Attending Multiple Schools(appreciate if Adcom could input)

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I am in the process of re-working my schedule so I can gain admittance into the engineering department at a university.

I am a current community college student, lets call it college A.
Now, there are courses offered at a different community college, college B, that would make for a much nicer schedule and get my pre-reqs done for the university.

But, I have also already attended another university, for a math course, and will probably attend for a physics course, and an ochem course.

Then I will ulitmatley transfer out and attend the university I want.

That is a total of; 2 community colleges, and 2 universities.


I don't want to give the impression that I "jump" colleges or try to get into easier courses, etc. But the way the engineering department admits, I have to take certain courses and this would be the easiest way, without losing a full year.(Admits 1 time per year and only offers courses during those quarters.)

I guess that is the problem, along with taking courses "split" up.

For example, taking Calculus I at college A, Calc II at university 1, and then Calculus III at college B.

Physics at college B, and then Physics II at university 1, and Physics III at university 2.

OChem I at university I, and then the rest at University 2.

Those are my concerns, and I know that medical schools do not like to see courses split up like this, because of the difference in material covered.

Will getting good grades throw out any concern from adcoms?

But, if anything I searched around and all the courses will transfer to the final university(university 2) for full credit. Does that make any difference? Or should I just wait to take the courses at 1 school?( Will most likely either not transfer into engineering or go to a different school in the end)

Originally Posted by Adrenaline21

I am in the process of re-working my schedule so I can gain admittance into the engineering department at a university.

I am a current community college student, lets call it college A.
Now, there are courses offered at a different community college, college B, that would make for a much nicer schedule and get my pre-reqs done for the university.

But, I have also already attended another university, for a math course, and will probably attend for a physics course, and an ochem course.

Then I will ulitmatley transfer out and attend the university I want.

That is a total of; 2 community colleges, and 2 universities.


I don't want to give the impression that I "jump" colleges or try to get into easier courses, etc. But the way the engineering department admits, I have to take certain courses and this would be the easiest way, without losing a full year.(Admits 1 time per year and only offers courses during those quarters.)

I guess that is the problem, along with taking courses "split" up.

For example, taking Calculus I at college A, Calc II at university 1, and then Calculus III at college B.

Physics at college B, and then Physics II at university 1, and Physics III at university 2.

OChem I at university I, and then the rest at University 2.

Those are my concerns, and I know that medical schools do not like to see courses split up like this, because of the difference in material covered.

Will getting good grades throw out any concern from adcoms?

But, if anything I searched around and all the courses will transfer to the final university(university 2) for full credit. Does that make any difference? Or should I just wait to take the courses at 1 school?( Will most likely either not transfer into engineering or go to a different school in the end)

Ummm....

First I'll just say an adcom is probably going to ask you why you did this and the explaination provided on here does not really make all that much sense. Attending one CC and then transferring to a Uni is fine, but it seems like you are attending three different schools right now and just like to jump between all of them with a final goal of attending an engineering program at Uni 2.

Another thing to be concerned about it how all these courses line up. Is Calc I taught at college A in a way that it may make for a difficult transfer to Uni 1 and then to college B. Examples of this would be you learn all of Calc I using a calculator and then are like WTF when you go to the Uni and you can no longer use a calculator - what are you going to do? Or Calc I doesn't actually cover everything up to Cal II because the CC moves at a slower pace and then you are "behind" when you get to the Uni. Think about this for all of your courses like physics and o-chem cause each school will teach them in a different way.

The other thing I would be worried about is letters of rec. How do you plan to get to know any of your professors if you literally see them for a term and then are gone. Making relationships with them could prove very difficult only taking one quarter of coursework from them.

I started at a community college. The current cc I attend does not offer the equivalent transfer course for Calculus III until the spring quarter(the only quarter that engineering department admits), so I took the course at a different community college.

The same for the physics course. Only the first course from the community college will transfer, the rest of the series must be taken or it will not transfer the next two courses.(the series ends spring) Hence why I take the first course at the cc and the second at the university(1). I would have taken both at the university(1) but the Fall quarter for physics had no openings.


All these courses were required to be admitted into the department, and thus, I had to take them like this. Then I finished off the remaining courses at university 2, my final university. Where the biology series will be completed, the last physics course, and the rest of the organic chemistry series.


Does that explanation make a little more sense?

Originally Posted by Adrenaline21

I started at a community college. The current cc I attend does not offer the equivalent transfer course for Calculus III until the spring quarter(the only quarter that engineering department admits), so I took the course at a different community college.

The same for the physics course. Only the first course from the community college will transfer, the rest of the series must be taken or it will not transfer the next two courses.(the series ends spring) Hence why I take the first course at the cc and the second at the university(1). I would have taken both at the university(1) but the Fall quarter for physics had no openings.


All these courses were required to be admitted into the department, and thus, I had to take them like this. Then I finished off the remaining courses at university 2, my final university. Where the biology series will be completed, the last physics course, and the rest of the organic chemistry series.


Does that explanation make a little more sense?

No. I'm so confused lol. Are you giving me an explanation like you would an adcom in the future or is this currently the case?

The second block of text makes no sense to me whatsoever- "the rest of the series must be taken or it will not transfer the next two courses".... um what?

So you already took Calc I and Calc II, but did not take calc III last year in the spring for some reason? and now you are being forced to take it somewhere else so you can start an engineering program that starts this spring?

Questions like, "But why did you jump to university 1 for calc II, why didn't you just take it at college A?" are probably going to come up because it just smells fishy...

