This evening at the local convenience store I was talking to the clerk about his educational plans (He started working right out of HS but plans to start taking CC courses in the fall. I think he's a pretty smart guy. His favorite subjects were History, Physics, and Algebra. He's interested in politics.) I said that that's a smart way to start, since he can take gen eds and he isn't sure yet what he'd want to major in. (We've had this conversation before. He's a great guy, and I want to encourage him. :) ) A woman who looked to be in her late 30s joined the conversation. She told me that the HS in her town had advised her that if your income was low, it was a good idea to start at the local CC. (Apparently her FAFSA EFC was $5K.)
She told me that he kid was very smart, and could have graduated from HS--where he was never challenged--at 15, but he decided to stay in HS and take college courses (probably some kind of dual enrollment at the local branch of the U Maine system or online) because he didn't want to go to college at that age, and didn't want to take time off. He was third in his class. She was under the impression that "you had to know people" to get into Bowdoin. She seemed like someone that was likely a teen mother, single, very nice but unsophisticated in these matters.
She said that she tried to persuade her S to go to SMCC, but he insisted on Orono. (Thank doG!) I told her that I thought it would have been ridiculous for a kid like hers to be taking classes at SMCC, where most of the students are either people who couldn't hack it in HS or non-traditional students like our mutual friend. Who would tell a kid who was third in the class and had already been taking college courses to go to our very undistinguished CC? (This is NOT like a CA CC that offers things like multivariable calculus where smart kids who outgrew their HS take courses.)
I told her about NPCs, and that often the most selective schools have the best FA, and that it was cheaper for my kid to go to Dartmouth than it would have been for him to go to Orono. She had no idea.
What the hell kind of advice are people getting out there? This drives me crazy.
This is why CC is such a valuable resource.
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