Ohlone College — Local services in Fremont

I would like to share my deep frustration with the enrollment process at Ohlone College.

I have previously taken courses at De Anza College, where the enrollment system is clear, straightforward, and efficient. In comparison, my experience with Ohlone has been extremely disappointing due to its confusing, bureaucratic, and inefficient processes.

Despite following all instructions, I have been unable to register for courses. When I reached out for help, I was often redirected to different departments, receiving generic, unhelpful responses that wasted my time but never solved the problem.

For example, after completing my English placement test, I was told by a counselor that I was eligible to select my desired courses. However, the system still classified me as an ELI student and blocked my registration, forcing me to contact yet another department.

The most frustrating part is that I applied for the new semester months ago, yet I am still not enrolled.

Every attempt to get assistance has been met with bureaucratic replies, or I'm told to make an appointment with a counselor. Ironically, the online appointment system doesn't even work—it keeps logging me out and won’t let me schedule anything.

I know how to use enrollment systems. At De Anza, everything went smoothly, so this is not a user error. Despite my patience and persistence, my efforts to enroll in courses at Ohlone have been exhausting and deeply disappointing.

Frankly, I would not recommend Ohlone College to my friends based on this experience. As of today, I am still unable to join the classes I applied for.

I hope this feedback reaches someone who truly cares about resolving these...

I am a parent of a high school student (9th grade) and called Ohlone College to find out when summer class registrations will open. The woman who answered the phone was not pleasant in her manner. Stopped me halfway through my request and told me to "work through your child's counselor." At first, I thought she had not understood me but when I explained that my child was a high school student and not an Ohlone College student, she said I still needed to work through my child's high school counselor. I then asked if there was someplace on the website which would tell me what the process is (since many programs, including my child's school programs start registration in Mid March/early April) for the summer session. She told me to be patient because the schedule will be out in Mid April, and registration is not until June (I think that is what she said.) I had already started to realize that this was a non value added conversation and I was not going to get any useful information.

This was not at all helpful for a parent who is new to this, who is trying to get some helpful information First impressions are very important, and the person on the other end of the phone at Ohlone didn't create a good first impression about Ohlone College, which is disheartening, as I am sure there are a lot of people who don't have the many resources that I have, and may lack advanced communications skills and this type of interaction can leave them feeling helpless and...

Excellent community college. Friendly helpful counselors, financial aid, & professors (especially in Multimedia). Excellent value for completing general education requirements prior to transfer to 4 year school. Some areas (like Multimedia) offer more/better hands-on industry desired courses compared to so-called prestigious schools. Nice relaxing pond with koi fish & turtles. Decent availability of classes IF you register on a timely basis. Better amount of articulated classes (for CS/UC) transfer than most community colleges. Safe environment though there are occasional incidents reported after late evening classes. Biggest weakness is limited library hours (closes early on Friday, & closed weekends), & small size during construction (why is pool staffed on weekends but not library)! Bookstore is very overpriced like nearly all college bookstores (plan in advance & buy from eBay, Amazon etc). Easily accessible by AC Transit buses...