Pre-reqs at community college

Hey all,


I know there have been posts on this topic in the past, but ive been out of the loop for a few months. Please forgive any repetition.


Anyhow, in a nutshell, here is my story. I have all but 2 pre-req classes completed, and the rest of them have been completed over the course of several years. (Lots of starting and stopping, family issues, career changes, etc…)


At the end of the month Im moving 1,100 miles away to D.C. Now that I’m relatively ok with the notion that this journey moving along much slower than I had planned, I’m thinking of just retaking my pre-reqs all from scratch. Like a total course re-do. (I had a slew of C’s and D’s from my “young and stupid” days…)


New environment, new schools, new state of mind, why not?


What is everyones opinion on taking pre-reqs at a community college? Is it frowned upon by adcoms?


Thanks!

Putnam.


While taking some classes in a community college, or even getting an AA degree is OK, taking prerequisites is not OK… and REPEATING prerequisites is even worse.


At this point you don’t only want to repeat the classes because your old classes are…OLD, but you want to get better grades, because Cs and Ds won’t cut it. You want to take these classes in a 4 year institution not only to prove that you can get grades med schools expect you to get, but you want to show them that you are able to perform well in a rigorous academic environment.


I guess it’s might be the answer you hoped not to get; maybe some people think differently, but it was my opinion.


Good luck with you classes… and in DC area you should be in shortage of schools/ programs to choose from.

I wholeheartedly agree with madkasia on this.


Prove that you can do these courses in a rigorous environment and do WELL. As in, get A’s to make up for your C’s and D’s. You want to show the ADCOMS an “upward trend” in your grades–that is one of the thing they look for if you have some lower grades from your “young and stupid” years, as you call them.


Since you’ve already taken some of the courses, you have an advantage–you have gone through the material before, so at least some, and hopefully a good bit, will come back to you in the duration of the classes. That gives you a leg up.


Good luck, with both the move and the coursework!

Generally, courses completed at 4-year colleges are considered to be better indicators of your preparation to handle a graduate medical curriculum. But if you need to, It is OK to take one or two courses at a community college provided that most of your courses, especially, organic chemistry and physics, are completed at a 4-year college. If you take introductory biology at a community college, I would strongly encourage you to consider taking additional two advanced biology courses such as genetics, biochemistry, anatomy and physiology, human parasitology, etc at a 4-yr college. This will show that you have a good foundation for your first year in medical school. Since you will be repeating some of the courses, it is more important that you get A’s and B+ wherever you take the courses. I hope this is helpful. Good luck!

Thanks guys for all of your advice. I forgot to mention in my original post, that I have taken 90% of my advanced biology courses, everything except for cell bio and an elective. So thats all taken care of. I’m 4 courses shy of my biology degree. Its just those darn pre-reqs that are killing me. Physics and Organic never agreed with me.


I guess it does make sense to re-take my pre-reqs at a 4 year college and register as a “non degree seeking student” - I’m not worried about how long it will take anymore, I just want to do this the right way once and for all.