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by CalRobert 2714 days ago
Thank you!!!

I spent way too long getting a useless degree in physics at Cal Poly SLO. They wouldn't let you switch majors (because every 17 year old knows what they want to do with their life) but it turns out changing schools is tough when your grades show you've hated your major the last 2 years.

The best thing I EVER did was sign up for classes at Santa Monica College after getting my Bachelor's. They're fantastic - this was a while back, but offering everything from Assembly to Android Dev and having great profs who actually listened to you was fantastic. I can't praise that school highly enough.

Funny enough, my wife and I both took German from _the same professor at the same time_. But I did it at SMC at night for basically free (I think $140 or so), and she paid a couple grand for the privilege at UCLA.

Community Colleges also don't destroy young lives with crushing debt that can never be discharged. We should be encouraging them and end with the cargo cult that is "everyone should go to a 4 year university"

2 comments

It’s not impossible to switch majors at CP SLO. My wife was a physics major at CalPoly SLO until she got tired of being the only girl in all her classes and switched to biochem.
Sorry to hear that. It was a big issue when I was there (mid 2000's). Not particularly friendly folks either. I hung out with music majors as much as I could
Thank you for this post! I just moved to Santa Monica from the NYC metro area and I've been looking for a place to take classes.
At least around 2010, SMC was fantastic!