Community college and online for prereqs +/- post bacc

[Gina Lawson]

Hi all!

Wondering if there is a centralized list of schools that accept community college and/or online courses for prereqs. Also, better to pursue formal post bacc versus individual prereqs? Post bacc is certainly more expensive!

Thanks so much!

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[EngrSC]

I was a non-traditional student and took a hodgepodge of post-bacc classes to satisfy my prerequisites. I took bio 1/2 and chem 1/2 at a community college, then o-chem, biochem, and upper division biology courses at a 4-year university. The only class I took online was animal nutrition. I didn't feel my situation warranted a dedicated post-bacc program (my original degree was in an unrelated field), and it obviously worked for me

 

[WonderingStudent]

I have not seen a list of the schools that accept community college/online classes. Either way it would be good to look through school’s prereqs yourself since they can change so lists may not be up to date. To my knowledge schools don’t care about post-bacc vs individual prereqs.

 

[riverdog4]

I also just took a hodgepodge of post bacc prereqs at 3 different UW extension schools. That was the cheapest option for me to complete my prereqs. I briefly looked into post bacc programs and they were crazy expensive. I wasn’t willing to go into debt for my prereqs and wanted to have more autonomy over my prereq and application timeline! I was successful this cycle with those courses and I don’t think most of the schools I applied to cared that I did it that way.

 

[SkiOtter]

I have not seen a list of the schools that accept community college/online classes. Either way it would be good to look through school’s prereqs yourself since they can change so lists may not be up to date. To my knowledge schools don’t care about post-bacc vs individual prereqs.

Additionally, they’re the ones who need to decide if that specific course from that specific school will meet their requirements, even if they often accept courses from CCs or online. OP, I’d definitely email them your plans if you have a few schools you’re most interested in.

 

[fdvet]

I am a non-trad and took all my prereqs online at various insitutions, including community colleges. Feel free to DM me if you have questions about any of that. I will say, a lot of schools were still accepting online prereqs because of COVID during the 2022-2023 application cycle. I have seen a few schools who are no longer accepting online prereqs. I had to put in a significant amount of work to make sure that my prereqs met the requirements for each school I was applying to. Apart from that, I enjoyed my experience taking online prereqs and learned a lot. Schools did not seem to care at all that they were online, as long as you meet each college's unique prereq requirements.

 

[EB73674]

So I started at a structured post-bacc program and eventually moved to taking courses piecemeal at a local university. If you want a structured program with more guidance & deference for you as a pre-vet student, the formal post-bacc would be the way to go, but there no vet schools that will prefer that over taking the same classes outside of a structured program. Truthfully, you can figure out all of the pre-reqs for each target vet school on your own using either the website or emailing the program. There also may be limits to how many credits you can take as a non-degree student at 4-year universities not in a formal program, so that would be something to investigate beforehand. You'll likely save yourself a LOT of money by doing classes by themselves, and it opens you up for more colleges and universities in your area to save yourself the most possible.

Some schools are particular about you taking certain or upper-level pre-reqs at a community college, but most do not care at all. I would email the schools to specifically ask about what they will accept for online and/or community college classes. I took all of my science pre-reqs at a 4-year university, but my social science and math pre-reqs were taken both online and at community colleges, and no schools other than Tufts or Cornell had any kind of reservations about them. I'm at tOSU right now & had no issues getting my classes accepted.

Feel free to DM if you have any other questions! Overall, I regret going through my very expensive post-bacc program for 2 years purely due to the exorbitant cost, but I do feel like it helped me develop study and life-balancing skills that I wouldn't have developed otherwise. And I made some lifelong friends there, but I still did well & made friends at my second university!

 

[catdoctor77]

I'm late to the party but wanted to comment. I was accepted this cycle after taking pre-reqs mostly online, entirely through community colleges. However, before I enrolled in online courses, I reached out to vet schools to ask about online pre-reqs. At least one school said that it was ok because of COVID. I would reach out before taking anything online to be sure they will still accept online pre-reqs by the time you are applying. Also, a few thoughts from someone who has been through this:

Online labs really vary in their quality. If you are able to take at least one class with a lab in person, I think it is worth it, even if it means a 1 hour commute or a few hundred extra dollars. Having at least some time in a real lab will tell you whether you actually enjoy that kind of work, which is part of vet school and part of being a vet, regardless of what you do with your DVM.

North Central Missouri offers physics and organic chemistry online. The prof is very responsive and genuinely cares about his students. However, there are no lectures. You'll be watching YouTube videos to understand the concepts. My o chem class formed a study group and that helped a lot. If you can handle no lectures, I highly recommend this course.
Biochem through Portage learning / Geneva College is excellent. The concepts are clearly presented, you know what you will be tested on. The professor is also very responsive. I feel like I'm getting a good introduction to biochemistry in this course.
I do not recommend medical terminology through Portage learning. It is disorganized. Expectations are not clear (in my opinion). It is cheaper than other online options but incredibly frustrating.
Animal Nutrition from Oklahoma State is great overall. Again, expectations are clear and information is clearly presented. The professor is not accessible so you are 100% on your own, but if you can master self-learning, you will get a lot out of this course.

Feel free to ask me anything. Good luck!

 

[Gina Lawson]

Thank you @catdoctor77 - super helpful!

 

[catdoctor77]

@Gina Lawson FYI This is the last summer that organic chemistry will be offered at North Central Missouri. They have O chem 1 & 2 (O chem 2 offered in the fall for the last time).