Thanks for the opportunity to ask questions.
As my username suggests, my son is a pre-med student. I have my concerns.
He attended college at ages 18 and 19, but wasn’t very serious and received mostly W’s and F’s. At age 21, he petitioned to have his previous grades expunged and he was successful. He is enrolled at a local community college and now has a very high grade-point, close to a 4.0. After his sophomore year, he moved to a four-year institution and was unsuccessful. Again, he was able to get those grades expunged and he returned to the community college. He has 110 hours at the community college level and does very well. He continues to pursue his dream of going to medical school. He shadows my cousin, a doctor, at the local hospital.
I don’t believe my son will be successful because I don’t think he can go from a community college directly to medical school, but he feels that I don’t understand what it takes to be a doctor and that I’m not supportive of him. I would LOVE for my son to be a doctor, but I don’t see that happening.
Thoughts?
Thanks in advance for your input.
Is he faltering at a four year institution due to the academic rigor? Why does he do well at the community college and not at the four year institution?
Perhaps that might be more of a red flag than the community college issue.
I would expect its the academic rigor, but he explained it was the lack of personal attention (same thing?).
As you know, its expensive to provide this education. I don’t want to discontinue my financial support if he can be successful in his pursuit of a medical degree. I’m becoming disenchanted though and wondering if his path can lead to success?
One more question that I meant to ask earlier: since his previous grades have been expunged, does this mean it is as if they never happened? He is sure that he won’t have to report them, but I wonder.
I also apologize if I’m at the wrong site for all these questions. I am just trying to gather some additional information while trying to determine how best to deal with this situation.
Practically speaking, bachelor’s degree is required to get into medical school. I think there are some medical schools only requiring 90 credit hours but it’s very rare to be admitted without a bachelor’s degree.
Even if your son applies to a medical school which requires only 90 credit hours, it is highly unlikely that he’ll get in with only CC credits. He needs to transfer to a 4-yr university and take advanced science courses to show that he can handle the load/rigors of 4-yr university.
I would say to look at Carribean medical schools. However, I know that students that did attend 4 year universities are struggling at even those school’s. I was under the impression that most medical school’s want you to attend a 4 year to see if you can hack it, as they do not give personal attention either. In fact, I understand it is more rigorous in their expectations and requirements than universities. Maybe he needs to do a quarter at the university with a very light load. Sign him up for tutor’s. It may be worth the money.