There is tremendous variation from state to state on what courses are offered at the CC level, so neither Wiggy nor Aime is entirely right or entirely wrong.
I always love hearing what Mary has to say. She always provides a balanced and unbiased opinion, and given my experience working in a NYC operating room for six years, she is right on target and doesn’t sugar-coat things.
As for the community college thing, it’s a tough call. Years ago, I went to Rutgers Engineering and took most of the med school pre-reqs as a freshman, though I had no intention of applying to medical school, and had to drop out to help support my family. Years later, when I decided to pursue medicine, I was advised to re-take all the BCPM courses, which essentially meant starting my bachelor’s from scratch. Since I was working full-time for a salary that didn’t allow me to save much, everyone pushed me to take my pre-med classes at one particular community college, and transfer to complete my bachelor’s degree.
This may be completely unique to the school I attended, but I was accepted into the honors program and taught by a professor who gave up his tenure on the chemistry faculty at Georgetown to move to NYC. As an immigrant, he felt it was more important to him career-wise to help young immigrants and disadvantaged city kids (and adults) to excel in the sciences. In my two years at that community college, I did significant research that led to nine presentations, including two at national American Chemical Society conferences. I taught workshops, coordinated the undergraduate research grant, and even tutored students from various CUNY schools, as well as NYU and Columbia.
I’m certainly not spectacular, but I worked hard and earned various opportunities mainly due to the fact that this community college was serious about educating students. There was no curve there…some semesters, 11 of 45 students got A’s in organic chemistry, and others, nobody earned an A. The professors there understood that many students had difficulties, since almost two-thirds were immigrants who were not yet proficient in English, many were dealing with socio-economic problems, and others (like me) were returning to school independently, with nobody to back them. They worked with us far more than professors at most institutions, which put us at an advantage compared to students at my current school, who clamor for time with an undergraduate teaching assistant. But their exams were on par with those given at prestigious universities. I studied harder to achieve A’s at QCC than I did at Rutgers years ago, or even at Stony Brook in 300 and 400 level courses.
I was accepted to Cornell and Columbia for transfer, but chose the Honors College at Stony Brook instead, since they offered me free tuition. I’m just preparing to sit for the MCAT; I’m taking a Kaplan course and I haven’t officially studied for the test yet. My “diagnostic” score was a 29, and on my first practice MCAT, I scored a 32. Maybe medical schools will doubt my education at QCC, but I believe I really learned the material better due to smaller class size and the fact that professors made themselves available for extra office hours. I hope that if I excel on the MCAT, it won’t matter that I chose to take my classes at a community college for a third the cost, since the MCAT is supposed to be the “great equalizer.”
That said, I took classes part-time at another community college umpteen years ago, in hopes of completing my engineering degree. The philosophy course I took there was rigorous and really wonderful, but my science courses were basically a joke…as long as you showed up and put forth some effort, you got an A. All community colleges are NOT the same. But then again, all universities are not the same. I recently got an A- in biochemistry with a 62 average, an A in cell biology with a 69 average, and an A in physical chemistry without knowing my final scores, but a 72 on the first two exams. Did I really learn enough to make me proficient in any of these subjects? I doubt it.
I’m no genius or exemplary student…I’m just determined to get into medical school because I love it for (and in spite of) the road ahead. I truly believe that all that matters wherever you choose to go is that you maintain high grades and do well enough on your MCAT to prove that your high grades are a result of your mastery of the material, as opposed to your ability to beat the curve.