Los Angeles City College

I shouldn’t write a review, but I feel the need to inform students who want to transfer to be careful regarding some of the guidance counselors. I transferred from OCC and they told me I needed to retake 6 classes because they wouldn’t transfer over from a different county. I did what thy said, and met with another counselor later. He told me I shouldn’t have taken double classes and I about flipped out! What a waist of time and money! There are homeless camps all over Vermont where I walk through to my parking lot and it’s very unsafe. I’ve met a few amazing professors, and some awful… but that’s about it.

The teachers are great, the staff is helpful.
The campus on the other hand, is another story. It seems as if they just let anybody, and I do mean anybody, roam freely around campus.
I had just gotten to school and while rushing to class, a homeless man stops me in my tracks and starts yelling racist and obscene things at me. I was confused as to why he was even on campus to begin with.
Months after that particular incident, some weird guy sits next to me while I am eating at a table outside and harasses me throughout my lunch. While paying him no attention, he begins to get frustrated and starts saying derogatory and sexual remarks. I wasn’t sure if he was drunk, on drugs, or suffered from a mental illness.
I don’t know why I am a magnet for crazy people at this school. I get to campus, go to class, and leave. I don’t socialize with anyone, yet I am a subject of persistent verbal attacks.
The school as a whole really needs to step it up.

Professors are great, they really care about their students succeeding!

I went there for a few years. A lot of fun, great staff and actually learned a few things here and there.

I am not sure about any of the administrative departments at this school, because I have never had to deal with them. This review is strictly about the biology and chemistry depts. I feel beyond lucky to have had the opportunity to build such a strong foundation in biology and physiology because of the AMAZING instructors at this school. Sean Phommasaysy is a natural born teacher, and he made hand writing 20+ pages of notes in an hour fun! If you are completing bio pre-​requisites at community colleges, DEFINITELY take them at LACC. Forget Valley, and GCC, for bio, LACC is your best bet to actually learn from passionate instructors. Once again, this is only a review for the bio dept of this school.

I just took a class in winter of 2016 in their new science building that is still under construction. Their restrooms have missing locks. The parts that have been completed look so used up already. The school doesn’t do a good job at upkeeping their facilities.

this school isn’t half bad. I prefer the WLAC campus it’s much nicer but I appreciate this college because they have a better variety of class schedules. Professors are hit or miss, you know how it goes but for the most part they’ve been pretty cool. Really wish they’d finish up the construction soon its been going on forever and it’s so inconvenient when you want to enter from the front!

The college is one of the best college in California, I have ever seen. Because I know a lot places not like here. Teachers r excellent. I recommend to come here.

This school has an amazing program for music. Wther you want to sing play the guitar or piano whatever it is. They have classes for film too. Not a lot of schools even offer programs like this. I’m currently in music 400 a vocal class for beginners and I love it. I’m getting out of my comfort zone and doing things I never thought I would. I truly love coming here. It is LA and right off the main street so there are weirdos wandering around sometimes and homeless people on the street but I’ve never been bothered on the campus. For a community college they have a lot of different classes to chose from I am defiantly happy. One of my classes is in an older building the same building as the concealing department and it doesn’t have ac but all my other classes do. I don’t mind that was an excuse for the professor to let the Class out early because of the heat lol: P

I’m currently going to LACC, majoring in Kinesiology and classes are… so far so good. Professors are helpful and friendly. You don’t get that from professors at Valley College, that’s why I had to transfer but then again that was a long time ago. I’m so happy that they finally have a kinesiology building, unlike the old gym. Good thing there’s a taco truck on campus knowing I have 3 hour classes and not much time to eat. lol ’ As for the sheriff station on campus is a plus.

