On-campus Mt. SAC college classes will start on Monday, January 12th, with students across all grades getting for these respective courses.
Some students are expecting to learn a lot this semester while also trying to have a good schedule.
Ethan Tran, a senior at MECA, said, “I’m expecting to learn a lot this semester, but most of all, I’m trying to relax because this is my senior year.”
However, the college class list may not be the same as last year due to various reasons.
“Last year, we offered anthropology one for the science requirement, but this semester we’re offering BIO 20 instead. That’s just due to a professor scheduling situation.”
Classes offered are selected by the administration team, making a request to Mt. SAC.
Maria Haro, the college counselor, said, “Your administration team has the ability to go through the list of general education requirements, and they submit requests to Mt. SAC that they want these classes offered here at MECA for dual enrollment.”
Despite the difference in classes from last year, some students plan on making better study habits for themselves. Tran believes that reflections could be key to success in future college classes due to prior ones.
“Music 15 was a very interesting course,” Tran admits, “but I kind of forgot everything…and I feel like I could have done a reflection on the class. You write it down after every semester, so you know what you’ve learned, and you keep it in your memory.”
This approach helped him overcome special admit classes like the Calculus series, which have been notorious.
“Every time I finish the course,” he explained, “I write down whatever I remember, and it kind of helps, and I passed Calc 3 with an A because I wrote down what I remembered and that prepared me really well.”
Another approach that could be helpful for some students entering a college class would be to see how that class could help them.
“I think they would want to know how it is that the particular class can help them in the future,” Haro said. “Not only understanding our general education, how that applies to your future bachelor’s journey, but also making sure that they are able to balance those classes.”
Haro encourages students who are confused about college to come meet with her for any questions that may arise from this second semester or in the future.
“Come meet with me,” Haro said, “so you can have an understanding of: Why am I taking these classes? How will they help me in the future? Where are they going to be accepted? How would they transfer over to a college? How much time can it save me? What can I do to pass these classes, or what’s a good balance? We can always have that conversation.”
