> Having bright classmates was also a non-factor; in many classes, and particularly STEM classes, you barely interact with classmates. I, on the other hand, ha

> Having bright classmates was also a non-factor; in many classes, and particularly STEM classes, you barely interact with classmates. I, on the other hand, had loads of group projects in my freshman and sophomore years; and as most of us were used to being the top of our class and having to "carry" other team members who weren't invested, we all had a refreshing realization that, "Hey cool -- everyone here is both smart and motivated!" Don't know how different that would have been at community college, but I certainly benefitted from having smart and motivated classmates my first two years of university. > Yes, connections matter, but how often do the connections from freshman or sophomore year matter? The people I met in my hall at the dorm freshman year constituted the core of my friendship group throughout the rest of university; and I'm still in contact with a large number of them. I'd say a larger than average number of that group went on to advanced degrees like PhD or law degrees. Influence matters. Would I have gotten a PhD myself if I had started at community college? Maybe, maybe not: hard to tell. But I am glad that I went all four years. (That said, I only graduated with a single four-digit student loan; those two years would certainly not have been worth a six-digit loan.)