Hi, my name is Rob I’m 38 years old, I work as an LPN and I’m planning on taking my basic sciences at a community college. Will this hurt me upon applying to medical school?
Rob, if you search for “community college” you’ll find lots of discussion about this. In general, you would be well-advised to do your science prerequisites at a four-year school. You will have to have a bachelor’s degree anyway, and by far your best tack will be to include the science prereqs in your time at a four-year school.
Mary
- Mary Renard Said:
Rob, if you search for "community college" you'll find lots of discussion about this. In general, you would be well-advised to do your science prerequisites at a four-year school. You will have to have a bachelor's degree anyway, and by far your best tack will be to include the science prereqs in your time at a four-year school.
Mary
Mary
I agree with this 100% I think you can do the "Soft stuff" Like english and psych and other things including any remedial math ( A lot of people need precalc classes these days) but save the Bio,Chem and physics for the 4 yr, you have plenty of time for those then.
I absolutely agree. 
Cheers,
Judy
I’m taking all my pre-reqs at a community college, because that’s the only place that offers the sciences at night, since I work full-time and have 2 kids… I plan on applying to both MD and DO schools, so, I hope this shouldn’t hurt my application…
- noor524 Said:
I'm taking all my pre-reqs at a community college, because that's the only place that offers the sciences at night, since I work full-time and have 2 kids.... I plan on applying to both MD and DO schools, so, I hope this shouldn't hurt my application...
It may hurt your chances at a number of schools, Why all the prereqs, is that all you need? If you are doing a full 4 years then you can do so many courses that will not matter.
- noor524 Said:
I'm taking all my pre-reqs at a community college, because that's the only place that offers the sciences at night, since I work full-time and have 2 kids.... I plan on applying to both MD and DO schools, so, I hope this shouldn't hurt my application...
As Bill said, it will hurt your application at least at some schools. If you have a bachelor's degree with an excellent undergrad GPA including some science courses already, it probably doesn't matter as much. But you need to know, you are up against people whose prereq credits will be from four-year schools; this is something you can't change.
I recommend that you keep looking and figure out a way to do at least some of your prereqs at a four-year school. If you really can't arrange to do the prereqs except at a CC, then my advice is, don't spend any more time fretting about it, and simply determine to buff the rest of your application so that it looks truly stellar; that will help with at least some schools.
If you already have a bachelor's degree (I'm assuming you do), and you do NOT have a very solid undergrad record, I would *very* strongly urge you to move heaven and earth to get your prereqs at a four-year school. You definitely can't afford to do CC if your previous undergrad career is sketchy.
hth
Mary
One thing I would like to add here, if it is the cost, some states the Undergrad at some colleges is as cheap as CC. That is true here in Georgia.
I understand its hard to believe but any University is better then what is thought as the Best CC, CC is CC and University is a University and thats how it is seen by the medical schools when this comes up.
All CC will not keep you from medical school but may limit the acceptances in competition.
Prolly already know the answer, but what about the community college that acts as a feeder into the local 4 year university?
We have a local cc that is cheaper, more convenient, and better schedule that as an added bonus, because a number of people use this cc for the first 2 years of school and the transfer to the 4 yr university, the university actually has a credit transfer arrangment with the community college in place. (long sentence I know)
I already have a 4 year degree so theoretically only need the pre-reqs to go to app stage…How do you think it would look doing the pre-reqs at that cc and then transfer the credits to the 4 year school, take a couple upper levels there and then apply?
- jdroger Said:
How do you think it would look doing the pre-reqs at that cc and then transfer the credits to the 4 year school, take a couple upper levels there and then apply?
IMHO, not as good as taking everything at the 4-year, but not entirely infeasible.
- jdroger Said:
Prolly already know the answer, but what about the community college that acts as a feeder into the local 4 year university?
We have a local cc that is cheaper, more convenient, and better schedule that as an added bonus, because a number of people use this cc for the first 2 years of school and the transfer to the 4 yr university, the university actually has a credit transfer arrangment with the community college in place. (long sentence I know)
I already have a 4 year degree so theoretically only need the pre-reqs to go to app stage...How do you think it would look doing the pre-reqs at that cc and then transfer the credits to the 4 year school, take a couple upper levels there and then apply?
We have a local cc that is cheaper, more convenient, and better schedule that as an added bonus, because a number of people use this cc for the first 2 years of school and the transfer to the 4 yr university, the university actually has a credit transfer arrangment with the community college in place. (long sentence I know)
I already have a 4 year degree so theoretically only need the pre-reqs to go to app stage...How do you think it would look doing the pre-reqs at that cc and then transfer the credits to the 4 year school, take a couple upper levels there and then apply?
The prereqs are best taken at a University, 100% of the time
CC is always, any cc, going to be a disadvantage.
No, that’s not true. For example, in the California system, people are expected to start at the CC. In Virginia, there is some degree of “reciprocity” between the CCs and the 4-year state schools, such that some CC courses can count toward major credits in some majors at some schools.
In the case of “feeder” CCs, you’ll most easily be able to make your case when you apply to that same state’s medical school. Other med schools won’t be as familiar with the “feeder” arrangement.
No question but that there is a risk to taking courses at a CC. Various people on here have dealt with this risk in many different ways. Everyone’s situation is different.
Mary
I am taking my first bio and first chemistry at a “feeder” community college this fall and then transfering into a 4-year university in the spring (mainly because my circumstances changed at the last minute to allow me to pursue this and was not able to apply in time to the 4-year - I opted to start on something rather than waste the whole semester). I’ll be transferring into a biology major with plenty of bio and chem courses. I’m assuming that those 2 little classes at the CC shouldn’t make too much difference if all the others are done at university? And assuming that it DOES make a difference come application time - is there some way that issue could be resolved at that time? I mean, if you’ve already taken high-level chemistries you can’t very well go back and take chem 101, can you?
Well, I don’t know how every last AdCom will view two lousy CC courses but it certainly won’t matter enough to require that you do something silly like repeat those two courses elsewhere.
Mary
How can I get financial aid if I already have a bachelor’s… Do they provide financial aid for non-degree seeking students? I was under the impression that they don’t
Yes, you can still get financial aid. There are two different ways to get federal financial aid. The first is to enroll as a degree-seeking student, even if you have no intention of finishing the degree. This will allow you to get federal aid up to whatever the $$ amount and/or credit hour limits are.
You are also eligible for 12 CONSECUTIVE months of financial aid to take courses that are pre-requisites for a professional degree program. I don’t believe it matters how you enroll for this strategy. I enrolled as a non-degree student and borrowed federal loans this way. The downside to this is that it’s very, very difficult to complete all of the pre-reqs in 12 months, so you may be stuck without any aid for a couple of terms.