West L.A. College Westside Extension

West LA college toots its own horn as an easy place to get excepted into the UC College system in California if you excel and do well there. I’ve met many people who actually have gone on to very prestigious universities and held all some jobs who have attended West LA college so I can’t argue their claims. The campus went through a bit of a renovation over the last couple of years and new buildings and parking structures were added to help combat the congestion and crowding of students issue. Not to mention my mother recently got her AA degree from here which I am very proud of her for doing. I also have taken a couple of classes here wow in my undergrad studies and I have first-​hand accounts of how easy and seamless there online studies program is. The admissions and guidance counselor’s always seem to be very friendly and welcoming. Most of the faculty and staff you meet here genuinely seem to care for your well-​being and your success. For anyone looking for a great community/​junior college I would highly recommend West LA college.

This is coming from an international student’s perspective. The campus is very huge and beautiful, great location not very fR from my house in west side. Went their to get info on a computer program and was guided well by the front desk until they appointed me a general counselor — Hyen Esther (pardon me if I spelled that incorrect) she did her best part in explaining me the framework of the course and guided me to meet the right person diff department, if further questions needs to be answered. Great respect for their amazing and efficient staff. Lastly, parking is pretty big and cost you 2 dollars for a general parking which lasts a day.
Bottom line So far, I’m intrigued.

I took the PetSaver™: First Aid, CPR & Care Certificate course offered by West L.A. College’s Westside Extension yesterday. The class was held at Santa Monica College. I enjoyed the class. I hope that West L.A. College’s Westside Extension offers more animal-​related courses in the future.

I love west la … Their new buildings are so cool … Most of the teachers that I had the pleasure of meeting cared a lot about their students and their staff is beyond nice.

Usually I’m too lazy to write reviews unless I stumble upon something really good or really bad. Unfortunately, this one is the latter.
Recently moved to Playa del Rey and was looking for College Extension classes to learn/​improve my swimming. Got one of those college extension class booklets in the mail and without checking the reviews online, joined both the Saturday and Sunday sessions. Surprisingly expensive for a college extension class at $ 65 for 5 sessions. 2 classes = $ 130.
I joined the intermediate class because my swimming needs a lot of improvement. I can barely cross from one edge to the other of a 25 m swimming pool. My goal was to become more comfortable so I could eventually try to swim in the deep end or even the ocean (gulp!). Currently, I can’t because I’m afraid I’ll be tired midway.
I go there the first day and the pool is indoors, very small — approx 10×20 feet (not meters) and maximum 4 ½ feet deep on one side. The other side is probably 2 – 3 feet deep. Also, not very clean. However, this still doesn’t warrant a single star. What *does* deserve a one star is the one and only instructor — Donna Hurley. Ohh brother, where do I begin.
She talks — incessantly! So much so that during the course of the class, most of us started to rest and stop on the other end of the pool just to avoid listening to her. Many times we would begin to start swimming on her instruction to do a particular stroke only to be stopped by her talking. In fact, even while swimming, I heard instructions when I tilted my head to breathe!
Onward to teaching. Here we are a bunch of beginner to intermediate students, mostly trying to master freestyle stroke. Most of us, if put in the ocean 50 meters from the shore, would probably not make it. And we were told to do all different strokes with every lap. Not just regular strokes like backstroke, butterfly but things called trudgen, double trudgen, reverse butterfly, dolphin kick with rotating arms etc. Funnily enough, when she was explaining us about trudgen, she said if a question was asked in Jeopardy about it, we now know the answer. Irony, anyone? It was just some ego trip for her to show her prowess at swimming by showing us these strokes, sprinkled with info about how she scuba dives all the time and does races etc.
Learning swimming, just like any other sport, is about practicing the same thing over and over again, focusing on the form so as to get the stroke into the muscle memory. Unfortunately, we were doing the exact opposite by trying all different strokes every lap and not getting the hang of any.
By class 3 – 4 I decided I would just practice freestyle on my own, whatever the stroke being taught. After all, for $ 13 a class, I could at least treat it like a regular pool with no teacher. So I’m practicing my freestyle while she’s teaching sidestroke with flutter kicks looking backwards with hands above the head or something like that. I feel two hands on my shoulder stopping me in the middle of my lap! I stand up to see and you guessed it right. It’s Donna Hurley. Not joking, she swam up to me and stopped me physically and said «We are practicing this [crazy, no one ever uses] stroke, please do that.» So now, not only is the teaching bad, but she wants to make sure that we learn absolutely nothing. The sessions would have been better if she was *not* present!
Here’s one last incident. On the last day, she is outside the pool and says, today work on whatever you want to. At last, I like that. So I start freestyle only to be told at every lap to do backstroke, then breath on the other side, then use the noodle, then use the dumbbell thingy in one hand etc. Finally during the dumbbell thing, I said «I’m good. Just want to practice freestyle.» She insists «No use the dumbbell in one hand» I say «No, I’m good.» At this point, everyone is looking at us. Things are getting uncomfortable. But I decide to hold my ground, I’m not using the dumbbell thing. After about 4 – 5 times of this back and forth, I swim away — no dumbbell. She’s clearly angry and says «This is not just a pool to practice. This is a teaching session. Remember your goals at the beginning (Umm, what’s that got to do with anything?! Goal was definitely nothing to do with swimming with a dumbbell in one hand).»

My kids took swimming class the prices are a lil much 30 min. Classes/​5 sessions … For $ 65 dollars … The pool was a bit of a disappointment not kept well at all, they are not cleaning it as often as the should it looks gross! … Don’t think we will b returning here after this session…

I’ve taken a couple classes here — Excel, Powerpoint, hula, ballet, pilates and it’s pretty good. The classes are very cheap, easy to sign up for, and there is plenty of parking. They can mail you catalogs or you can search for classes online. The teachers are all nice and helpful. All ages of students enroll in the class from just out of high school to people in their 40’s. The campus is nice, clean, new, and near downtown Culver City.

I took several years ago Hula Dancing and enjoyed it. The instructor was a nice, patient, elderly lady. I also took salsa but disliked not only because there were only 2 men for 30 women but because the teacher spent the first 30 minutes of the 1^st class telling us her background in Dance.
The class was fun at the beginning but by the third class I don’t remember seeing the teacher helping around.
My favorite class so far at Westside Extension was Yoga. I took 5 Saturday morning classes this Summer with Donna and loved it!
I learned several poses, to remember to breathe (believe me; you might forget to breath when doing the Bind) and learned to love yoga.
Classes are affordable, parking is cheap (for this Summer it was only $ 7), easy access and you can sign-​up for classes online, in person or by mail.