Just how poorly do adcoms look on transferring schools for pre-reqs?

[Elizabethx89]

Still trying to weigh my options and figure out what to do about my previously alluded to financial situation. Applied to about 15 more jobs today and scheduled an appointment with the Director of Career Services at my school Friday.

As I mentioned in the past, my severely mentally disturbed sister's presence makes moving back in with my dad a really, really unappealing "option," if you can call it that. However, recent events have introduced the possibility that she might not be at the house by the time my lease is up here. It's all really up in the air, but she was temporarily removed from the house by the state recently. She has since been readmitted to the home while social services investigates, etc. etc. The point is that she might no longer live there sooner than I thought or, at the very least, will know that she can't continue her current behavior because she will be removed from the home if she does.

No one really knows what will happen with that situation, but IF moving back in with my dad does become an option again (and if I utilize that option), I'm not sure whether it would be a better idea to transfer over to the university near him (my alma mater) or just drive the ~1.5 hours to and from my current university every day. There are several pros and cons to each option.

The drive to my current school would require that I travel on a fairly dangerous highway every day, and I'm sure ~3 hours of driving every weekday would get exhausting. On the other hand, my alma mater is less respected than my current school because it's a smaller commuter school, and yet it's more academically rigorous (less chance at maintaining a perfect 4.0 for post-bacc work). The pre-med program is also much larger at my current school, and of course, there's the concern that adcoms would look down on the fact that I transferred at all. Conversely, my alma mater is in a larger, more diverse area with many more opportunities in terms of both employment and extracurriculars. I'm also more comfortable with the atmosphere at my alma mater, as it is much more non-trad student friendly, not that that matters much.

So, yeah...any thoughts on which option you think would be best IF I wound up moving back with my dad for about a year beginning in the Fall?

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[Five0tomed68]

With the situation given above, I don't think ADCOMS will disapprove. I think the issue with transferring is when it looks like your doing so to cherry pick easy classes. A technique traditional students will use to achieve a superb GPA, is take a difficult class or two at a less intense institution to have an easier time in a more advanced class like organic chemistry. If you were to split the course load at two institutions, I would think you should be fine. As long as it didn't seem like you were running from a difficult course.

If you moved back with your dad, I'd go back to the Alma matter. I can speak on an 1.5 commute getting old. I did it 4 years while my wife went to med school. It is a lot of time wasted that could be spent studying to pass the more academically rigorous program that sounds like it will more aptly prepare you for the MCAT.

Hopefully some of our ADCOM posters will chime in.

 

[Elizabethx89]

With the situation given above, I don't think ADCOMS will disapprove. I think the issue with transferring is when it looks like your doing so to cherry pick easy classes. A technique traditional students will use to achieve a superb GPA, is take a difficult class or two at a less intense institution to have an easier time in a more advanced class like organic chemistry. If you were to split the course load at two institutions, I would think you should be fine. As long as it didn't seem like you were running from a difficult course.

If you moved back with your dad, I'd go back to the Alma matter. I can speak on an 1.5 commute getting old. I did it 4 years while my wife went to med school. It is a lot of time wasted that could be spent studying to pass the more academically rigorous program that sounds like it will more aptly prepare you for the MCAT.

Hopefully some of our ADCOM posters will chime in.

Thanks for your input.

The thing that I'm worried about is that, even though my alma mater is a more academically challenging institution, ADCOMS will think I switched to avoid difficult classes due to the reputations of the two schools. As I mentioned, my current school is still more respected just because it's much, much larger, so I could see how someone who isn't more familiar with my alma mater would think that it must be easier since it's basically a no-name school. I can attest to the fact that the professors there are much more no-nonsense than most professors where I'm at now. There are exceptions--my genetics professor taught at other schools before he came here, and he's really tough. But then you have my chemistry professor who is absolutely crawling through material and my trig professor who is adding 15 points to our grades on our most recent exam because people didn't perform as highly as they would have liked. Anyway, I'm rambling haha. I wish my alma mater were more well-known and were as big of a research school as my current school.

 

[wholeheartedly]

I agree with avoiding the commute. I've been commuting to grad school about an hour and a half to two hours way about 3 times a week for the last 4 years. It sucks, royally.

As for transferring. I wouldn't mentioned family drama in particular, but I think you'll be fine to say that you transferred to be closer to family or for financial reasons or whatever. As noted above, the problem is more when you cherry pick classes, like taking ochem from the easy community college instructor while attending and taking the rest of your classes at the 4 years.

 

[Elizabethx89]

The commute does sound like it will present a lot of its own issues. It would suck a LOT of time out of my days that could be otherwise spent volunteering or shadowing.

