Very few children from our high school will start at a community college, and none of the best students will.
Based upon other posts you've made, it is possible that this decision is largely based upon financial ability to pay higher tuition at other institutions?
I'm aware of students who specifically applied to, and were accepted by, highly selective colleges; Received generous merit scholarships
*; Were awarded financial aid to meet "100% need" but much of this was in student loans therefore not feasible to their families. These students anticipated the impact of the cost factor and started their post-secondary education at community colleges, earned two-year degrees, then transferred credits to complete their studies. To their credit, their degrees were earned in a fiscally responsible manner. Bottom line, these students all said they knew early on that community college was likely in their future but applied to highly selective schools to verify they would receive acceptance letters.
I second bluemagic's
post.
I'd be very wary of putting a gifted child in a community college, because that's not where the smartest people are.
Using ACT/SAT score as a proxy for intelligence in college admissions, not all programs at community colleges are attracting equivalent students.
Even repeating high school in a "good school" would provide more appropriate peers.
Some may say there's more to be considered. Some gifted students with strong internal drive and motivation may enjoy the camaraderie of older, more serious students who may have gained wisdom in other fields/disciplines and are back-to-school studying something new. Some have noted a different level of conversation, including interest in world news and topics beyond those which most high school aged students are known to find fascinating (topics often centered on self, social media, and entertainment). Additionally, community colleges tend to be commuter colleges and do not tend to be known for typical dorm-life or greek-house lifestyle such as underage drinking and sexual behavior.
How many community colleges have a critical mass of those kinds of kids, and how do you find them?
In general, these kids are found one at a time.
Many "good" high schools also do not have this critical mass of kids, as they are statistically rare in the population.
While it may be true that elite colleges may have these kids in greater concentration, they may also have a greater concentration of kids who openly state they are interested in the campus lifestyle and not very interested in their classes or grades because they will never have to work at a job due to family wealth. Acknowledging they may not be mutually exclusive, possibly the former students are more related to your mention of "admissions so difficult" and the latter may be related to your mention of "costs so high".
Students may self-select community colleges, in some cases, based upon financial feasibility rather than lack of personal intellect or lack of acceptance letters to highly selective institutions. Avoiding community colleges may be more closely related to "fit" based upon beliefs about SES, rather than based upon intellect of the student body.
High work ethic and engaged life-long learners may exist in every type of institution. Campus visits may help get a feel for the student body.
* While highly selective colleges/universities do not offer merit scholarships, students may receive outside scholarships, not awarded by those institutions.
