How did you decide? CC, 2nd deg, post bacc?

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HipChick

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Im just not sure of the best route.

I have absolutely NO problems taking as many courses as I can at a community college. But is that the best route? Or would a better route be a second degree or post bacc?

About me: 32 years old, married, 4 year old. BS (2003) 3.43, MS (2011) 3.2. Neither in hard sciences (BS Athletic Training, MS Athletic Administration). Science courses I took: Chem 1 B+ (2000/2010), Physics 1 B(2000/retaking this sem), Bio 1(C, min grad required to transerfer credits).

For my BS I have 174 credits. So I'm sure that even with Rocking out and getting all As doing the program ala carte, theres no budging that GPA.

Ideas for my situation?

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Im just not sure of the best route.

I have absolutely NO problems taking as many courses as I can at a community college. But is that the best route? Or would a better route be a second degree or post bacc?

About me: 32 years old, married, 4 year old. BS (2003) 3.43, MS (2011) 3.2. Neither in hard sciences (BS Athletic Training, MS Athletic Administration). Science courses I took: Chem 1 B+ (2000/2010), Physics 1 B(2000/retaking this sem), Bio 1(C, min grad required to transerfer credits).

For my BS I have 174 credits. So I'm sure that even with Rocking out and getting all As doing the program ala carte, theres no budging that GPA.

Ideas for my situation?

I believe that after you recieve a bachelors degree, any class you take in an undergraduate setting are considered post-bacc and will be averaged into your undergrad GPA repeat course policy AACOMAS not withstanding. If you do super well in the post-bacc classes in a formal setting such as a school with a program specifically for pre-meds with similar needs it would be looked upon more favorably by adcoms vs a CC.

What is your EC and work experiences like?

Are you shooting for DO or MD?

Finish up the any pre reqs with A's and score high on the MCAT and you should be fine.
 
An ala carte PB at a 4yr is better than a CC. Your GPA doesn't need much, but you need all your pre-reqs. If you can only do them at a CC fine, but if you can do them at a 4yr that's better. Getting a decent GPA in those is important, I'd say 3.75 or better. Otherwise, you could look at an SMP for career changers, which would be way more expensive, and I don't think necessary, but its up to you... My only real concern with your stats is the 3.2 in th Masters work...
 
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Ive been working as an certified athletic trainer for the past almost 9 years (with 4-5years before that as a student). Direct patient care right there. Everyday, all day, in rain, sleet, snow...
EC? Im new so I assume extracurriculars? Not much times for those, but I am apart of a roller derby team, a facilitator of a Leadership program for the high school football program, supervisor for the "unofficial" student athletic training aid group, yada yada... Student presentations in medical occupations class, I serve as a volunteer rotation site for medical students and family med residents (THAT IS FUN!).

Yes, I know that Master's degree will be a HUGE HUGE HUGE blemish on my record. That and the fact that it took 7 years to finish. There are lots of circumstances surrounding the low gpa (I can explain if needed), but the fact is that its there and nothing I can do now but live and learn :(

I am willing to try and do anything I can. The only formal post bacc program is too far away. Hence why I was vaguely considering a second degree, just not sure. I was going to finish up some of my courses at the CC, then head over to a 4 year (not close) for the upper level.

Are there any additional courses that you would recommend? Besides the standard prereqs? I was thinking genetics? biochem?
 
Ive been working as an certified athletic trainer for the past almost 9 years (with 4-5years before that as a student). Direct patient care right there. Everyday, all day, in rain, sleet, snow...
EC? Im new so I assume extracurriculars? Not much times for those, but I am apart of a roller derby team, a facilitator of a Leadership program for the high school football program, supervisor for the "unofficial" student athletic training aid group, yada yada... Student presentations in medical occupations class, I serve as a volunteer rotation site for medical students and family med residents (THAT IS FUN!).

Yes, I know that Master's degree will be a HUGE HUGE HUGE blemish on my record. That and the fact that it took 7 years to finish. There are lots of circumstances surrounding the low gpa (I can explain if needed), but the fact is that its there and nothing I can do now but live and learn :(

I am willing to try and do anything I can. The only formal post bacc program is too far away. Hence why I was vaguely considering a second degree, just not sure. I was going to finish up some of my courses at the CC, then head over to a 4 year (not close) for the upper level.

Are there any additional courses that you would recommend? Besides the standard prereqs? I was thinking genetics? biochem?

Those all sound like reasonable extra curriculars. I think shadowing a MD or DO for 100-200 hours is a really good idea. In my opinion anything you can do to strengthen your application by diverting an adcoms attention away from the grad GPA is key.

