Community College bad???

[overlandsea]

Hi, I have only completed one year of college so far, and did not decide until the end of the year that I wanted to do pre-med. The school I was going to didn't have good enough science classes for pre-med, so I need to find a new school. I was just going to go to a Community College for a year, but I was wondering if that looks bad for applications. FYI: I had a 3.3 GPA in highschool, but got my GED after my junior year because I was so bored, and I went to college last year. I have a 3.4 GPA so far in college. Just wondering about the community college thing and any other suggestions. Thanks!

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[SpiderBill]

Yeah I'd probably pull the 'ol switcheroo.

 

[Kazema]

Just do well at your new school and you should be fine.

 

[jeatmonkey]

Community college is fine.. just do well with your prereqs.. I'm sure some people on this board will say you have to go to a well known school blah blah.. but save yourself some money and do well in your classes.. I went to a community classes my first two years so save some money.. im paying for college on my own... and I think it was definititly worth it for the sake of money.. class wise.. i don't see a difference in the material ...but thats just my opinion..

 

[Bubchik]

As long as you get good grades and preparation for MCAT you'll be fine. Plus community college GPA will bump up your overall and especially science GPA (assuming you get good grades ) I did my first two years at Community College in LA, got my 4.0, transferred and no have an overall of 3.96 applying to med school. Good luck.

 

[OnMyWayThere]

I know several people who took their pre-reqs at CC and were accepted to many different programs. Don't worry about it.

 

[overlandsea]

thanks everyone for such a fast response. do doctors or people who work w/ colleges ever frequent this forum? my mom is totally against me going to a community college for some reason and i don't think she'd listen to anyone unless they had a degree. anyone have ideas of who i should contact?

 

[OnMyWayThere]

Have her speak to your community college's advisor

 

[i77ac]

thanks everyone for such a fast response. do doctors or people who work w/ colleges ever frequent this forum? my mom is totally against me going to a community college for some reason and i don't think she'd listen to anyone unless they had a degree. anyone have ideas of who i should contact?

forget what she thinks. you're an adult now, take control of your life.

i went to pasadena community college as well, did well, and transferred to uc berkeley. personally, i think college was tougher than berkeley, but then again, pcc has pretty tough classes.

what i can tell you is, just work your a$$ off. it will pay off, and you will not be at disadvantage at all. just work your a$$ off. i see that you are below the 3.5, and i advise that you should need to do better, at least 3.5. and med schools can use your mcat score to judge your academic potential, so do well on that when the time comes. for now, you need to get your gpa up.

good luck

 

[velo]

Adcom Frankenstein sez "FIRE BAAAAD!!!! COMMUNITY COLLEGE...uh, a perfectly legitimate way to fufill pre reqs...AAARRRGH!!!"

 

[Code Brown]

Hi, I have only completed one year of college so far, and did not decide until the end of the year that I wanted to do pre-med. The school I was going to didn't have good enough science classes for pre-med, so I need to find a new school. I was just going to go to a Community College for a year, but I was wondering if that looks bad for applications. FYI: I had a 3.3 GPA in highschool, but got my GED after my junior year because I was so bored, and I went to college last year. I have a 3.4 GPA so far in college. Just wondering about the community college thing and any other suggestions. Thanks!

From what I understand, community college is fine if that's where you start. However, once you go to a 4-year school, adcom's frown upon you going back for your pre-req's. Some think that the only reason you are going back is to take easier classes and bump your grades up. A lot of people don't know that in California, JC's are really cheap (only $18/unit) which could have some bearing on where you decide to go to school, especially if you are on your own and on a tight budget. They usually don't care about non-pre-req classes though. One thing to keep in mind, there are some schools that are anal about the whole community college thing and will not accept community college courses (these aren't too many of these, but I've run across 2 so far (out of the 29 secondaries i've received to date). Sorry, I can't remember which ones they were). That said, a friend of mine had some of his pre-reqs from a JC and he got into UCSF and UMich. Good luck.

 

[neoncandle]

I think it is best to switch to a university at some point to show that you will do well there too. Some med schools will care, but then again, some seem to only accept from Ivy League schools... so I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[overlandsea]

Yeah, I was planning on switching to University of Washington Bothell after this next year.