South Mountain Community College Reviews

"South Mountain Community College is a nice college located in Phoenix, Arizona, just on the border with Phoenix's sister city, Tempe. It is a small campus, with an architecture and artistic design emphasized on local Native American religion. It's rather homely, and one finds that they make quite a few friendships here - the small campus size means that students are more tightly packed together, allowing them to interact more often. This is also seen in the class size. South Mountain Community College is small, and thus the classes are small. The smallest class I've seen had six people in it. This allows the professors in the school to really get to know you, and for you to engage in quite a few one-on-one interactions. It feels that my time in SMCC was all about preparing you for your goals and aspirations, no matter the age. Its easy-going attitude and cheap cost meant that many students there were not of the average college age of 20-somethings. You had people of all ages participating in the classroom, from rather bright High Schoolers to adults in their 50s, wanting a second chance at life. That being said, however, SMCC was not very difficult for me. Perhaps it was because I took easier classes, but many classes were incredibly easy to pass. If you did the work, you got an 'A' in many classes. However, there were a few classes that were rather difficult and were graded to the college level. While it is a good college, if you're looking for challenge and the ability to grow into something great, then you may be out of luck. Nevertheless, the professors make the classrooms good. I've heard that a few professors are not as good, but the amount of bad professors at this college can be counted on one hand. Each one has a passion for their subject, and are fully prepared to help you with your homework. If you don't understand something, their perfectly willing to take the time out of their day to help you. The student more often than not comes first to the professors, and they are willing to even drive to the campus to help you. Overall, I have loved my years at SMCC. Its goal is not to give students a degree, but to prepare them for real life and to give them the next step to achieve their goals in life. The people are friendly, the campus is easy to traverse, and the classes are small and intimate."

"This is by far the worst school I have ever been to in my college career. Most of their programs are outdated and taught by professors that could careless about their student's success. It is a predominantly African-American and Hispanic student body which would explain why the professors could care less if the students their graduate or walk away from their education never come back. Some of their tenured staff treat students like complete garbage because they know they can get away with it. In my case, while working at the school, a professor that didn't like me went to my boss and told him to fire me because she simply didn't like the way I stood up for myself when she was verbally abusive to me and other students in class. Yes, this is the way it has been at this institution for many years now. The state took away their state funding a couple of years ago and for good reason. They were taking money from the state and their graduation rates plummeted more and more every year. I would avoid this school at all costs and if possible, take the time to go to a better school in a better neighborhood where professors don't use students are punching bags and there are much higher success rates for students."