I would not worry too much about the formal post bacc. Take the remaining pre reqs and get A's, taking biochem, genetics, stats or quantative biology, micro, immunology, virology, parasitology, pharmacology, or really any upper level science that shows adcoms your want to be a physician, and do well helps your case.

Im basically in the same GPA boat as you are except im a CSCS/clinical nutritionist, a bit younger and no kids. A strong MCAT will really balance out some of the GPA issues as well.

And develop a relationship with your science professors especially the ones who give you A's. This will equivocate to strong Letters of rec.
 
Those all sound like reasonable extra curriculars. I think shadowing a MD or DO for 100-200 hours is a really good idea. In my opinion anything you can do to strengthen your application by diverting an adcoms attention away from the grad GPA is key.

I would not worry too much about the formal post bacc. Take the remaining pre reqs and get A's, taking biochem, genetics, stats or quantative biology, micro, immunology, virology, parasitology, pharmacology, or really any upper level science that shows adcoms your want to be a physician, and do well helps your case.

Im basically in the same GPA boat as you are except im a CSCS/clinical nutritionist, a bit younger and no kids. A strong MCAT will really balance out some of the GPA issues as well.

And develop a relationship with your science professors especially the ones who give you A's. This will equivocate to strong Letters of rec.

Haahaa I was a Dietetics double major with Athletic Training! I dropped it to a minor but it is still a strong suit for me. Shadowing a doc is no prob. Literally I could drop into the clinic I'm affilicated with and shadow an ortho or PA, or go to my personal ortho (MD), family doc (DO). I've already talked to my moms former oncologist(MD) and my former sports med director (DO). I've got some shadowing, just gotta get more.
My strength is that I already have so much hands on care, basically ALL non supervised. I wish I could use LOR from the parents of my students!:laugh:
 
Haahaa I was a Dietetics double major with Athletic Training! I dropped it to a minor but it is still a strong suit for me. Shadowing a doc is no prob. Literally I could drop into the clinic I'm affilicated with and shadow an ortho or PA, or go to my personal ortho (MD), family doc (DO). I've already talked to my moms former oncologist(MD) and my former sports med director (DO). I've got some shadowing, just gotta get more.
My strength is that I already have so much hands on care, basically ALL non supervised. I wish I could use LOR from the parents of my students!:laugh:

Well...you can if you like. All schools are going to ask for a letter from a professor or advisor and a doc from your choice medicinal modality. Some also suggest strong letters from employers so I believe that any individual that can attest to you skills would be useful. Profs and docs are going to carry the most weight but I wouldn't rule it out.
 
Im just not sure of the best route.

I have absolutely NO problems taking as many courses as I can at a community college. But is that the best route? Or would a better route be a second degree or post bacc?

About me: 32 years old, married, 4 year old. BS (2003) 3.43, MS (2011) 3.2. Neither in hard sciences (BS Athletic Training, MS Athletic Administration). Science courses I took: Chem 1 B+ (2000/2010), Physics 1 B(2000/retaking this sem), Bio 1(C, min grad required to transerfer credits).

For my BS I have 174 credits. So I'm sure that even with Rocking out and getting all As doing the program ala carte, theres no budging that GPA.

Ideas for my situation?

You want to make sure that you get A's in your prerequisites. I did all of mine in a community college. It was cheaper and I did well. If you have the money to take classes in 4 year universities and can get A's, go for it. You GPA is not too terrible, so I would not say a 2nd degree is needed. Just try to do well on the MCAT.
 
an ala carte pb at a 4yr is better than a cc. Your gpa doesn't need much, but you need all your pre-reqs. If you can only do them at a cc fine, but if you can do them at a 4yr that's better. Getting a decent gpa in those is important, i'd say 3.75 or better. Otherwise, you could look at an smp for career changers, which would be way more expensive, and i don't think necessary, but its up to you... My only real concern with your stats is the 3.2 in th masters work...

+1000
 
The only reason to do classes at a CC is if you can't afford to take classes at a 4 year or if the CC near you offers a class(es) that your 4 year for some reason does not. For instance if your 4 year is a liberal arts school that doesn't offer embryology or some other upper level class.

If you have the money to pay for classes at a 4year, do it. If not, taking them at a CC won't sink you.
 
The only reason to do classes at a CC is if you can't afford to take classes at a 4 year or if the CC near you offers a class(es) that your 4 year for some reason does not. For instance if your 4 year is a liberal arts school that doesn't offer embryology or some other upper level class.

If you have the money to pay for classes at a 4year, do it. If not, taking them at a CC won't sink you.

