're exerted upon you. You shouldn't buy something you can't afford, no matter what. If you choose to, you are responsible for the consequences. That's all.
  - nunez 9y ago
    just be glad you've never been in that situation
Y7ZCQtNo39 9y ago
Some curriculum is specialized from the get-go. I don't think I wouldn't been able to get the same quality introductory foundational computer science courses -- into to programming, data structures & algorithms, & object-oriented programming at a community college. Possible observation bias, but a generalized community college education will only take out liberal arts classes. And you weren't spending those semesters building up your hard skills necessary for industry. For a bachelor's, that would leave you with just 2 years to really refine the craft. And I think most people need 4 years of academic programming experience before going into industry. You need to see enough and have established a basic level of experience to make quality judgment calls when working on enterprise software.
- austenallred 9y ago
  Community college is a great way to get the stuff that won't ever affect your career out of the way. If you want to go to a top engineering college it's pretty insane to keep paying $20k/semester for the mediocre liberal arts portion as well.
  - dkarapetyan 9y ago
    Exactly. The lower division requirements can be done at any community college and they are on average much better taught at a community college than a research university.
- omegaham 9y ago
  Community college alum here, currently going into my senior year at a 4-year university. CC CS classes were clown-shoes. The math and physics classes were excellent, but the CS classes were not on par with the expectations that most 4-year colleges have for upper-division classes. That being said, it was still a very good deal for me; I'd been tinkering with programming for ~8 years by the time that I went to school, and self-study easily got me up to speed. Thus, I took my freshman and sophomore classes for less than half of what it would have cost at a 4-year university. --- Portland State does a proficiency demo for CC transfers with basic data structures questions, (linked lists, binary trees, recursion, etc). If you don't pass, you don't get into the upper-division classes. It's a bloodbath every single year. You don't have much of an excuse to fail, either - they give a description of everything that they will test you on more than a month before the demo[1]. [1] https://www.scribd.com/document/351661090/PSU-Proficiency-Exam-Application-Process-8-16 https://www.scribd.com/document/351661090/PSU-Proficiency-Ex...

So don't go into student debt. Go to your local community college and then transfer somewhere affordable. I've now worked with grads from all over the place. I honestly can't tell the difference.

nunez 9y ago

There are a LOT of factors that you're not considering with that statement. For some (many?), the decision isn't that easy. Here's why: - Are you going to college to escape a really bad situation at home? - Are you going to college because your local community college isn't good at preparing you for a four-year college and has a bad/incompatible atmosphere? - Are you going to college because you'll be ostracized by your family (that you love very much) if you don't, even if you (or they) can't afford it? - Are you going to college because the study that you feel is your life calling can only properly begin at a reputable four year?

dkarapetyan 9y ago
I don't get what point you are making. How is any of what you said reason to go into huge debt?
- wmichelin 9y ago
  Agreed, sounds like this person is trying to make excuses for themselves or something.
- nunez 9y ago
  because sometimes you do whatever you can to get out of a bad situation, even if it means taking on student loan debt but clearly you've never had to deal with that; be fortunate for that
wmichelin 9y ago
At the end of the day, you will be the one in debt. It's your own stupid fault for giving into those pressures if they're exerted upon you. You shouldn't buy something you can't afford, no matter what. If you choose to, you are responsible for the consequences. That's all.
- nunez 9y ago
  just be glad you've never been in that situation

Y7ZCQtNo39 9y ago

Some curriculum is specialized from the get-go. I don't think I wouldn't been able to get the same quality introductory foundational computer science courses -- into to programming, data structures & algorithms, & object-oriented programming at a community college. Possible observation bias, but a generalized community college education will only take out liberal arts classes. And you weren't spending those semesters building up your hard skills necessary for industry. For a bachelor's, that would leave you with just 2 years to really refine the craft. And I think most people need 4 years of academic programming experience before going into industry. You need to see enough and have established a basic level of experience to make quality judgment calls when working on enterprise software.

austenallred 9y ago
Community college is a great way to get the stuff that won't ever affect your career out of the way. If you want to go to a top engineering college it's pretty insane to keep paying $20k/semester for the mediocre liberal arts portion as well.
- dkarapetyan 9y ago
  Exactly. The lower division requirements can be done at any community college and they are on average much better taught at a community college than a research university.
omegaham 9y ago
Community college alum here, currently going into my senior year at a 4-year university. CC CS classes were clown-shoes. The math and physics classes were excellent, but the CS classes were not on par with the expectations that most 4-year colleges have for upper-division classes. That being said, it was still a very good deal for me; I'd been tinkering with programming for ~8 years by the time that I went to school, and self-study easily got me up to speed. Thus, I took my freshman and sophomore classes for less than half of what it would have cost at a 4-year university. --- Portland State does a proficiency demo for CC transfers with basic data structures questions, (linked lists, binary trees, recursion, etc). If you don't pass, you don't get into the upper-division classes. It's a bloodbath every single year. You don't have much of an excuse to fail, either - they give a description of everything that they will test you on more than a month before the demo[1]. [1] https://www.scribd.com/document/351661090/PSU-Proficiency-Exam-Application-Process-8-16 https://www.scribd.com/document/351661090/PSU-Proficiency-Ex...