Hopefully I'll find a consistent, decent-paying job soon and won't even have to entertain the idea of moving back with my dad. Not exactly thrilled about the prospect of living at home again at the age of 25, but we shall see.

 

[wholeheartedly]

Not exactly thrilled about the prospect of living at home again at the age of 25, but we shall see.

I moved back in with my grandma at 25 while doing my clinical lab science internship/rotations. It was interesting.... I lived with her my senior year of high school and had more freedom and less hovering and whatnot at 17 than I did at 25, lol.

Sounds like your home is a bit of a toxic environment, that isn't the best place to focus so hopefully you can make good on the job hunt.

 

[Elizabethx89]

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[Hakuna Matata]

Didn't read your entire post, but I'll answer your overall question of how adcoms look at transferring schools. I transferred schools twice during my undergrad (once to a community college) and it wasn't even brought up during any of my interviews. So the transferring part shouldn't be a huge issue.

 

[Goro]

We don't care where you go to school, as long as you do well. School quality only gets raised as an issue (briefly) if the applicant is borderline. Doing only "OK" at rigorous school might be enough to push someone over the pass line.

But a 4.0 at Kutztown State is a 4.0.

Still trying to weigh my options and figure out what to do about my previously alluded to financial situation. Applied to about 15 more jobs today and scheduled an appointment with the Director of Career Services at my school Friday.

As I mentioned in the past, my severely mentally disturbed sister's presence makes moving back in with my dad a really, really unappealing "option," if you can call it that. However, recent events have introduced the possibility that she might not be at the house by the time my lease is up here. It's all really up in the air, but she was temporarily removed from the house by the state recently. She has since been readmitted to the home while social services investigates, etc. etc. The point is that she might no longer live there sooner than I thought or, at the very least, will know that she can't continue her current behavior because she will be removed from the home if she does.

No one really knows what will happen with that situation, but IF moving back in with my dad does become an option again (and if I utilize that option), I'm not sure whether it would be a better idea to transfer over to the university near him (my alma mater) or just drive the ~1.5 hours to and from my current university every day. There are several pros and cons to each option.

The drive to my current school would require that I travel on a fairly dangerous highway every day, and I'm sure ~3 hours of driving every weekday would get exhausting. On the other hand, my alma mater is less respected than my current school because it's a smaller commuter school, and yet it's more academically rigorous (less chance at maintaining a perfect 4.0 for post-bacc work). The pre-med program is also much larger at my current school, and of course, there's the concern that adcoms would look down on the fact that I transferred at all. Conversely, my alma mater is in a larger, more diverse area with many more opportunities in terms of both employment and extracurriculars. I'm also more comfortable with the atmosphere at my alma mater, as it is much more non-trad student friendly, not that that matters much.

So, yeah...any thoughts on which option you think would be best IF I wound up moving back with my dad for about a year beginning in the Fall?

 

[Elizabethx89]

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[Five0tomed68]

Appreciate the ADCOM input!

I appreciated the Kutztown reference. I lived about 10 minutes from that quaint little town last year.

 

[Chip N Sawbones]

I had transcripts from five different colleges when I applied to med schools, including two colleges for my postbac. I don't think the issue ever came up during interviews. Go wherever will be easiest for you.

 

[theSmurfette]

I have transcripts from a dozen schools, both undergrad & graduate. I also started my UG post-bacc work at one school but finished at a cc because I moved before I could finish it all. It did come up during my interview (the dozen schools part) but they accepted my explanation as very reasonable (military spouse). I think with a reasonable explanation, a school transfer isn't seen as a poor decision.

 

[heartsink]

I've never heard of adcoms looking down on students for "transferring schools" in general as a rule. It happens a lot for a wide variety of reasons, especially for nontrads. The only reason i can immediately think of off the top of my head is that if you transferred from a 4-year to a community college (in that order) to do your prereqs, after your degree was granted from your 4-year, it might look bad.

Otherwise i'm betting few adcoms will ask about someone transferring from one university to another if they are comparable.

 

[wholeheartedly]

I've never heard of adcoms looking down on students for "transferring schools" in general as a rule. It happens a lot for a wide variety of reasons, especially for nontrads. The only reason i can immediately think of off the top of my head is that if you transferred from a 4-year to a community college (in that order) to do your prereqs, after your degree was granted from your 4-year, it might look bad.

Otherwise i'm betting few adcoms will ask about someone transferring from one university to another if they are comparable.

The main example I think is something a few of my classmates did, attended 4 year but took ochem or physics at community college to have an easier instructor. That I can see looking shady, but a genuine transfer like you said can happen for a lot of perfectly legitimate reasons, so I don't think it's usually an issue.