Community colleges have long been a vital part of the American higher education system. These institutions offer students the opportunity to pursue a variety of educational and training programs at an affordable cost. With lower tuition fees and a range of financial aid options, it’s no wonder that community colleges have provided students accessible pathways and diverse skill sets to achieve their educational goals.
Whether you’re looking to save money, stay close to home, or want to get your grades up before transferring to a four-year university, the skills you learn at a community college can help you become a better student and future employee in your desired career. While some can consider the skills you learn in school to be ‘soft skills,’ there are certain skills and strategies that can help you become a more productive and effective member of your company, community, or college classroom. Producing the next generation of skilled professionals, ACU Online is a strong advocate for community college graduates interested in transferring their skills of critical thinking, time management, and adaptivity into the program of their choosing without negating their personal or work-related responsibilities.
Skill One: Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is the ability to interpret, evaluate, and analyze facts and information that are available, to form a judgment or decide if something is right or wrong. More than just being curious or interested in a particular subject, critical thinkers make connections between logical ideas to see the bigger picture. As a community college student, you learn how to build your ideas and create factual opinions in order to present them to others in a logical fashion. As a critical thinker, you also learn how to make informed decisions – a skill that transfers over to a job or university classroom. According to some studies, acquiring critical thinking skills is important because they allow you to understand the importance of promoting creativity, the basis for topics as complex as science and democracy, or even essential to improve your everyday language and presentation skills.
Critical thinking skills are used in a myriad of ways and can be applied to situations including approaching a class group project like deciding how to divide the work amidst your peers or creating a comprehensive study plan to achieve a good grade on your test. Whatever the situation, critical thinking is a great skill to learn during your time as a community college student with applications for years to come.
Skill Two: Time Management
Time management is one of the most important skills you can learn during your time as a community college student. Learning how to effectively manage your time enables you to meet deadlines, explore new ideas, achieve your goals and find a healthy work-life balance. When mastering this skill, it can even help you reduce your stress and plan out how you want to meet your goals of earning your bachelor’s degree or starting your career post-graduation. As a community college student, you know what it takes to effectively manage your time in order to complete your tasks or assignments. Whether you’re reviewing your schedule each day, labeling your to-do list, or creating a system on how to know whether some tasks are urgent, important, or neither, gaining the skill of time management can help you prioritize your needs; a highly valuable skill that can go beyond the classroom and into an office setting, nonprofit organization, or even at home. Obtaining a skill like time management can also help you be more productive.
Plus, with the added bonuses of lowering your levels of stress, improving your decision-making, and creating more free time for personal activities, managing your time is a skill that can be easily transferred.
Skill Three: Adaptivity
Adaptability skills are proficiencies you can use to adjust to new situations. Adaptability skills are either cognitive, personality-based, or emotional. Cognitive-based adaptability is how you process new information and adjust your thinking, curiosity, and open-mindedness. Personality-based adaptability involves how you see a situation for what it is and adapt your behavior accordingly. From becoming more resourceful, a more effective communicator, and building upon your teamwork skills, growing in your personality-based adaptability can make you a highly sought after job candidate. Lastly, as a student in community college, you are also growing in your emotional adaptability, which focuses on acknowledging, accepting, and moving past changes that build on your resilience.
ACU Online’s degree programs are designed for students who seek an adaptable way to enrich their current knowledge in a fully online setting. By harnessing these essential skills early on, you can set yourself up for success at ACU Online or whatever institution of your choosing. Plus, with ACU Transfer Track — a specialized program that provides a seamless transfer process for students from community college to ACU Online – you can plan your coursework to transition directly into your major by taking classes that easily transfer to ACU—shortening your time to degree completion and saving you money.
Learn more about our various plans to transfer your skills and credits to ACU Online by speaking to one of our admissions advisors today at 855-219-7300 or visit our website.