So far I have taken Gen Chem 1 and Bio 1 at a CC (Community College) and plan on taken Gen Chem 2 and Bio 2 during the summer at the same CC. My question is would it make a difference if I take Organic at a Uni or just stick to the CC. I do not really have the extra 4K but there is always student loans.
Thanks
i think you need to. doing CC puts you at a disadvantage already so doing Organic and doing well would make up for some of that
I tend to agree with gonnif. However, assuming you can do very well on your MCAT, then I’d stick to CC (where you’d need to land an A by the way).
There is always a risk. That’s my opinion. Plus I can tell you that after meeting with the adcoms of 2 the major schools in Dallas, CC are OK if you do well during your course, do well with the MCAT and if you already have a degree.
Yes, CCs are seen as a disadvantage, but more for regular students.
- redo-it-all Said:
I tend to agree with gonnif. However, assuming you can do very well on your MCAT, then I'd stick to CC (where you'd need to land an A by the way).
There is always a risk. That's my opinion. Plus I can tell you that after meeting with the adcoms of 2 the major schools in Dallas, CC are OK if you do well during your course, do well with the MCAT and if you already have a degree.
Yes, CCs are seen as a disadvantage, but more for regular students.
There is always a risk. That's my opinion. Plus I can tell you that after meeting with the adcoms of 2 the major schools in Dallas, CC are OK if you do well during your course, do well with the MCAT and if you already have a degree.
Yes, CCs are seen as a disadvantage, but more for regular students.
Rule 3: It Depends. I think redo hit the right spot with this. Adcoms look at your entire picture. So if you have a previous degree with few prereqs, decent GPA, etc. Then do prereqs at CC, do well, and do well on MCAT, you may have a minor disadvantage but not much. And redo, I'm gonna steal your line (my next set of rules maybe I have Re-Do-It-All's rule) It could be more a disadvantage for regular students, but they go on to 4 years schools and can bolster their course load. It's a wash. A non-trad with a busy life, on a tight budget, a family, full time job, but goes to CC at the same time is much more defensible then the regular student who just went to college. It would seem can be woven into a narrative on how committed you are.
That would make a good thread, showing committment
Gonnif
I like your post. Of course my claims are specific to the two schools I have talked to and both mentioned the fact that CC wouldn’t be harmful (in my case of course, because of the degree and responsibilities aside studying, which many olpremeds do have). Going to CC surely saves money, but for me, and likely for many oldpremeds, a biggest issue is time as 4 y university do not offer multiple time slots for a single class. The adcom folks I have talked to highly encouraged mentioning in the application all these issues, i.e. that right now, I am an American mom as I take care of my kids during the day, work part-time at night and fit classes where I can, while my wife (the real mom), works during the day.
I think I could afford (with my savings) to go to a 4 year. But most of the classes happen during the day, and my savings won’t cover both tuition and daycare for two kids ($20k for daycare alone). Besides, I have a PhD in Biochem, multiple publications, a number of cash and international awards in physics and chemistry for methodologies in infectious diseases ophthalmology and cosmetics, a patent for new therapies in heart diseases etc… I am teaching Biology and do not fear the MCAT (except perhaps for verbal, being non-english native). So I am sticking to my CC plan. I hope that with everything else, the CC stuff won’t even be brought up. I am taking Chem I right now, with perfect scores thus far, and will jump to OChem I during the semester (schedule issues). Right now, my priority is a 4.0 for my pre-req and I am aiming very high for the MCAT.
In a nutshell, CC will do fine or not do at all for me. We’ll see.
wow! sounds like you didn’t need to take the prereqs at all with a CV like that!
Gonnif
I wish you were right. But my PhD is from France (I have an MBA from an american univ, but this is useless when it comes to Med School), so although consideration of my foreign science coursework will be made, i still have to do the pre-reqs here. So, I am trying to enjoy the refresher. You know the saying: “triumph without peril brings no glory”.
Anyhow, that’s a good way to see what school looks like again.
You do make a good point … An “A” in Organic at a CC or a “B” at Uni. I think I would go with the “A” at CC.
Thomas, by the way, I talked to the DO school here in Dallas. I believe I have posted an email somewhere about their response regarding CC. One of the comment was that you are fine (not even at a disadvantage) provided that you have a good MCAT score and that your GPA is excellent. Now if you get Bs and Cs at a CC, they will take a “harsher” view at your application. In other words if you aren’t sure you can get As all along, then you should consider 4y. As far as OChem is concerned, you have to know that the exams are set by the American Chemistry Society and thus they are as challenging at a CC than at a 4Y (perhaps the curving may be a bit different).
My opinion, you already understood this from my previous comments, is you should go for CC but make sure you maintain a very high GPA.
I mentioned elsewhere that the University of Washington medical school says it doesn’t care where you take the classes, as long as it’s an accredited school. I have to believe that an A at a CC is more impressive to them than a B at Case Western. They want to see (1) valid coursework, (2) grades, and (3) MCAT scores. Don’t know how, or if, this applies at other schools, but my sense is that doing well in classes (both knowledge-wise and grade-wise) is far more important than how prestigious the undergrad institution where you took them.
In the past, the general perceived “ranking” of the undergraduate institution was usually taken into account by adcoms. I believe when initial screening of applications was mostly done via numeric cut-off forumlas of GPA, MCAT, etc, a small weighting was assigned to the undergraduate institution was included by some adcoms.
That seems to be not so much the case anymore particularly as there the variety and background of applicants has significantly changed over the past two decades. To paraphrase what a previous poster wrote: the more parts of your application that fit together, the better you are as an applicant. So getting an A at a CC, a good overall GPA, and good MCAT, etc makes you as a whole package shine.
Perhaps OldPreMeds is at the leading edge of the Community College paradigm as it applies to medical school application. Definitely something we as an organization should push.
I would disagree that an A at CC is more impressive than a B at a rigorous 4 year school. Fair or not (and sometimes it is fair), a lot of people in academia still hold the view that CCs are far less challenging than 4 year institutions. Although I know many people have gotten excellent educations at CCs, there are also many CCs and their associated courses that are little more than glorified high schools. This is why the MCAT becomes more important if you take your pre-reqs at a CC. A strong MCAT goes a long way towards alleviating any concerns an adcom might have about CC coursework.