Hi TicDocDoh, I'm not sure I understand what the problem is with going to CC. I'm planning on taking organic chem there (as a refresher, especially since I may need to retake it because of a crappy GPA when I finished my bachelor's) but it's stricly because of time constraints and money. Is this really a no-no for my med school application?? Thanks for your feedback!
Hi jjjordy,
The problem is one of perception by adcoms, not necessarily one of academic equivalence. Fair or not, grad school adcoms (med school adcoms in particular) tend to view community college courses as intended for "pre-bacc" students trying to be competitive for undergraduate (baccalaureate) admissions, not for "post-bac" students trying to be competitive for graduate admissions (masters, doctoral).
Many medical schools, including my own, say they will consider CC coursework if the applicant's baccalaureate degree-granting institution recognizes the CC course as being equivalent to its own and accepts them as transfer credit. This is largely because the traditional students have "upped their game" by taking CC courses while still in high school to be competitive for Early Assurance Programs (6-yr combined BS/MD). Alternatively, some college students take these courses to get ahead during the summer if their home institution doesn't offer the same course(s) during the summer term.
It gets tricky for non-trads because most of us have already graduated from college and our original degree-granting institutions would have no reason to accept these CC courses as transfer credits once our degrees are already in-hand. Med schools would see returning to an associates-level degree-granting institution as a step back instead of a step forward.
Is their argument rational? I would say no, but it depends on a lot of variables. I was a TA in college for one of my OChem professors. He taught the same class at a local CC on the side (Grossmont College to be exact if any of you are familiar with San Diego, CA) using the exact same textbooks, the exact same syllabus, the exact same lab exercises, and the exact same exams/quizzes he gave to his BA/BS students. But this is not always going to be the case everywhere and med schools know this.
Do I personally know of someone who got into med school taking their pre-reqs at a CC? Yes. But everyone's circumstances are different. He had a previous doctoral degree (JD) from law school so he proved he could do well in a professional, doctoral-level grad program. I'm not sure how much of a role (if any) his law degree played in overlooking the fact his pre-reqs were taken at a CC. YMMV.
If you do take your pre-reqs at a CC, you should be prepared to ace them and be able to give a rational explanation, just like you did here, when you write your personal statement and/or secondary applications. So to answer your question, it's not a deal-breaker per se, but it does make the application process a little rougher than it already is.