How important are grades/accomplishments at the community college level

[haebitchan]

I'm about to be a undergrad senior and within a couple of months, I will be applying to a Ph.D program in literature. I was a community college student and transferred with high grades, along with scholarships and other accolades. But I was wondering how important all these achievements are for graduate school applications. I know that every school has its own criterion and every program handles each case differently. But I want to know at least if the people in the selection committee will consider my CC life, because if not, the only things I can show them is what I did during my Junior year after transfer, which is not a lot. This prospect got me a little worried. Anyways, thanks!

[somethinbruin]

It shouldn't be a problem at all, particularly since you say you transferred good grades from the CC. Admissions committees know that there are a lot of reasons why someone does two years at community college, and if your grades are good they'll assume it was to get pre-reqs done economically before transferring to a 4-year school. This will not be a barrier for your admission, I think.

 

Anecdotally, someone in my current PhD program was admitted after having failed out of an undergrad institution, then largely washed out of a community college. She then worked for a few years, earned a BA from a different 4-year-school, got into a great MA program (despite having to send them her disastrous transcripts from all these schools) and got into another great PhD program (still sending those old transcripts). She just wasn't ready for college at 18, but she was at 24. Committees see these things more than you would think, and they put transcripts in perspective pretty well.

 

In your case, good transcripts are good transcripts. They will not hurt your application. It's good to not have to worry about that, because lord knows the application process gives you enough other things to worry about! Good luck in your application process.

 

One final note: scholarships and accolades generally take a back seat to some other things in PhD applications, primarily research, presentations and publications, all of which seem to be given more weight than awards/scholarships.

[MsDarjeeling]

Your prior years at a community college will not hurt you at all, in fact they will help you because you did well and successfully transferred to a 4 year university.  I also went the community college route and did well, transferred to a 4 year university, and am now in a Master's program.  When I interviewed for my Master's program I was asked about my experiences going from community college to university and why I chose that route.  I was just honest about the fact that it was an extremely affordable option because I wasn't sure what to major in and I didn't want to waste money and space at a university trying to figure it out.  I also emphasized all of the opportunities that were available at the community college including the rigorous coursework, learning outside the classroom (research, seminars, workshops, etc), summer jobs, internships, etc.  Gone are the days when professors assume that a student goes to community college only because they had no other options or lack intelligence.  In fact many universities now are telling prospective freshman to go to a community college first to save money and explore.  So do state your community college accomplishments on your grad school applications.  If a CV is common for your field then be sure to include your community college stuff there too. 

[Rogue856]

I would not worry *at all* if I were you. I left community college, sans diploma and with a 2.6 GPA, after going off and on for 8 years and working. I did really well in my junior/senior years at a 4 year state uni and I got into a fully funded, well-ranked, MA program for this fall. If I can get in despite my terrible CC performance there is no way, at least in my opinion, that your excellent performance could be anything but a plus for your application. I think the only way CC could potentially harm you is if you show a downward trend when you transfer to the four year, and that is clearly not the case for you.