No, we can't afford the four year locally. Its $350 a credit hour and I would have to pay upper level fees so it may be more like $450/ch... yeah no. I could drive to my hometown an hour away and it would be $230. Thats a better option because I can use my family as a kid watcher. I know I'll end up taking some courses at the 4 year, like my upper level bios. But I was thinking chem 1/2, phys 1/2, and basic bio with lab/micro with lab at the CC. Then genetics, biochem, etc at the 4 year.
 
No, we can't afford the four year locally. Its $350 a credit hour and I would have to pay upper level fees so it may be more like $450/ch... yeah no. I could drive to my hometown an hour away and it would be $230. Thats a better option because I can use my family as a kid watcher. I know I'll end up taking some courses at the 4 year, like my upper level bios. But I was thinking chem 1/2, phys 1/2, and basic bio with lab/micro with lab at the CC. Then genetics, biochem, etc at the 4 year.


Take it at the CC then. ADCOMs understand that nontrads are supporting themselves and can't afford to take classes anywhere they want.
 
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OH! Cool. now to overcome that stupid grad degree :mad:
 
Community colleges are not all the same. Some community college students are not going to the community college nearest where they live. Some stop going to one they dislike and switch to a different community college.

Four year universities vary at least as much as community colleges. Most are more or less unknown. There are at least a hundred four year universities whose official view is that evolution is false and the earth is young, i.e. 6000 years old.

Going to a 4 year university will not automatically get you better results than any community college, either in quality of education, or your admissions chances, or general prestige.


Very rarely will ADCOMs prefer to see CC credits to 4year uni credits.
 
I am trying to decide formal post bacc or ala carte myself right now. If you can avoid CC...do it. Those are never held in high regard and anyone will tell you avoid CC if you can. Taking them ala carte may be good for you since you say that the post bacc programs near you have some qualifications you don't currently meet.

If student A went to a CC for their science courses and student B went to a 4 year school....and let us say they both have the same GPA and general qualifications. Person B does serve a better chance. Some schools even say they WILL NOT accept CC courses while others just say they discourage it. Whenever a medical school says they discourage something...don't do it.
 
To CC or not to CC is a constantly debated topic here, and one that I wrestled with myself before choosing where to take my post-back classes. From what I've gathered, going to a CC may or may not hurt you, but it will pretty much never help you. Regardless of the actual education you receive, whoever reads your med school app is going to be human, and humans can have prejudices.

Whatever you decide to do, please don't forget to take all advice you receive here (including my own) with a grain of salt. You will find differing opinions of varying degrees on every debatable topic possible. It's very overwhelming when you first start exploring this site, and very easy to to simply agree with posters who are posting opinions you want to agree with. Everybody here is trying to be helpful, but a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, so be sure to follow up with some research of your own.
 
Lots of conjecture on the subject, as you can see....Personally I decided to ignore the conventional wisdom that CC is awful....I decided to take my classes (part time only) mixed between the CC and the local private 4 year univ.

My reasoning was
1) that one 4 credit hour class at the Private 4 year univ. was $2800.....one 4 credit hr class at the CC was about $400.....
2)Sometimes classes were offered at a better time at one institution than the other....which would justify the added cost if I went to the private university.

I figure if I take my harder classes like O-Chem at the 4 year that should at least show I'm capable of doing well regardless of the institution.

Good Luck in making your choice!
 
I also came to a similar conclusion. Granted, I took one course at a CC and am about to take another (Chem 1 and 2). It came down to a number of factors for me: 1) I feel pretty confident in my chem ability, 2) I took more challenging classes at 4 yr colleges (organic chemistry sequence at UC Berkeley for example) and 3) cost/schedule (the total cost of two semester of chem at my local cc was under 500... almost anywhere else it would have topped 5 grand). And, at least for Chem 1, I took it while working full time and traveling and it was the only class that fit in my schedule.

I haven't gotten into medical school yet, but I doubt my hold up will be my two cc chem classes (much more likely to be something like a poor MCAT score).



Lots of conjecture on the subject, as you can see....Personally I decided to ignore the conventional wisdom that CC is awful....I decided to take my classes (part time only) mixed between the CC and the local private 4 year univ.

My reasoning was
1) that one 4 credit hour class at the Private 4 year univ. was $2800.....one 4 credit hr class at the CC was about $400.....
2)Sometimes classes were offered at a better time at one institution than the other....which would justify the added cost if I went to the private university.

I figure if I take my harder classes like O-Chem at the 4 year that should at least show I'm capable of doing well regardless of the institution.

Good Luck in making your choice!
 
