Santa Barbara City College (Santa Barbara, CA)
Parent Q&A
Parent Reviews
Parents, please Sign in to post a review on this page.My son went to SBCC and had a very good experience. When he graduated from high school, he had been accepted to a few four year schools, but was on the fence about going and I was questioning if he should even go to college at all. SBCC was recommended to us by a few people, and he was open to going for a year. He ended up staying for two years (plus summer classes) and was able to transfer to Arizona State University where he is currently a senior. When he was at SBCC two of his professors also taught at UC Santa Barbara and taught great classes. I am sure there are more that teach at both schools. They do have an honors program and offer a lot of support with transferring and transfer agreements. My nephew also attended SBCC about 10 years ago and transferred to UC Berkeley. As a bonus, it's a very pretty campus by the ocean, lots of clubs and activities for students to get involved in and of course, it's such a great value. One of my co-workers has a daughter who went there and also had a positive experience. Good luck with your decision!
Archived Q&A and Reviews
Aug 2013
RE: Community Colleges with Dormitories
Just wanted to correct something in your post. You wrote, ''Santa Barbara City College has student dormitories that provide a wonderful living experience, including providing students an opportunity to mingle with UCSB students.'' Unfortunately, like most community colleges in the state, SBCC does not have dorms for students. There are apartments in Isla Vista with SBCC and UCSB students living in them. They're privately owned. SBCC doesn't supervise students and is not responsible for the residents. I would send only a very mature teenager to live in Isla Vista. It's at least 10 miles from SBCC so that in itself is an impediment to getting to classes. And Isla Vista is truly a partying place. I'm all for kids having fun but IV is over the top. There are some privately owned places in Santa Barbara proper - probably a better choice and way closer to SBCC. The California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office website lists the handful of community colleges in California that have their own housing for students here: http://www.cccco.edu/CommunityColleges/CollegeHousing.aspx Hope you find the right school for your teenager - and housing! Dana
No, not specifically Santa Barbara, but I do take classes at Contra Costa College and they have an amazing system set up to ensure kids get what they need and an aggressive set of meetings to help them make the transfer to a UC. My friend's son xferred from Berkeley City College to UC Davis this year and is doing brilliantly. You DO have to be aggressive about your class registration date -- when you find out when it is, you park yourself on your computer and register that night (it's usually at 9pm for some reason? who knows.) And it'd be gorgeous to live in Santa Barbara for two years, I'd do it.
The interesting thing about SBCC is that they have the dorms - that gives him the opportunity to have a more “regular “ college experience there, which virtually no other community college does. (Our daughter almost went there; she ultimately decided on another community college, and is now here at Cal - she was accepted at all 6 UC’s she applied to - not using TAG). One of my worries was that UCSB, which the SBCC students live very close to, is a real “party school”, even now...SBCC has a great reputation for the quality of their education, among CC’s. If he enrolls in TAG (Transfer Admission Guarantee), and maintains good grades, he’ll be guaranteed admission at one of the UC’s (excluding UCB and UCLA, which don’t participate). He’ll be guided into the right courses to meet the A - G (IIRC) class requirements. I’m sure there’d be a huge pipeline to UCSB, should he enjoy SB. I know nothing about sports there, but can’t imagine there wouldn’t be plenty of other like-minded kids to play with. I’d definitely encourage it!