After finally threatening to sue the school, I was finally given my diploma! This school has deplorable issues and I’ve literally been salivating to write this review for about 2 years!
I could go on for hours and hours about this place but I’ll get to the main points. From the beginning I was given poor and misleading information by a counselor, Billy Reed. I presented him with a print out directly from LACC’s website which outlined the required courses for the AA in Paralegal Studies degree. I asked Billy «if I complete these classes, I’ll get this degree?» He confirmed and I started knocking out the classes, taking night classes after work, going on weekends, even driving to different LACCD campuses all over town just to get the courses I needed.
Cut to my last semester. I was taking 6 courses to finalize my degree requirements before I moved out of state. My professor and the director of the Paralegal program, Mr. Wilhem Vargas, was the only helpful teacher at that school. I sat down with him (thinking I was just solidifying I had everything to graduate) when he dropped a bomb on me. He told me ALL the classes needed to be taken at LACC. I COULD NOT take them at other LACCD schools! I was floored. I told him what Billy Reed told me. I even went back to Billy Reed to confront him on giving out reckless information. To my surprise he refuted what Mr. Vargas had told me 10 minutes prior in our meeting! He then told me I needed to fill out two general petitions to have the Math and English department sign off on them to get credit for previous classes. He told me EXACTLY what to write on the petitions and I did. Once I got to each department, BOTH of them pretty much chewed me out for the wording, the insanely rude woman, Bernadette Tchen, in the English department said «This is all wrong, what am I suppose to do with this? Anyone with common sense would know this is not acceptable.» WOW. I told her I wrote what my counselor Billy Reed told me to and she told me I should report him for giving out wrong information. The math department said the same thing. He also gave me other incorrect information but Unilocal only gives me so many characters!
Next, I had to fill out my graduation petition. This is where the outrage really kicks in. So you have to go through your graduation advisor. It goes alphabetically by last name, so my advisor was Victoria Bautista. If you have her… YOU’RE SCREWED! I attempted to call this woman 26 times. That’s right. Left messages, sent emails, you name it I did it. She NEVER returned a single call. I was freaking out and couldn’t understand why someone who was suppose to help me would not give me the time of day. After all, this was my degree we’re taking about. I called everyone for help. Spoke to Professor Vargas, called the main LACC district, called admission, went to the counselors, EVERYTHING! What’s funny is that Victoria would ONLY communicate through other people. First, she had a different counselor call me and say that I didn’t have enough credits to graduate and I was denied. She was so ignorant that she didn’t take into account I was in my final semester and I would be completely done with all classes.
I had to fight until almost graduation day and get everyone involved just to ensure I got what I deserved and worked so hard for. It literally ruined the experience of my graduation. I wasn’t excited, just exhausted. I had almost no fight left in me.
Then, I tried to ask Victoria Bautista when my diploma would be ready. No response again. What a shock. It got so bad that I had to keep a log on my Evernote account of all the times I reached out for help, to no avail, over the two years I was a student there. I even went so far as to contact the President of the Los Angeles Community College District (of course he never responded). A friend of mine, also went to LACC and she told me that Victoria Bautista only helps out the Hispanic students, that she is known for essentially racially profiling and will not communicate with non-​Hispanics. I didn’t believe it until I talked to another student who works for one of the departments. She confirmed that Victoria is notorious for only helping Hispanics and often sends rejection letters (just like I received) to non-​Hispanics without even looking into their transcripts. I was so offended when I heard this. I’ve never been one to call someone racist but she certainly seems to fit the criteria. She could have cost me my degree, that I paid my own money for, no government assistance, no financial aid, just hard work. It sickens me to think there are people like her at our schools, jeopardizing hard working students like me.
I finally had to get the dean involved after speaking with my attorney on what legal actions I had available to file a discrimination lawsuit against the school. He was actually very nice and the only reason why I finally received my diploma. BEWARE! This place is a students NIGHTMARE!

I fulfilled some of my prerequisites for graduate school here at LACC. It’s close to home, my professors were excellent (and easy to work with), and $ 46/​unit is a great deal for a solid education.
I also dealt with the registrar’s office for various matters, and they were always helpful and polite.
Frankly, you get what you put in. Show up for class, participate in the discussions (and no, being on Facebook doesn’t count!), and study. You’ll be fine. And if you’re open to the experience, you’ll learn something useful.
The only minus is the surrounding neighborhood, particularly around Santa Monica/​Vermont. You notice it less during the day (although the area IS grittier than neighboring Silver Lake), but at night there is often a sizeable transient population that settles in. Just something to keep in mind.

I been in this school for more then 2 years.
Don’t come if you can go another school.
The worst ever.
Internet sucks I couldn’t use it for two years.

Where do i start with this review. Well i graduated 1 year ago and am still waiting for my diploma last time i asked for it the people at admissions laughed in my face and said they will let me know when they get around to it. If that gives you any idea of the kind of staff that work at this school. Very unprofessional they act like they are doing you a favor when you are there paying not only with your money but with your time. Some teachers there are wonderful but some tend to treat you like you are still in elementary school which can be annoying if i learned anything during my two years here it is that i should have just driven to another community college do yourself a favor and dont waste your time here

