So, I'm in the process of completing my Bachelor's Degree through Eastern Michigan University. I…read moredecided it was time to finish, and after speaking with my adviser, I had a short list of classes to go through in order to obtain my degree. One of these classes was a basic level art class that I never took as a Freshman many years ago. My adviser said, to save time and money commuting to Eastern, it would be easier to take it through OCC at one of their campuses during the summer break.
So, I started the process of enrolling back in March. It was relatively easy since I would be attending as a guest student from Eastern. I had to drop off paperwork at Eastern for them to deal with so my credits would transfer correctly. I also started by meeting with an OCC adviser at the Auburn hills campus, which is their main location.
Once I had the appropriate paperwork complete, (which was easy) I was able to register for class. Fortunately, even if you aren't a guest student at OCC like I was, it seems like an easy process to do to get the ball rolling. I found that the only evening art class was located from 6 to 9:30 PM at the Royal Oak campus, which I wasn't familiar with. It filled up quickly since it's an entry level class and goes towards several different degrees.
My tuition was about $400 total for a 3 credit hour class. Quite a bit less since I am used to paying $400 a credit hour at EMU. If I had taken the same class at EMU, it would have been at least $1600, and I would have had to commute to Ypsilanti. Paying one third of the price and driving 10 miles to and from Royal Oak is a lot easier for me!
Class was 12 weeks long and started on May 6th, meeting every Monday though July 29th from 6PM until 9:30. The campus is super easy to navigate and they have a free parking garage right there near campus that makes going in and out of the school easy as pie. Police are around, and they patrol regularly.
My teacher has a masters degree in fine art, and seems to know his stuff. But, he was kind of a dick the first 6 weeks of class. I loathed going, and bombed my first test. So did most of the class! Teacher was dam near unapproachable and there was literally a screaming match in class over this. One girl cried and left, the other got into it with the professor. It was awful. After this happened, half the class dropped. Eventually, the teacher offered extra credit and became less of a dickhead.
Even though the class was way tougher then I had imagined for OCC, I was impressed and frustrated at the same time with the amount of information we covered. I would go here again as a student, but not for a while since I am starting to get burned out on school. I like OCC because it's really easy to register, they have multiple campuses, and are extremely affordable compared to 4 year schools. Parking is free and convenient, and they have a great variety of programs.
But, the reason for 3 stars and not 5 was due to the crass nature of my professor, and I sense that different campuses offer different types of programs. Want to major in being an automotive mechanic? Go to Auburn Hills. Want to take an evening class for a requirement over the summer? You may be commuting to highland or the Farmington Hills campus.
Oh and in case you are wondering, I survived all 12 weeks without missing a single class. Sat there until 9 PM every Monday. I got an A- in the class. I need several drinks of booze now.