To me it looks like a lot of poor planning, but I can see how you would be forced to either make a jumbled mess of it like this or spend three years at the first CC.

IDK, I'm not really clear on when/where courses were take, what still needs to be taken, and when/where they are are going to be taken.

Originally Posted by DAPI

No. I'm so confused lol. Are you giving me an explanation like you would an adcom in the future or is this currently the case? I am just explaining what will happen should I pursue going into the engineering degree.

The second block of text makes no sense to me whatsoever- "the rest of the series must be taken or it will not transfer the next two courses".... um what? So I will take Physics I in the Fall at a CC, then Physics II at a university, and Physics III at the engineering university.
The reason I have to do this is because only physics I from the community college will transfer. That is why I would take physics II at a university that is close by(not the engineering university).

So you already took Calc I and Calc II, but did not take calc III last year in the spring for some reason? and now you are being forced to take it somewhere else so you can start an engineering program that starts this spring?
I took Calculus I in the spring. Calculus II was offered in the summer at a local university so I took it. Calculus III will not be offered by the community college until next spring. And now if I want to transfer within the 2 year mark, I need to take Calculus III at a different school.

Questions like, "But why did you jump to university 1 for calc II, why didn't you just take it at college A?" are probably going to come up because it just smells fishy.. It was offered in the summer whereas the cc didn't offer it until the fall, where it was conflicting with physics. Calc 2 was offered during 11am, physics starts at 10:30am ends at 12.It was recommended that I completed Calculus II in the summer at the local university so that I could do Calculus III in the Fall.

To me it looks like a lot of poor planning, but I can see how you would be forced to either make a jumbled mess of it like this or spend three years at the first CC. Yes, it is ultimately my fault, I should've researched the deadlines for acceptance, as opposed to listening to my adviser tell me about how all of the majors admit in the Fall.
IDK, I'm not really clear on when/where courses were take, what still needs to be taken, and when/where they are are going to be taken.

Taken:
Calculus I- community college
Calculus II- local university


To be taken:
Calculus III- potentially at a different community college than I am attending.
Physics I- Same community college as calculus III
Physics II- same university as calculus II
Physics III-Engineering university.

Thanks for inputting your advice and help thus far.

Originally Posted by Adrenaline21

Thanks for inputting your advice and help thus far.

I think you will be fine as long as you explain it clearly if asked about it. Med schools don't want someone taking classes at a university, maybe for a non-science major, and taking the toughest "weed out" classes at easier schools/community colleges. The fact that you are taking the more difficult courses (such as orgo) at a university/universities and just taking pre-reqs that you need to transfer at the CC's should prove you are not trying to artificially inflate your grades. If the best bet to get done what you need to get done with as little expense as possible is what you are describing, go with it and worry about explaining the why later. Unless you are dead set on one of the one or two schools that will absolutely not accept any CC credit for pre-reqs, you should be fine.

I think if you can explain why you had to switch around courses at different schools well during an interview, it shouldn't be a problem.

You took Calc I at a community college, and Calc II at a university, and then Calc III at a community college? That would be only thing that might be concerning, but then again an engineering major might just debunk that all together.

Explain the best you can, get As, rock your MCAT. We are living in an evolving society. I, too, am bouncing all over. It isn't your "fault" courses arent offered when you need them to continue your education. Get As, Rick your MCAT, do great EC and shadowing.

I've already seen someone this year who attended 7 schools in 7 years. As it turned out, it was a situation such as yours and didn't have a negative effect on the applicant.

Meh I attended 7 schools in 3-4 years- but thats because I was in community college and couldn't get classes at 1 institution and was dead set on transferring out in 2 years lol

Originally Posted by theseeker4

I think you will be fine as long as you explain it clearly if asked about it. Med schools don't want someone taking classes at a university, maybe for a non-science major, and taking the toughest "weed out" classes at easier schools/community colleges. The fact that you are taking the more difficult courses (such as orgo) at a university/universities and just taking pre-reqs that you need to transfer at the CC's should prove you are not trying to artificially inflate your grades. If the best bet to get done what you need to get done with as little expense as possible is what you are describing, go with it and worry about explaining the why later. Unless you are dead set on one of the one or two schools that will absolutely not accept any CC credit for pre-reqs, you should be fine.

Thanks. Yea, I hope that by taking ochem at a university as opposed to my cc will show them I can handle university work and am not trying to take all pre-reqs at a cc.

I don't suppose you know of schools that don't care about cc work, I know a few. But not all.

Originally Posted by HipChick

Explain the best you can, get As, rock your MCAT. We are living in an evolving society. I, too, am bouncing all over. It isn't your "fault" courses arent offered when you need them to continue your education. Get As, Rick your MCAT, do great EC and shadowing.

Thanks. Exactly, the college only offers courses one time a year, and its difficult to mend my schedule in order to take it at that specific time.

Originally Posted by LizzyM

I've already seen someone this year who attended 7 schools in 7 years. As it turned out, it was a situation such as yours and didn't have a negative effect on the applicant.

Awesome. This is exactly what I was looking for. Its good to know that it didn't affect them negatively. Thanks!

Originally Posted by nabilesmail

Meh I attended 7 schools in 3-4 years- but thats because I was in community college and couldn't get classes at 1 institution and was dead set on transferring out in 2 years lol

Yup, it sucks that they only offer courses 1 time a year. I really wanted to transfer out in a full two years, but the engineering department only offers that specific pre-req into the department during the spring, so I get cut a quarter short and have to deal with getting all the admission reqs done.