<\/strong>This can be a nice trick depending on the program. \u00a0Equivalent courses are subjective. There is no definitive guide to what classes are \u00a0equivalent \u00a0to another. Go to the \u00a0counseling \u00a0department of the school you are trying to get into and ask. Here is a chart from City College of San Francisco from Spring 2012. YMMV!<\/p>\n ————————————————–<\/p>\n Find a school<\/strong><\/p>\n There are several college systems in the Bay Area. Find the you can actually travel to. For example, I visited Merritt College and realized the 1 1\/2 hr door-to-door commute from San Francisco by bus was a bother. \u00a0Here’s a list of local Community Colleges:<\/p>\n City College of San Francisco<\/a><\/p>\n Peralta Colleges<\/a> \u00a0East Bay<\/p>\n San Mateo Community College District<\/a><\/p>\n Contra Costa Community College District<\/a><\/p>\n Foothill College<\/a><\/p>\n College of Marin<\/a><\/p>\n Chabot College<\/a><\/p>\n There is also the University of California<\/a> system (UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco) and the California State<\/a> \u00a0(San Francisco<\/a>, East Bay<\/a>) \u00a0system. I looked into picking up some Chemistry courses at SF State but the summer Chemistry course was $3,000 and it looked like a bother to apply (I didn’t actually try) so I bagged it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And there’s online courses. Some schools offer intensive classes… like 5-8 weeks long instead of 16 weeks.<\/p>\n ————————————————–<\/p>\n Choose an actual class. <\/strong>This ended up being a multi-step, iterative process for me…<\/p>\n <\/strong>Apply for the school, Find an open class, Find a good professor.<\/strong><\/p>\n Applying for any individual community college in California is easy. Every school system has their own registration system. For example, College of Alameda is part of the Peralta System<\/a>. When you apply at Peralta, they give you an ID you can use at any of the Peralta Schools. \u00a0You will be automatically accepted at any of the community college systems in 1-48 hours. \u00a0I’m registered as a student at most of the Bay Area community colleges.<\/p>\n If you want to see if a class is open or wait-listed or whatnot, you should apply and use the school’s student registration system. For example, the “outward-facing” system at \u00a0Diablo Valley College told me that their Physiology class still had seats available but the student system told me more correctly that the class was full with 10 people on the wait-list.<\/p>\n Often you will find yourself trying to get into an already-full class<\/strong>. If you really want it, talk to the professor. When he says “no”, keep showing up anyway. As other students drop the class in the first 2 weeks, the “no” will turn to a “maybe”. By the 2nd or 3rd week of showing up and showing your true passion<\/em> for the class, you’ll probably (hopefully!) get accepted into the class.<\/p>\n Finding a good professor<\/strong> is a good trick. The quality of professors in the community college system is a mixed bag. You are the only person that can decide if you like a professor. There are innumerable qualities a professor might have that make or break the experience for you. Here are some of the big ones for me:<\/p>\n Attitude. Clarity of expression. Easy to understand accent or tone – if you can’t hear them, you are sunk. \u00a0Cultural differences – if you can relate to a professor’s expressions, you will have an additional learning channel. \u00a0Appropriate amount of collateral material – some professors drown you in materials, some give none. \u00a0Ability to lecture well, ability to answer questions, ability to offer alternate explanations. \u00a0Is the professor watering down the material to make it easier? Does he push you hard? Do you like or resent how they are pushing you?<\/p>\n Ok, so how do you find a good professor? Here is what I do:<\/p>\n Integrate all this info into a best guess. For the summer Human Physiology class I just took, it went like so:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here are good snapshots comparing my two Physiology professors. I spent time in both classes. Guess which teacher I ended up liking better (hint: I believe Professor Niloufari is a great teacher)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n When you are trying to pick up a lot of classes and you aren’t sure which ones you will get into, make a spreadsheet like this to help you. It might seem boring and redundant to copy all the classes from all the schools into a spreadsheet but it was super helpful for me to keep things clear. I made sample plans and my daily schedules with this. With a printout of this in your pocket, you are unstoppable! Good luck to you!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Chem_Anat_Phys_equivalencies.jpg\" "\\"Chem_Anat_Phys_equivalencies\\"")
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