I came to Santa Monica College because the traditional four-year route was not realistic, as I was already working. SMC let me keep my education going on top of a real workweek.
SMC was where I started taking my own ambitions seriously. It was the first place that treated continuing my education as something realistic for someone working full-time, and that shift, from "maybe later" to "actually doing it", changed the trajectory of everything that came after. The momentum that carried me to UC San Diego and then to law school started there.
SMC was the bridge. It let me transfer to UC San Diego, where I graduated summa cum laude, and from there to Yale Law School. It also let me keep working while I studied.
Do not let the starting point define the ceiling. I went from community college to UC San Diego to Yale Law while working the whole way. If you are balancing a job and classes, that is not a lesser path; it is its own kind of preparation. Take it seriously and apply to the schools that feel out of reach.