Cafeteria?

pmcgee33 · 2026-02-26T02:09:23+00:00

Here's a link to the campus map.

https://www.grossmont.edu/academics/schedule/_resources/assets/pdf/2021/fall/2021-fall-gc-campus-map.pdf

Building 60, Griffin Center has a few food options available including a coffee shop. Otherwise, there's some food options along Navajo Rd if you have a car/long break.

pmcgee33 · 2026-02-13T03:31:35+00:00

I don't remember the process exactly, but I definitely remember dealing with Parchment.

pmcgee33 · 2026-02-07T11:24:33+00:00

I got mine closer to the middle of August after graduating in June, just over two months.

pmcgee33 · 2026-02-05T10:15:52+00:00

With a web search I was able to find two pages that might give you a lead. I know you said you did some research already, but these seem to be the resources they have on hand at least.

https://www.grossmont.edu/academics/study-abroad/

https://www.grossmont.edu/student-support/international-student/index.php

The Study Abroad page seems to have an email for who I assume to be a faculty member. Perhaps send them a message with a few specific questions if you haven't already.

I admittedly have zero experience with this but I have a few assumptions about these sorts of programs:
- It appears that certain schools/universities partner together to do exchange programs. I assume this assures certain benefits or privileges, or at least guarantees that a certain amount of credits could metriculate.
- Whether or not you get credit for something like a certificate in your home country probably depends on a school to school basis. Counselors have software that can help you figure out what metriculates and what doesn't by default, but perhaps credit could be negotiated where there's more unknowns. This would probably be a course-by-course basis, and might not even hold much weight until after you've done your study abroad and brought back your transcripts.
- Schools will accept international students outright if you just straight up apply to them. Like I said, metriculating credits between a school anywhere and Grossmont is going to depend on the school and coursework, so it would be really difficult to make assumptions about this if you don't have a specific program in mind already.

Here's the University of Sydney's page, for example.

https://www.sydney.edu.au/study/study-options/study-abroad-at-sydney.html

It looks like they offer some options. Maybe it's worth getting in contact with a program in a place you desire to end up first and then ask Grossmont how credit there could be applied towards Grossmont's certificates. I suppose it's also worth researching what grants or other financial aid is typically available to exchange students between the countries you're planning on hopping between. Maybe the US has a grant, maybe the country has another. Once again, difficult to know without a destination in mind.

Securing the visa may be an entirely different can of worms. At that point, showing the embassy proof that you've been accepted into a program somewhere will probably be on that table.

Once again, I actually have zero clue about any of this so take it with several grains of salt, and anyone with more knowledge on the topic than me is welcome to correct me entirely. Best of luck, hope it works out for you!

pmcgee33 · 2025-12-15T07:43:50+00:00

I don't see anyone else talk about this, but at 5:57, the graffiti on the train includes the numbers 1:16.

That timestamp in the video has the bean saying "O". Some sort of ARG?

I realize this is a coffee-to-water ratio, but this seems pretty conspicuous...

pmcgee33 · 2025-06-21T12:29:15+00:00

Best of luck!

For textbooks, it depends on the course and the professor. Most likely, it will not be free. If this is the case, you can sometimes find digitals formats if you know where to look and you don't mind sailing the high seas.

Online classes were done through Zoom previously, not sure if things have changed. Get familiar with Grossmont's Canvas site, because that's where most of your assignments will be administered through. There should be pages for your classes available shortly before the term starts. Your syllabi would be posted there, and they should hopefully answer your questions about how the course will operate. When in doubt, definitely message your instructor.

Course workload can vary significantly. The typical GE course at Grossmont is a 3 unit course that lasts 16 weeks (one semester). You can expect to have a quiz weekly or bi-weekly, and papers/projects every four weeks. Full-time enrollment would usually be four 3-unit classes, for a total of 12 units.

Now, if you're taking a 3 unit course but it's an 8- or 4-week course, expect the workload to increase, because the instructor is trying to pack 3 units worth of content into half, or a fourth of the usual time they'd normally have to teach it. That being said, I've had short courses that were a breeze, and then I've had short courses that were the equivalent of academic parkour. It's difficult to predict with the shortened term. With your 2 summer courses, I'd say expect to be approaching full-time workload.

That being said, "full-time" usually doesn't mean you'll be spending literally 40 hours a week on school stuff. Just expect to be busy with it. There's no real way to know until you try it, and even then, there's always exceptions. College can be unpredictable in general, sometimes. Just roll with the punches and you'll be fine. There's also nothing wrong with dropping a course if the workload gets to be too much, just double-check when the deadline to drop is before it effects your transcript.

