By SANJIT DEEPALAM
Staff Writer
In March, high school students will be able to learn more about local community colleges Irvine Valley College (IVC) and Orange Coast College (OCC).
IVC Preview Day will be on March 3, followed by OCC Preview Day on March 10.
These days will give high school students a chance to tour the college campuses, interact with students and become familiar with the departments at the schools.
A significant portion of University High School’s graduating class each year goes to community college.
In the 2014 graduating year, 34% of all graduating students chose to go to community college.
Many students choose this path to save money during the first two years of higher education.
They hope to later transfer to a four- year university.
About 100 students are expected to take part in the IVC Preview Day and about 30 students are expected to take part in the OCC Preview Day.
Ms. Emily Pennington (College and Career Center) said that, aside from offering different programs, OCC and IVC mainly differ in size; OCC is much larger than IVC, with more opportunities and programs.
However, there is a downside to its size as well.
According to Pennington, classes at OCC are often too large and students need to work harder to get attention.
Pennington also pointed out that “it requires a lot of initiative on the students’ part to stay on track to get a degree or transfer to a four-year institution.”
Furthermore, transferring to a four-year university is not as easy as it once was.
To learn more about the IVC and OCC Preview Days, visit the College and Career Center.