Has anyone here or anyone you know successfully been admitted after doing their ‘post-bacc’ pre-reqs, i.e. missing science coursework, at a community college?
I’ve been attending the local community college (Northern Va Comm College) and taking my bio, statistics, psych, inorganic chem, and next semester, orgo & eventually, phys classes.
My original plan to go to George Mason failed after the commute (1 hr each way) just bulloxed everything up. Plus, the tuition is 3x as expensive, especially with the current economic conditions, which really creates undue external stress, IMO.
Background on me: BA in English, Maryland (3.4), Grad work in Communication, Georgetown (3.8), prereqs post-bacc, NVCC (3.7). Working as scribe at local ER, have worked in school clinic x 3 years, worked as certified personal trainer x 3 years. We live in Ashburn & have three kids.
I’ve heard of a few folks who have been admitted to med school with similar circumstances, but I want to hear it from the ‘horse’s mouth.’ GW’s web site, in particular, indicates that pre-reqs can be at a community college. Some various med schools list this as well. On the other hand, some specifically state that pre-reqs cannot be at community college.
Please advise.
Thanks!
This is a topic that interests me as well. I’ve not seen much evidence on the few forum boards I’ve searched, but I did find a few cases on MDApps that seemed to be of the type you have asked about. In some of these profiles, you have to go to the “Discussions” tab and read through the comments…
See my response in this thread: http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?t…
hey, I also searched the topic on studentdoctor.net and found mixed answers. certainly, many people stated that they were accepted w/comm college prereqs. but also, many warned against. hhmmmm…
thanks.
Hey, Alex. I think what’s more important than whether anyone on here has done it is whether you’re going to be able to do it. Many of us here advocate that you speak directly with the medical schools’ admissions offices in which you’re interested in attending. This is going to be your best source of information.
Best of luck!
OMTDAVE did. I highly recommend you read his diary. I am in the same boat. You will here so many different opinions on here. I really believe the MCAT will tell the story.
From his post …
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thomasfx10 -
I did almost all of my prereqs (with the exception of physics that I had at DeVry in 1982) at community colleges due to time/money constraints. No one said a word about it until I had a chance meeting with the associate dean outside the library one morning. He told me to my face that I shouldn’t be there and he would not have admitted me with my DeVry degree and community college prereqs. I thought to myself,“Well, it’s nice to know that God and the adcom thought differently. You didn’t let me in and I’ll be here until I either graduate or God is done with me here!”. Note that it was right at the start of my repeat 1st year that this conversation took place.
He turned out to really be in my corner and put in a good word for me at a few residency programs, so take it for what it’s worth.
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Go here …
http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?t…
I wish I could point you to a website, but I’m not on message boards very often and all I can offer is that I know plenty of CC grads, and folks who took pre-reqs at CCs, who are currently medical students or residents.
When I decided to go back to school full-time, I was careful in researching the best options at the cheapest price. While at a community college, I presented research at three national conferences (American Chemical Society) and countless regional and local conferences (ACS and others). My honors adviser taught the same organic chemistry (with the same exams) as he taught at Georgetown. I was accepted to Columbia, UPenn, and Cornell for transfer, but chose the free admission offered by my state school’s honors college.
Others who graduated before me are currently medical students at Columbia, Duke, Cornell, and a variety of NY state schools. So I’m trusting that my high GPA and MCAT will be taken seriously when I apply next year.