Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Another data point.

I went to a community college (Modesto Junior College, to be specific) because my parents couldn't afford state college. I noticed that most people treated it like High School II, but that seemed more because those are mostly (not all) the kinds of people who ended up there. It seemed most of the ones with goals (or money, or parental encouragement) ended up at "real" college.

I applied to a college and got in, but knew for a while that I'd be going to community college due to our financial situation. I'm mostly black, but also part Native American and Mexican but didn't apply for any scholarships or student loans. I guess it was a pride thing to my parents. Knowing what I know now, I probably would have.

Sure, at the community college I went to you could say that classes were full and give just about any other reason for not making it through, but if you look for an excuse you'll always find one. I started taking classes in the summer two weeks after finishing high school. I took around twice the full-time student workload, but the following summer I finished the two year's worth of prerequisites needed to transfer.

I transferred to a local state college (Cal State Stanislaus) and earned my BA with honors a little over a year later. The whole degree took about 2.5 years from high school (summer 2003) to graduating (winter 2005) and this includes taking off one whole summer to work. I had the financial pressure. I was constantly told by my mom that she my not be able to afford to keep sending me to college, but luckily I finished before the money ran out. But even if the financial pressure wasn't there, I think I would have worked hard anyway. It's in my nature.

It is what you make of it. I know it sounds silly, but I haven't found one situation in my life that I couldn't influence or over come if I worked hard enough.




>but if you look for an excuse you'll always find one

Then why does the program described in the article work?

>It is what you make of it. I know it sounds silly, but I haven't found one situation in my life that I couldn't influence or over come if I worked hard enough.

It does sound silly -- and the program described in the article undermines this idea in general. Or were you just bragging?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: