For Michael Zarzosa, a biology major at Lamar University, community college offered an opportunity to ease back in to higher education.
Zarzosa describes his first stint in community college immediately after high school as “not quite successful.” He had a different mentality then and was trying to balance too many competing concerns.
After several years in the workforce in Southern California, he began taking a few classes at a community college “simply for self-edification. I went because I wanted to learn some things.” That experience provided a smooth transition and a head start on his degree program when he enrolled full time at Lamar University a few years later as a biology major with the ultimate goal of earning a doctor of veterinary medicine and Ph.D. in public health.
Lamar’s admissions staff made transferring easy, he said, evaluating his transcript for classes that met Texas core curriculum requirements and informing him of necessary steps in the application process.
“I think a community college is a nice stepping stone. It bridges that gap between high school and the university,” Zarzosa said. “I came (to Lamar) knowing what I wanted and knowing I was at a time in my life where I didn’t have a chance to goof off or to mess around. I had to be focused.”
Filed under Success By Degrees