I don't regret my choice in choosing to attend a community college after graduating high school.
I am from a small farm town in Iowa and graduated with less than 60 people. I had classroom sizes that averaged 20 students.
Having the same amount in college was nice and made me feel like I was in high school again. The smaller class size helped to build relationships with the professors, so we had the opportunity of knowing each other one on one, rather attending a university where you could be 1 in 100 students and barely get the chance to meet or even talk with your professor besides emailing them.
One of the best relationships that was built during my college days was with my business professor. He was a fantastic instructor and you could tell that he truly cared that his students were achieving their dreams and had an interest in what he was teaching.
He made class times fun and entertaining but helped us learn life long skills.
The coolest professor and I during the study abroad trip to Denmark.Megan Martin.
During my freshman year, I had the opportunity to continue dancing. I took the chance and tried out. Lucky enough, I made it and danced on the school's dance team. It was fun being a part of a team again and dancing. I got to go to state dance another year and compete.
We competed at another competition, danced at basketball games and had a showcase at the end to show off all of our routines we created during that season. I loved the girls I met and got to dance with, but in the end, it wasn't the best experience, so I didn't continue on after that.
My dance squad at Kirkwood.Megan Martin.
After my second year at community college, I got the opportunity to go on a study abroad trip to Denmark. Thanks to my family and professor's persuasion, I got to go. It was the best two weeks and new connections were made.
We spent a week in Roskilde working on a marketing project with some Danish students and explored the old capital of Denmark. The second week we stayed in Copenhagen and explored the beautiful city.
I wish I took the opportunity to extend my stay and even travel around Europe a little. I hope you take the chance to take a study abroad trip because amazing memories are made that last a lifetime, and it's a great experience to share for future employment opportunities.
The group that went on the study abroad trip to Denmark.Megan Martin.
With all the positive experiences I had while attending community college, the only negative thing was not building friendships as easily as you would at a university. At my school, students lived in apartments around campus, where at most universities you live in dorms.
I envied my friends who stayed in dorms because that is where you meet the majority of your friends and have that access to numerous people to build new relationships with. Living in an apartment was a little harder for me, and it seemed like I only met new people at parties or in my classes.
But to the people I did meet create friendships with, you rock and are amazing!
Going to community college right after high school was the best decision for me academically and financially. I had a sense of what I wanted to get my degree in but was not entirely set on something.
I don't understand why someone would want to go to a university right away and spend four times the amount I did if they were undeclared.
Maybe it was because their parents were paying for them, but for me, I am solely responsible for paying for college so that's why I chose to go to a community college first and then be able to transfer into a university to get my Bachelor's degree.