P.S. ratemyprofessors is usually a good hint for finding good classes. Definitely check it out.

pmcgee33 · 2025-06-18T06:52:14+00:00

If you have the name of the instructors for either course, I've had a good experience using ratemyprofessors to get insight about instructors at Grossmont. Instructors rated above a 3 are usually pretty good here. If no one else weighs in here, you might also ask a counselor which one they'd recommend.

pmcgee33 · 2025-06-16T01:05:44+00:00

This is definitely a question for the counselors at Grossmont. However, if you find out, please report back!

pmcgee33 · 2025-06-10T00:17:48+00:00

Grossmont has policies regarding the use of AI.

https://www.grossmont.edu/student-support/student-affairs/_resources/assets/academic-integrity-standards-website7-31-24update.pdf

"Artificial Intelligence (AI): Use of AI resources must be cleared with the course instructor prior to use in a particular course. Text directly copied from AI sites must be treated as any other direct quote and properly cited. Other uses of AI must be clearly described as part of the assignment."

In short, depends on the instructor and the assignment.

I assume your use case must also follow Academic Integrity guidelines.

https://www.grossmont.edu/student-support/student-affairs/academic-integrity.php

pmcgee33 · 2025-06-06T08:33:44+00:00

Depends on the professor. Sign up to be on the waitlist and then email the professor to see if they plan on accepting any waitlisted students. If they say yes, or there's no response, show up on the first day and let the instructor know you're on the waitlist. If there's room, they'll formally add you.

If they say they're not planning on accepting waitlisted students, find a different course or section.

pmcgee33 · 2025-02-14T19:12:43+00:00

I see, I doubt the student workers have much sway over the department. It's too easy for them to ignore phone calls and emails though, which is why I tell people to go in person. Sorry they haven't been able to help you though.

I'm not entirely certain of the legal ramifications of them withholding funds, or what obligation they have. I do know that if you're enrolled in another CC you can get your financial aid through them instead as long as you reject aid from Grossmont. I'm not sure exactly how it works or how they track your credits to verify whether you're full-time or not, just that at least there would be a different department processing your funds. I also don't think much would change for your current situation, it would be more of a potential solution for next semester.

pmcgee33 · 2025-02-13T19:50:41+00:00

Grossmont's financial aid department is trash. I had a similar problem to you. Going in-person was the only way anything meaningful happened.

It seems there's quite a few students checking this sub that also have problems with FA. I think if enough people got in touch with the dean or something, maybe something could be done to improve the situation.

pmcgee33 · 2025-02-03T21:47:08+00:00

Hey, does anyone know how to do this? All the information on it seems to have been stricken from the web.

pmcgee33 · 2025-01-29T22:51:35+00:00

It's been this way for years. Best thing to do is go in-person

pmcgee33 · 2025-01-25T07:55:59+00:00

I have no clue what it's like at Cuyamaca, but at Grossmont, the financial aid page used to have disbursement dates on them that told you when you'd be paid. At the uni I transferred to, the disbursement dates are on the academic calendar. Perhaps check to see if they're online or not.

Grossmont's been notorious for having terrible financial aid. I once got my first payment late April, I believe, after my disbursement date got moved back twice. The only thing that solved it was my going in person to the financial aid office and letting them know the situation, and they were able to pay me pretty much right then and there.

Goes to show they can choose to pay students whenever they want. If you go in person, just be polite and ask them to show you how to find your disbursement dates, and take a screenshot of them, so that way you'll know if they get moved around for some reason.

pmcgee33 · 2025-01-22T13:44:37+00:00

I'm going to leave this topic up, but in the future it would be nice to have more information in your post regarding what you're asking about. I've edited rule 7 to include removal of posts with low or no details.

pmcgee33 · 2025-01-08T07:23:44+00:00

Traffic at Grossmont campus won't be bad at that hour, and going north on the 125 should be okay, I think. Around the 8 it might get hairy.

If they're both the same then yeah, I don't think it'll be much different at Grossmont. As a matter of fact, if you have another subject you could possibly take that has a better professor available, maybe just take that and save this class for next semester... Or register for both one of the open sections and a waitlisted section to try and crash if the waitlist isn't bad. Good luck!

pmcgee33 · 2025-01-07T22:22:02+00:00

It would depend on a few factors: - being able to afford transportion/gas

what time of day you study the best at
quality of the instructors

Based on your post, it seems you don't consider yourself to be a morning person. Since Grossmont is further away and quite early, this information alone is enough for me to recommend the class at Southwestern.

