Hi,
I am a one week away from scheduling classes for the summer session.
My first concern is, for right now, I can only afford to attend community college to do my post-bac. Is this a good move (I do have a Bachelor’s from an accredited culinary school)?
My second concern, how can I find the time to take these classes when I am a general manager of a corporate restaurant company and I have many extra-curricular activities to attend to , which causes my schedule to be, well, basically, completely open to anything, anytime?
How can I balance all this out??? Can I make this work?
As far as where I am going to take these classes, will the community college hurt me (though I’m 30 yrs old and will have to eventually transfer to UCLA for O-Chem)?
Are there any suggestions toward what to do to make my dream of becoming a D.O.??? Please help. Thank you.
Start slowly and develop your time management skills. I had to pare down activities to keep my focus and still take care of myself and my family, it was an illuminating process and I will start med school in about a month. Plan well, take your time and start small.
- cragmire Said:
Remember the 6P Principle:
Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance
Instead of viewing community college as "hurting your chances", you need to the positive view. Not taking any classes means your chances are zero, nada, nil, etc. Taking classes, even if at a CC and doing well, will increase your chances significantly. you can only improve your chances no matter what you do.
From your background, it would appear that you have a completely non-science degree and are NOT trying to "retake" or "improve" older science grades. While a large percentage of med schools may view CC courses as less rigorous than a 4 year college, moving into science pre-reqs at a CC and will taking some upper level courses at a 4 year school is a sound strategy. Obviously it is very important to do well AND keep the pattern of grades from the CC into the 4 year school at the same or an improving level. You may also consider an advanced bio course at UCLA (molecular genetics, biochem, etc) to show that you can do well in upper level courses.
But, as the previous reply said, start slow. Don't think you need to rush and make up lost time. And if you have not been in school in a while, and with a busy work schedule, I would personally recommend not starting with a summer class. The reason is there is little buffer time and if you lose a 1 weekend of studying, it could really hurt your grades. In a regular semester, you have more buffer time.
That's my two cents
My work schedule seems fairly similar, except that it really precludes me from taking any classes at this time (I work rotating 12 hour shifts including weekends). Part of my decision process is whether my dream is important enough to walk away from my job to have a chance at it. I’m trying to come to a decision still, but with all the reading and volunteering I’ve done, it only makes me want to return to complete my prereqs and apply even more. I’m going to do some shadowing before I make my final decision, however.
Also, I have concluded that money is not a driving issue, as I will have significant debt when I graduate from med school, and if it costs more to get my prereqs to give me the best possible chance, so be it.
I will echo the comments about summer classes. I took a couple while completing my undergraduate coursework, and you really need to stay on top of them. Fall and Spring semesters have classes that are a little more spread out, so this may be a better choice if work has to come before school. And remember that making the highest grade possible is important, but it is also important to learn the material in the prereqs as well as you can, as additional courses will build on a presumed level of knowledge from these courses.
Mike
Welcome to OPM 
. With so many questions in your post, I feel I should ask some of my own.
Are you in California? You speak of transferring to UCLA. As I understand, Cali CCs are considered in a different light than most states’, and Adcoms are aware of this.
Will your (presumably “unofficial”) post-bacc include all of your science coursework, or were you able to squeeze some in during your culinary education?
I honestly have no idea how Adcoms might consider a culinary Bachelor’s degree, though it’s certainly interesting to me.
I think the big question for you - as for many of us - is what sacrifices are you willing to make for this pursuit? If you’re not able to commit to the courses (this doesn’t necessarily mean quitting your job), it seems that your path will be especially difficult. That said, if you’re sufficiently motivated, I trust you’ll find a way to make it work.
?
Oh my goodness!! I have to say that I am living proof that CC’s these days can be just as comparable as 4 year universities!! Just finished my semester taking Gen Chem I at a CC…AFTER I had dropped my Gen Chem class last semester at a 4 year. I thought that taking it at a CC would be a breeze compared to the University. I was SO WRONG…in fact, it was HARDER. I have never been so academically challenged in my life!! The professor’s exams were grueling 3 to 4 hour sittings that tested EVERYTHING that was taught. The final exam itself took 5 hours. All formulas, all constants, and all laws, rules, and conversions had to be memorized. No multiple choices. No fill-in-the-blanks. All were word problems that tested the limits of your knowledge and then some! I should of known this was going to be a humdinger of a class when I saw that the prereq to even get in was one semester of Calc or physics!
Never again will I knock a CC!!
It’s not so much WHERE you go to school, but HOW MUCH you get out of your education…and a good determiner of that culmination will be the MCAT.
So, do well at the CC…and then kick ass on the MCAT. All things are possible!!
Good luck!
-A