LACC is a good school overall. Not the best but good. Considering the area the school serves and budget issues I think the school is as good as it can be.
First I’ll start with the professors: There are some great teachers here who will help you understand topics and expand your horizons, and they are fair in how they conduct the courses as well as with grades.
The Campus: Let’s be real. It’s old. There are some newer buildings but I’ve seen better. There seems to be lots of issues with air conditioning in at least 2 buildings (Jefferson Hall which is an older building, and the Sci-​tech which is new. To be fair Sci-​tech classrooms seem to have decent a/​c but the hallways are flaming hot when it’s even slightly sunny outside). I like the student union building for as a building but don’t really understand it’s purpose. It takes enough space to be a classroom building but for the most part seems like wasted space since everything they have in there could probably fit into a much smaller building. Also another thing I take issue with is that the school has a coffee shop but no cafeteria! Yes there are restaurants close by but sometimes I don’t feel like leaving campus and passing by the millions of homeless people near by just to get some food.
The students: A pretty laid back crowd.
Athletic stuff: I have mixed feelings. The gym seems hidden away in the far corner of the campus and I have yet to go there because the last I checked it still wasn’t open for operation and I haven’t checked back since. There is a track and soccer field, however I have only been able to use it one time my entire time in attendance. Every time I’ve gone by there on a Friday or at other times when I don’t have class it’s been closed. The one time I got lucky happened to be after lunch one day around 1pm. Since they usually keep it locked up no body uses it! Also I don’t know if the school has any sports teams because if they do I have yet to see or hear about them.
Parking: I can describe it as atrocious the first few weeks of the semester since they do not enforce having parking decals the first week of classes. After that it’s not too bad. You can pretty much always find a spot but it would be smart to show up at least 15 minutes before classes start in case.
The neighborhood: Metro light rail and buses are right next to the campus. There are a good variety of places to eat nearby, and there is an arcade and pool hall across the street on Vermont. Having said that there are lots and lots of homeless people in the area. Few times you will cross the street without someone asking for change.
Notable programs: While I’m not a Cinema major, I have taken cinema courses here and I can vouch that the school has a pretty good cinema program (one of the best in community colleges here from what I’ve heard). There is also a nursing program here that seems to be pretty big. There is a good selection of majors as well and a decent Math program as well.
Staff: I have no major complaints. I have noticed that some processes happen slowly and that maybe they are either not adequately funded or staffed. It’s a mixed bag to be honest. I’ve dealt with some people that are very helpful and some that seem like they are forced to be their against their will. At the end of the day perception is reality and they are sometimes perceived as not being helpful or friendly. I will say that most community colleges are probably this way but I’ve also been to Santa Monica and felt that they were much more eager to help and were generally more friendly.
So would I recommend this school? When it comes to the academic side of things sure. And if I was only judging by the teachers I would give the school 5 stars. You can definitely go to school here and do good in classes and transfer. Some of the other things may not be satisfactory but if you can overlook certain things it’s a decent place to go.

I really don’t know how this school continues to be open! The admissions office DOES NOT answer the phone. EVER. It goes straight to voicemail. Then they ask you to send an email, which they never respond to. I send an email over 2 weeks ago and I have heard nothing. I submitted a form over a month ago and all I want is an answer about its results. There is no way to get help! Incredibly disappointed.
Please note that this review has nothing to do with the quality of education or the teachers. The issue is probably related to either lack of funding or poor management. The college is doing a great disservice to its college students by being so unorganized.

My first official Alma Mater in America. This community college has many subjects to offer, but it is hard to get into the class due to waiting lists. Parking sucks big time! And there is lack of academic environment here. Too many armo girls and boys studying here for the sake of financial aid. All of them come on black and shiny european cars, yet suck the blood from financial aid.

Love this school because its on the smaller side. I’ve been to other LACCD colleges and non have had the same feel as LACC. They have great programs to chose from for your major. They are remodeling a lot of the old buildings so school is looking better and better. If you’re taking Psychology classes check out Dr. Blum he’s awsome really easy going and makes the class seem short.

I was pleased with most of my professors, but the financial aid department is a wreck! I have attended three previous colleges. In the past my financial aid was handled expediently and with easily accessible assistance. This is not the case at LACC. If you plan to attend LACC, start your financial aid months in advance if you need it.
My first semester I requested Federal Loans and was not advised on the procedure, as such they never submitted my request. I was not notified when documentation was needed for my Pell Grants, as such I did not receive them. I am now in my second semester and I have to use financial aid for one semester to pay for two. As if I don’t have enough to worry about trying to put all my efforts into my degree. I do not have residency so my tuition is already 5x that of a resident. Thank you for making it more challenging, LACC Fin Aid Department.
In addition to the financial aid challenges, I have had to deal with, on numerous occasions, peeping toms in the restrooms. I have seen heads peeping into my stall both above and below whilst I do those things that are appropriate for such a setting. One even had the gall to tell me that he liked what he saw.
Between the financial hassles and the predatory homosexuals (not that all homosexuals are predatory, far from it. Just the aforementioned) that watch me shit, I am fed up with this school. I can not wait for the semester to be over.

Here for a program that other City Colleges does not offer.
sometimes you can’t get the classes you need… Luckily LACCD allows you to take courses from their entire system. Just make sure if your taking a specialty program that that program allows you take it at other LACCD schools.
Overall, LACC isn’t bad at all…
Maybe the neighborhood isn’t the greatest…