Northern Virginia Community College Top Questions

What is the stereotype of students at your school? Is this stereotype accurate?

Antonio

The stereotype NOVA student is generally a loser. Someone who couldn't make it, or someone too poor to afford university. However, this stereotype is not true usually. There are people who fall into that category, but we have a lot of smart people who move on, or get the skills they need to land a job without a full undergrad degree.

Allison

I am an online student going to a community college in a very diverse part of the country, I don't think any one stereotype applies in this case.

Hilary

There really is no stereotype at our school. Kids there face the same challenges as the rest which is figuring out ways to pay for their tuition and their books. From what I have seen we all have a common goal and that is to graduate and continue on to a four year university. So if I had to say something our stereotype would be we all have the same goals and are goal hungry for success and striving for excellence in our studies and yes that would be accurate.

Stephanie

I am not sure if there is a stereotype and if so what it is.

Robbie

The stereotype consists of aimless high school graduates taking the easy route. Certainly, you can find that stereotype quite readily, but you can also find diligent students who are there to waste anymore time.

Juan

They are friendly students.

Monica

That the campus has mostly Asian students. I believe that this campus in particular is heavily Asian populated.

Erika

NVCC is a mix of young adults unsure of their major and mature adults attending college to change or advance their skill set.

Colleen

Northern Virginia Community College is very diverse, and I honestly can't say there's any particular trend or stereotype. I'm one of the older students on the Alexandria campus and enjoy the diversity of ethnicities, age, jocks, geeks, etc.

Sarah

Most of the students want to transfer to a 4-year university after completing undergrad classes affordably at a community college. This is accurate, from my experience.

Neha

Stereotype of most of the students at NOVA were quite focused on their final goal.

Brian

The great part about my school is diversity. Northern Virginia Community College is a junior college full of many different types of students. There is many students fresh out of high school looking to save money, improve their grades, and then transfer to a four year college. However, you can also find a few working adults, parents, and students looking to simply become certified in a specific profession.

Jackie

My opinion on stereotypes at NOVA is I don't feel there is a certain stereotype. Our school is very diverse with people of all ages.

Bianka

Since it's a community college, and a very large one at that, there are many different types of people roaming the campus. You have your freshmen. Eager to learn and ready for challenges. And those freshmen who are depressed that they couldn't go away for school and had to stay home to finish those first two years. Then you have the kids who have been at NOVA for a couple years now and can never seem to graduate. Then you have the foreign exchange students or the international students (like me).

Nathan

Honestly, the initial stereotype that people assume of the students are that they are high school drop-outs or students without direction. This could not be further from the truth. The students at NOVA are extremely diverse in their situations, environments, and expectations, but all of them share a common goal; to make one'self better through learning. The classes offered at NOVA are just as diverse as the students that attend. If there is anything to be said about a stereotype of students at NOVA, it is that everyone there is there to seriously learn.

Tae

It's not like highschool once you go to college. People here are not all young college kids who just graduated from high school. I see many adult students, and lots of international students too. So i don't know. They are all different i guess.

Desiree'

When I told my friends that instead of going away to a four year college, I wanted to attend NOVA, They immediately said, "NOVA is for poor people or students who can't get into a four year college." That is absolutely false. By coming to NOVA, I have realized that there no poor people who attend this school due to the simple fact that it is less expensive to begin with. Also, I have also noticed that, a large percentage of the students who attend NOVA are very intelligent and branch out to NOVA to give them that extra step to getting into a four year college.

Benjamin

Anti Social, Nerdy

Cathy

There really is not any stereotypes at our school.

brian

High school all over again

Alexandra

The stereotype for NOVA is kids who couldn't get into or make it in a Four-Year College just yet. This stereotype is wrong because NOVA is filled with kids who don't know what they wanna do yet, parents who are going back to school, people who are working their way through school, or people who are just looking to better themselves or their skills.

Tsige

If you study northern Virginia community college, you will get acceptance anywhere because Nova is a great community school in the U.S.A the country. This is a stereotype, but it is true.

Nader

One of the more pervasive rumors about Northern Virginia Community College is that it's a place where you send your children if they're too academically in the red to go somewhere else. This notion has been around for a long time, and it reflects a general, somewhat elitist bias against community colleges. For anyone who wants to receive an education at a reasonable price, there's no reason why you shouldn't consider attending Northern Virginia Community College - or NVCC - and then transfer out after an appropriate amount of time has passed. Not only will this help ease you into the collegiate lifestyle, but it'll also facilitate your getting into what might possibly be better schools than you originally could, both inside and outside Virginia. For example, NVCC has a guaranteed admissions program with a large amount of schools, and to get into these schools, you need to obtain a certain GPA - one that is often lower than the one offered up when transferring from high school. So, not only will have a chance to get into a better school, but on a more fundamental level, you have a chance to, if you've had a rocky academic career, change for the better. Although the guaranteed admissions agreements don't reach schools outside of the state, there are still a lot of schools that will accept NVCC students as well, so if you've always wanted to attend UCLA or anything like that, you could transfer out from NVCC to there, assuming you maintained a good GPA. So, NVCC has a lot of opportunities, not only for older students - as is often assumed for community colleges - but for everyday, fresh-out-of-high-school students. I would encourage anyone to consider attending it.