“After graduation, some students have a plan. Some decide to live day by day and others just drift. There are so many things you have to think about if you want to go to college. What if you don’t have a car? Do you want to ride the bus? No. There is this little thing in your head named pride. Do your parents want to buy you a car? Maybe. Maybe you should work, save to get a car, then go to school. Do you know what classes to take? Maybe. Do you know what you want to do with yourself? No. But you have an idea of what’s your snitch in life. You know, what gets you going. Your thing.
Don’t feel left out just because everyone went ahead with college and you’re at home watching “Ren & Stimpy.” It might not happen right after graduation, but if you stay determined, you can make it happen.
There’s a lot of things that can get in the way. First you go out and have fun the night before you enroll. The next day, you don’t want to get up. Or you forget or simply procrastinate. But you drag yourself out of bed, even though you’re kind of late. You have the nerve to go up to the school in sweats and a T-shirt. You get there, only to see those same high school kids you thought you would get away from.
And you probably need financial aid, so you have to stand in a long line, which means you have more time to observe the place, see former boyfriends and girlfriends that you don’t really want to see, and that administrator who just gave you the wrong directions to the office.
Well, don’t get discouraged. You’ll enjoy taking the classes you want to take, at the times you have chosen. College, even junior college, gives you more flexibility and control than you had in high school.
Don’t be late in registering for classes
Schools such as Santa Monica College, West Los Angeles and El Camino are considered to to be three of the best. But they’re crowded, so you have to be prompt to get the classes you want.
When I went to Santa Monica College to pick my classes, I entered the main office off of Pico Blvd. Turned out I was in the wrong place. The secretary nicely said, “The counseling office is on the south side of campus. Bye bye now.” Since I parked on Pico, I had to tra-la-la a whole mile, through the bungalows, the theater, the pool and grassy plains. I was thinking, is this worth it just to take anthropology and photography? But I kept going, and finally spoke with a counselor who told me about all the excellent classes they have, such as philosophy, history and African art and dance. But when I went to see which classes were still available, I just stared at the board of classes that had been picked, cut and closed. I tried to register too late.
Santa Monica College is one of the popular few that you definitely have to catch early. The staff of the school is excellent, but it’s a must that you reserve your classes as if you were in a four-star restaurant. Otherwise, you will be stuck with no luck and no classes.
This semester I’m taking speech and I’m hoping to get into a screenwriting class. I have to wait and see if anyone drops the class, then I can get in. I really like it. College is a diversion from everything. There’s different types of people. No one worries what you have on, who you are, what high school you came from, or anything like that. The former high school classmates I do see are motivated. They have a mission, somewhere to go. That makes me feel good, because I’ve got somewhere to go, too.”