It is a big change to go off to college and stop all star cheerleading. It's also rather scary because you're venturing off into the unknown and into a new part of your life. That being said though, you need to think of your education first and cheerleading as secondary (I know its hard to do when cheer is your life;) but trust me). The pace of community college is very different than a full fledged 4 year university honestly (I've had to take several summer courses at various ones), and not every credit always transfers depending on what college you end up at later. That's why my view is it's better to go to a 4-year university first if you have the opportunity (you can always strategize to take difficult basics at the JC over the summer or online that you KNOW will transfer since you can get a counselor to sign off on it at your college). JCs can be great for those that need to save money, but unless you are set on being completely motivated to finish, many times people don't make it past the point of "wanting to transfer to a big college" (there are plenty of people that can be successful and graduate as well, but I'm just saying that a chunk of people in your classes will not on the whole at community college). You also get the true freshmen college experience at a 4 year university from living away from home, which instantly teaches you so much and many people that go to JCs at first will miss out on that.
Overall, if you have to opportunity to go to a 4 year university right away, take it imo. You can and probably will (since you're on fierceboard) always find your way back to cheer, if not in strange and unexpected ways......
Example: After NCA during my senior year of high school, I thought I was done forever with cheer. The college I chose to go to didn't even have a sideline cheer team at the time let alone competitive cheer, and the only allstar gym within a 2 hour radius was VERY small (think youth and junior teams). I chose not to get involved that first college year in anything else on campus (which was dumb), so I did start to miss cheer badly. That changed as soon as I got involved in an organization on campus during sophomore year however, because it gave me that "team" feeling, and forced me to grow as a person and leader because I had to branch out of my comfort zone of cheer. I ended up finding ways to stay involved in cheer as well eventually, with cheer camp staff and assisting at a local high school . My university did eventually get a competition specific team my junior year which I then joined, but found that I loved coaching even more than competing actually! It worked out for the best and I don't regret any of it, because I wouldn't be the person I am today without those experiences. I never would have joined staff otherwise or got into coaching really, plus I have a 4 year degree from a wonderful university now!:)
Sorry for the novel. That's my opinion. I'll wish you luck with whichever decision you make!
