July 18, 2022
All the adventure stories I loved growing up featured little kids taking their destiny into their own hands. Yet when it became time to navigate college on my own, I thought it was unfair to think that I was supposed to be mature enough to navigate college and the rest of my life on my own.
This thought was wrong for two reasons. First of all, part of the reason for going to college was to become mature. Second, you're not supposed to go through this process alone.
For me, the point of writing this down is to remember that I indeed did all this (I have an awful memory), and as a convenient link to share with someone who can benefit from my experience. If you're reading this, I assume you want to walk a similar path as I did.
If your goal is to transfer, checklists will be the essence of your success. Registering and planning courses and all that paperwork stuff was straightforward, but a lot of tedious work. Be prepared to comb through your school website, dive into outdated forum rabbitholes, watch college support videos with tinkly upbeat music that make you cringe. Have a note-taking app open to save info, bookmark the useful links, make a master document for the classes you are required to take, and add a sheet for the classes you want to take. During the month leading up to the start of your semester, check back at your school plan, maybe even obsessively, question everything, look at the degree requirements again, and book a third meeting with a counselor just in case.
Develop a system that works for you. I highly advocate using spreadsheets or something similar to keep track of your academic progress, for everything coursework, opportunities, and contacts. You should strive to be confident in your plan, but always be skeptical, because if you are missing even just one requirement, it can throw you off by a year.
In terms of the specifics, I can only speak to the California state college system, and let me tell you folks, it is fantastically well set up. Be thankful for it, take advantage of it. The important things you should be aware of:
If you're not planning on getting much financial support from parents, you will have to think carefully about money, which is sometimes not very fun to think about. If you do it right though, you can actually be paid to go to community college, which makes thinking about money a lot more fun.
October 1. That's when the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application opens. Mark it on your calendar, set repeat to yearly, no excuses. Is it already past October for you? Fill it now, it's not the end of the world, it's okay, just do it NOW.
As long as you're a student, there's someone out there who would be happy to give money to you. You just have to find it. Check the scholarships page of your community college and see if there is a community fund or scholarship organization in your city.
If you need to make ends meet, get a part-time job, that is truly part-time. I would try to avoid the food industry and other jobs that leave you mentally and physically exhausted afterwards. For me, teaching/tutoring was the best option since I like seeing how kids' weird minds work and it doubles as an extracurricular employers/universities love to see. Your community college probably has a learning center in which you can apply to be a peer tutor.
Club leadership, research, internships. Send an email to every club that interests you the slightest. Ask around alumni and professors to see if any faculty at your school does research. Subscribe to your college's career center newsletter and read through all the bulletin boards. Be proactive, and you're sure to find a productive opportunity you enjoy taking part in. However, don't forget depth over breadth. Do something meaningful, so that having something to write to colleges is more like a bonus, not the sole reason of participating in your extracurricular.
At the end of a productive year, your essays should pretty much write themselves. However, if you abhor writing about yourself, go to an essay-writing workshop hosted by your community college transfer center. UCs and CSUs also have programs to help students transfer, just Google it. Avoid asking only friends and family or even past students about your essays. Your best bet is a professional, an advisor who has helped students write essays for years and know exactly what universities are looking for, and can help you weave your story into the language admission officers like.
I think it's important to consider what your motivation is for doing all this. Is it because you feel like it's what you're expected to do? Imagine you do transfer to your target school. What are your goals after you reach that point?
While school is a safe investment in your future, it's not the only way to go places. I could have gotten a license in real estate or done freelance coding and lived a stable life without putting myself through years of school to get an overpriced piece of paper with my name on it.
For me, I realized there are many things I want to experience that I can't feasibly be exposed to outside of a university environment. For that, I gladly invested all of my energy into ensuring I would have that opportunity.