Columbia College-Sonora

Columbia is a small, yet amazing campus nestled in the woods. There is a hiking trail/exercise course a couple miles long that goes around the whole campus and there are places to explore such as"The Labyrinth", a natural maze covering acres, comprised predominantly of limestone and granite. Native species live in the pond at center of campus and the biology program often incorporates local flora and fauna into the curriculum. The teachers and staff are very open to new students and helping students obtain their two year degree or professional certification and/or prepare them for a four year university experience. The professors are varied in their teaching styles and you will probably find some you relate to and others you don't. The social scene is medium sized, if you have a particular "clique" you like to associate with, you will probably know 80% of the people in that group after the first couple semesters. The community is large enough though, that unless you are a complete social butterfly, you're going to meet someone new here and there. People are always coming and going and there are a lot of cultural events going on in the area for how small the mountain community is. Theater, dance, live music and political gatherings are somewhat limited but this is also a good place for someone with a dream who doesn't want to deal with too much competition and wants to spread their wings in a more relaxed environment. The area is predominately white and there are some instances of homophobia and racism, but it is shifting so you will see a small showing of ethnic diversity as well as LGBTQ community. Not as culturally enlightened as a more metropolitan area, but I never saw physical violence committed in the way of hate crime. I lived here as a child and then again in college. There is a lot of beautiful wilderness in this area and a lot of good hearted people at middle to low income. It is sort of a middle ground type place, with not a whole lot going for it in any one area, but also not a whole lot wrong with it, either. The school itself has a good fire program and the USFS fire program in the area is also well funded and respected. There are several theaters and the core science programs (physics, biology, chemistry) were well run when I was a student. I felt I received a solid basic education in a fantastic setting. Lots of people from different walks of life, athletes, hippies and party kids, serious students, nature lovers and cowboys and cowgirls. One nice thing about the area is that gang activity is very low, people who form or pretend to be in gangs are treated like a joke, which does a lot for dissuading otherwise impressionable young people from diving deeper into that world of violence and ego.

Its an overall good college, their is much to be done about the majors, since I feel they should add more they have all the classes for a pre-dental program if a student would like to transfer to university. With the small class sizes the teachers really get to know their students and a lot of them make a bond and understand their weakness and strengths.

The actual campus setting is nice, almost like taking classes adjacent to a national park. Class sizes are modest, with a better chance of connecting with the professors. However Columbia needs to work on hiring extra professors for certain subjects, and not hire only adjunct professors. The college also needs to look into student complaints, including maintenance requests: for example numerous students have complained for over a year about study spaces in the library that have non functioning power outlets, the problem has yet to be fixed. Communication between departments and special programs could be better also. Overall, Columbia College is a nice enough campus, but has quite a few issues that probably won't be fixed by the time I graduate in the next year.

I love it! It gives so many oppertunities to students. I was able to start their at 15, while still being able to do high school at the same time. It has opened so many doors for me and my future. I wasn't serious about colleges until I started taking classes here, and talking to professionals at the school.