I’m going to Ohlone College because I live, like, three minutes away, and it’s free. I’m going to major in theater arts for transfer, so I can easily transfer to another school for theater. After community college, my plan is to go to UCLA for their bachelor’s degree in theater, and then after that, a grad program in New York City. I’d love to do anything in the entertainment industry. But right now, my dream would be to be doing theater in New York City. I’ve been doing theater my whole life and I feel like if I didn’t go to college for theater, I don’t know what I’d be doing. I literally have nothing else. I love it.

It was an extremely difficult decision to choose community college over a four-year university. I chose it mostly because of COVID. I didn’t want to go to a four-year college and all of a sudden be paying for online school when it’s $60,000 a year so that was one of the main reasons. Also, I want to be able to figure out what I want to do still because I’m not 100% sure so being able to take other classes and be fluid with my major was really important. I knew that Ohlone was really good for that. A benefit of community college is being able to take all kinds of different classes, and in college in general, you can schedule your own classes. Additionally, the cost of community college is a benefit. Going to community college is just a good idea in general because you can switch up your major and it’s not as much of a consequence as it would be at a four-year university.

A disadvantage of going to community college is not getting that freshman year experience. You don’t get the dorms, and you don’t get the parties. You don’t get all that crazy, fun stuff that you would in a four-year but I think it’ll still be pretty fun.

I hope to meet a bunch of new people that I haven’t met, especially in Fremont. I feel like I’ve had one community around me my whole life in Fremont, but meeting all these new people is going to be fun. I hope to gain a lot of learning experience because I feel like before I decided to go to Ohlone, I was scared to go to college, I was like, “It’s gonna be so different.” But now that I’m going to Ohlone, I feel like I have another step before going to a four-year college so it’s not just diving in.

Everyone should consider community college. It’s just what you’re comfortable with and what feels right for you.