Reviews

How much you learn here is completely up to you. Your schedule is created by you; this makes it easy to find a way for college to fit your life, but also to allow yourself to slack. Pima Community College is not a huge step from high school but a perfect transition into a university due to it's smaller class sizes and because the staff wants to see you succeed. With this being said, the more interaction with my teachers that I receive here at Pima allows me to learn all the information they are teaching me, and to understand my assignments instead of struggling though them confused.

I am enjoying being here at Pima Community College because it is very close to home, but even if it weren't I am still meeting plenty of new people not only around Tucson, but also from around the world. I like this school because it isn't exceedingly hard that I would want to drop out like most university students, but in face it makes me work harder to earn excelling grades.

At Pima Community College the teachers are extremely qualified and teach you personally. You can get a great education here, and join many of the programs they offer, such as the medical center, for a tuition less than half of what an university charges. And since the schedule creation is in your hands, you can transfer or earn your associates degree in record timing by taking full time credit hours.

A very important tip for prospective students is to not let yourself slack. In a college it is up to you to get your work done. Some of your teachers at Pima will encourage you and remind you to an extensive level what assignments are due and win, but there are some that leave it all up to you to keep track of your syllabus or the online announcements. Time management will make your college career much more simpler, and planners or simply writing down all your assignments and due dates ahead of time will really help you.

Pima Community College is great for students that want to earn their associates degree or simply transfer to a university, because the tuition is affordable and the teaching is personal with small class sizes. Transfer students can save thousands of dollars by attending Pima and avoiding freshman and sophomore high university tuition costs.

From normal school stuff (academics) to abnormal (Powerpoint, Excel, Word tricks) to local (stuff about Tucson) to just plain fun (I took a class called Defensive Tactics for Law Enforcement), I have learned a lot at Pima. It is very easy to find a quite spot to study and read, and there are plenty of computers to do research on if the you need them.

Smaller campuses that are (for the most part) secluded on the edges of town and have the desert right within them, Pima is a very nice place to be. The teachers, since they have fewer students to deal with, are very personal and greet you semesters after you take their class. The other students you see also are very friendly, and there are several free clubs to join, depending on your interests.

Put simply: Pima costs about $55 per credit hour (as of fall 2009).
Parking is free.
Tutoring help is free.
The clubs are free.
Most events that come with food only cost $5.

Check Pima out before you graduate. If you live in Tucson, you might even be able to register as a student before you graduate. That gives you a huge boost in enrolling for classes since you will not be a New Student the fall semester.
Talk to the advisers. They are very helpful and friendly. Try to get the same one each time.
Check out the scholarships that Pima offers. There are lots of them.

Since Pima is much smaller than the University of Arizona, it is great for those students who come from smaller schools or who were homeschooled (like me). Also, since Pima has lots of night/weekend/at-your-own-pace classes, it is great for people who have to work full time or have kids.

The teachers are great, as long as you keep up with the homework there never is problems!

Everyone on campus is friendly, and you get to meet a lot of new people.

It is a wonderful choice, especially if you can't afford much alone, all my teachers have been UofA teachers and even the Pima teachers are great. Since there are many campuses, you don't have to live in a specific area in order to attend school, they provide for you by having varities of schools all over tucson. Same with the times, I've taken classes bright shining early to late evening and they all work well for me.

If you have a specific goal in mind, and they happened to have your major at Pima it's a great choice! If you don't know what you want to do, you might be behind a semester or two because the classes go by too quickly to figure it out while everyone else is working on their majors!

So certain classes have more 'learning' being done than others, if you really care about learning vs getting the easy A, you can just check rateyourprofessor.com. Most of the prerequisite teachers understand that they are just a class that most people don't want to take so they teach the basics. While the actual classes like the Respiratory, Computer Graphics, Psychology classes have really nice teachers who teach well.

It's so different from high school, the campus is nice, the wild animals that some times show up are pretty cool. The food is wonderful for being so cheap. They have a nice Ramada outside where you can just hang out with friends.

As someone said before it's $55ish per credit. If you get financial aid AND go full time here, you will still have a lot of money left over after paying classes, and buying books. Free tutoring, free WIFI, free Foosball table (lol)

Definitely try financial aid, go to an adviser your first semester to help set you up. And join a club, its fun!

Great for students who need the mornings off, and can only go to school at night, who don't want to pay a lot, and want to learn a lot.

I love there classes here. I go to the downtown campus and have also done plenty of online classes. So what you need to know before you start is to have some kind of idea of what you want to major and minor in. This is super helpful because while going to PCC you should take classes that are specific to that course. Some general ed classes aren't necessary with some majors you might want to take.

The campus is super beautiful and has an amazing library. It's not nearly as big as the UofA's library but it is more comfy and cheerful. The staff at PCC is super helpful and nice. Helpful tip: Sit at the diner looking booths in the library. Not only is it super cool, but the seats are really comfy.

So if you decide to go to PCC first, before you head off to an university lots of props to you. Not only is it more economically smart but you can get done faster that way. So well at Pima take your general ed for the major you want to take. This is better then doing it at the university because not only will it be a WHOLE lot cheaper but you have smaller classes that will be more focused and student- teacher relations are better.

STUDY. I know college is a party place, but you have to study at least two hours a day if you want to make it. You will still have time to relax and hangout, trust me. Rent your text books from chegg. It's a lot cheaper then buying your books and chegg will plant a tree anywhere in the world with every rental purchase which is pretty sweet.

Pima Community College is great for any type of student really. From young to old you can find it at PCC. They have a multitude of campuses all over Tucson and offer online classes so you can have a flexible schedule for work. Don't forget to check out the library at the down town campus. :)