I am a fourth-generation Shasta County native.
While in high school, I started considering a vocation and eventually decided on optometry. I looked at different 4-year universities, but the high cost and large class sizes were a deterrent. An advisor from College Options suggested Shasta College for the smaller class sizes, lower cost of tuition, and room and board savings. I graduated high school as the Valedictorian and turned down University scholarships to attend Shasta College for two years.
From my very first semester at Shasta, I was amazed by the fantastic faculty. From English to chemistry and calculus, I ate up the stimulating instruction. I was not really sure what to expect before starting, but I soon came to realize how much all of my professors cared. I also came to appreciate what smaller class sizes meant. My largest class, Chem 1A, had 80 people, far less than the lecture halls of 750 plus I would experience at UC Davis.
Two years passed, and the TAG program (Transfer Admission Guarantee) was a seamless transition to UC Davis. I was amazed to find out that statistically, transfer students perform better academically at Davis than those who started there as freshmen. I remember thinking several times about how my preparation at Shasta College helped me in my upper-division classes at Davis.
Upon graduating from UC Berkeley School of Optometry, I returned to Redding where I decided to join Drs. Davis and Bickford at Blink Optometry. My advice is to develop a plan you can work towards, then work hard. You can always change it if you need to later.
Dr. Page
Shasta College Knight