OH! Cool. now to overcome that stupid grad degree :mad:
I wouldn't worry too much about the grad degree, since you can't do anything about it now as it is. If you get A's in all your pre-reqs and a few upper-level sciences, and get a great MCAT score, that will hold a lot more weight with adcoms than a random (to them) masters program. Be ready to explain it to them, but I doubt it will sink your application.
 
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This thread is really helpful. I've searched the other threads, but most werent in similar situations.

There is no "grade repair" in my case. I have a 3.43 with 174 credits. Nothings going to budge that. And the only reason I retook chem 1 and am retaking physics 1 and bio is to refresh me for the MCAT since its been about 10 years since I took them last. and I hate physics...

Im debating on taking the chem series at the CC. I really enjoy my professor, and he also teaches at a small university further away. Im hoping to stick with him through chem 1/2 and orgo 1/2 so I can get a good letter of rec.

My work hours and direct patient contact I'm hoping, will make up for the negative CC stigma. I guess when it comes down to it, MCAT it is :/
 
Maybe stanford rejected me pre-interview because of CC? I'll never know, but who cares. There are lots of great schools out there.
I know of a couple of med students at Stanford with CC classes. They were URM, so you can factor that into the equation if you want or not.
 
My story is similar to other users here.

2nd Bachelors? Nope. State school close by doesn't allow it, and the private schools require an arm and a leg. Even if I student loaned it all (60k for the 2 years), I'd have $0 for living expenses for a program that requires no work outside school.

Post-Bacc program? Nope, cost as much as private school even at state school.

Non-degree student? Nope, will end up in the back of the waiting list for every class.

CC? Yup, only hope if I want to try to become a physician in my life-time.
 
In the end I did all of my pre-reqs at CC and took a quarter of biochem at the university. This put my total time at CC to 4 years (2 years while in high school, 2 years as postbac). I was pretty worried for a while but I don't even think about it anymore. This application cycle has gone better than I ever could have imagined. There might be some schools that absolutely won't accept CC classes, but I haven't run into one. Maybe stanford rejected me pre-interview because of CC? I'll never know, but who cares. There are lots of great schools out there.

You have to make a decision that makes sense for you. Call the schools you're really interested in and see what they have to say about CC classes. Evaluate your current GPA and think about how CC classes would look in the context of the rest of your application.

Great post, thank you for sharing your actual recent experience. :D It's great to hear someone with terrific success having gone the CC route as a post-bac, particularly since that's what I'm forced to do due to my work schedule.
 
Very Informative thread! I am currently enrolled in my local CC, taking my 1st load of the pre-req's. The 4yr schools around me don't allow one to take classes at their school, w/o enrolled in a Degree program (already received my degree in Finance in 07).

GL to you!
 
Hi there- not sure if anyone has covered this, but some schools like my local state school will let you enroll as a second-degree seeking student but you don't have to complete the degree. My advisor recommended that as the best route for me so I can still take out student loans and have my grades factored into my undergrad GPA. It also gives me the time to take all the classes I need (most of the science prereqs) plus some additional classes of interest (eg. anatomy, physiology). Whichever way you go, best of luck to you!
 
Returned to pursue medicine 6 years after completing BS Biology. All Required pre-reqs done except Ochem Lab. One bad grade in Gen Chem. I now have a patchwork of transcripts from 5 different schools! But I think I capitalized by researching professors.

Here were my decisions:

NO Post Bacc: Decided against official program since was very expensive and I had most of coursework done within last ten years. Learned during cycle that some schools require recency of pre-reqs (NYU) so if courses were any older I may have considered PB. I also know that some schools (Stanford) look highly on non-trads in a post-bacc program. In hindsight, I can ABsolutely see the value of having a support network in post-bacc programs. Would have loved to have good advisors for school selection, interview prep, personal statement review, and general positive reinforcement. It was difficult to cross these hurdles without professional support. . . If you need most of your pre-reqs or they are over ten years old I would recommend PB both for boosting your knowledge in prep for MCAT plus getting linked in to a support network.

YES CC: Took Spanish, Physiology, Micro, Anatomy (college provides a cadaver! with mostly independent dissection since most of the students"hate the smell" so was awesome), My cc has a strong AS Nursing program so the courses are pretty good. Plus, the bio faculty/staff are super friendly and supportive. Saved money, felt happy and enjoyed learning.

YES 4-year Informal enrollment: My local cc has a questionable chemistry professor so I didn't want to waste my time there. I found courses through a nearby four year, added classes on the first day and felt that this decision had a HUGE impact on my knowledge and application. Learned Gen Chem like a Boss and also got science LOR from Faculty member. Also, took my Ochem Lab series here since I didn't trust the course at my particular CC. Worth the extra $$ to get the better instruction.
 
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