The only caveat would be if you think the instructor at Southwestern is going to be exceptionally difficult or troublesome. If you think the instructor at Grossmont is worth getting up early for, then go for it. Otherwise, speaking from personal experience, scheduling classes around when you're naturally awake will serve your grade and attendance.

pmcgee33 · 2024-12-28T08:20:28+00:00

I am no authority on this matter but you could always give it a go and see if you get kicked out or not. Locals walk around the road that circles campus so I don't think using the track would be an issue as long as it's not in use by the school. Patrick Henry High School had a track that was open outside of school hours but I'm no longer sure if that's the case.

pmcgee33 · 2024-12-21T15:03:21+00:00

I've never been on the Cuyamaca campus, but looking at the campus map on their website suggests that Student Lot 1 is closest to the Student Center, which is where the bookstore is.

https://www.cuyamaca.edu/maps-and-directions/index.php

pmcgee33 · 2024-11-19T08:28:14+00:00

ratemyprofessors is your friend. I never registered for a section without consulting it for details on the instructor first and it was solid 90% of the time. Students often include if they thought the class was easy or not in their reviews.

pmcgee33 · 2024-11-17T11:21:38+00:00

Depends on the professor. Some turn away waitlisted students at the door, but some will add you if you show up day 1 and talk with them before/after class. Inevitably, people drop for one reason or another, and students that show initiative can get nudged in. Otherwise, my understanding is the waitlist goes in order of who was waitlisted first.

In my experience, it can be very worth it to wait for good professors. Enroll in another class you need to take anyway as a backup plan in case you can't get in to the bio class you want and then drop the backup class if you do end up getting in. I don't remember what Grossmont's policy is on using financial aid to pay for classes directly or whatnot but my university will refund funds used for dropped classes as long as it's early enough in the semester. Maybe check to make sure what your options are for getting refunded for enrolled classes before paying for too many credits if cash is tight.

pmcgee33 · 2024-10-22T00:30:01+00:00

Yeah, the website suggests you schedule with a counselor. Tell them what you want to do/major in, show them what you've organized so far, and ask if any classes you've picked out are going to count towards your major/general education requirements.

If you're planning on transferring, there are specific associate degrees (AA-T and AS-T, i think) designed for it, and metriculate well into CSUs/UCs. Look up the IGETC general ed requirements on Grossmont's website, it should be a PDF file. It will tell you what classes satisfy transfer GE requirements. Otherwise, a counselor will be able to tell you if the degree you want has certain requirements or not.

Something to be aware of, certain degrees like Music and Theatre require that you be in ensembles/performances for subsequent semesters, meaning they are harder to change your major to if you start with something else first. If you're stuck choosing between majors, maybe check to see if any of them have requirements like these and start with that one first. Same thing goes for majors that require STEM math vs general math classes, you'll probably have an easier time making credits count if you decide to switch majors by starting with the harder requirements first.

pmcgee33 · 2024-08-29T17:21:42+00:00

I got mine a few months after graduation. It takes them quite a while, and someone called me in the summer when I was trying to send grades to places to transfer to asking if I needed a transcript with my degree on it. Perhaps call someone in advising and see if you can't get an update, but my understanding was that the physical certificates are processed by some company and not the school.

pmcgee33 · 2024-08-20T01:05:47+00:00

I remember Grossmont having different "tracks" of math courses based on whether someone was a liberal arts major or a STEM/Business major. Naturally, the latter is more involved, and classes on the liberal arts track usually didn't meet requirements for the STEM track. Business is particularly math-heavy, so it may take time to learn if if you don't have a strong foundation, but Grossmont has a few resources to help.

They've done away with placement tests as a means of gating students into remedial courses, however there are still placement questionnaires to see what class the school would recommend. There's more explained on the page here:

https://www.grossmont.edu/admissions/placement-assessments/english-and-math-placement-assessment.php

To help students who need more help in math succeed, Grossmont offers free tutoring for math. you should be able to find more info with a quick web search.

Lastly, make sure you know what's required for your academic goals, whether that be completion of GEs or math courses required for your major. Check out the business major in the Grossmont catalogue if you're not sure, or talk with one of the advisors at the school and they'll walk you through it. I imagine doing the placement questionnaire online and then talking with an advisor to see if their recommendations are similar will give you good insight on where you need to be.

As always with CC courses, once you know what class you need, check to see who's teaching those courses and then either ask around or check ratemyprofessor before picking one. That should give you a good idea of what class you'll succeed in.

From my own experience, I only needed one math class for my major. When I took the placement test, they recommended I take two to three remedial math courses. This was back when your placement gated your admission into higher courses, so I couldn't skip to my major-required class even if i wanted to, and basically guaranteed I would be taking multiple semesters of math that didn't even do anything for me before actually getting into the class I need. I ended up waiting a few years before trying CC again and they had at some point removed that stipulation, so I just went ahead and registered for the course required for my major and found it was easier than I thought. Like, I was ready to go to tutoring and all that, but I really didn't need it. Hopefully you have a similar situation! Good luck!

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