Community college courses, are they ok?

melvinthegame · Jun 23, 2004

Hi,
I just graduated from high school last month. I want to go into Medicine. I took three college classes, English I, History I, and Govt I in our local community college in Spring 2004 while I was in High school. And right now, I'm taking Physchology I at the same community college for summer session I. I already got accepted to a University and I'm transfering my credits that I have in community college to the University. The problem is the University only accepts the credits and they only want to know if you pass the course or not. They don't care about the grades. So whatever I get at the community college is not going to affect my GPA at the University. I want to take Biology I or Chemistry I at the community college in summer session II. My question is would the medical school that I apply to care if I take any of those two classes at the community college or not? Or should I take those classes at the University? I hope someone can help me out before the deadline for the registration ends! Thank you very much.

The Community college I'm referring to is Houston Community College and the University I'm referring to is University of Houston. Sorry about that.

Pinkertinkle · Jun 23, 2004

Medical schools usually have a blurb that goes like this: whenever possible, we prefer that required courses be taken at a 4 year institution.

DrWorkNeverDone · Jun 23, 2004

they will count...any college inst. grades must be reported to the medical school. Now as far as how they will be looked at there are still some falc. who look down on it....i know for Stanford and UCD though they accept it.

melvinthegame · Jun 23, 2004

So is it ok for me to take classes at the Community college, I'm only taking either Bio I or Chem I?

VFrank · Jun 23, 2004

If you think you can do well, I would recommend taking the courses at University. I mean, wouldn't you want medical schools to see an "A" instead of a "T (transfer)"?

Pinkertinkle · Jun 23, 2004

Well, you can, but of course med schools would rather see you get an A in Bio at UH rather than HCC.

Take Bio and Chem at CC:

Goods: Cheaper, easier, sooner

Bads: Med schools prefer prereqs not be taken at CC, so grade might not be worth as much

Take Bio and Chem at UH:

Goods: Med schools prefer this

Bads: Harder, have to wait, puts you behind a bit

So you have to weigh the goods and bads and decide for yourself.

melvinthegame · Jun 23, 2004

Ok I understand that now. What about non-core classes like History II and Government II? Does it matter where I take these classes?

Pinkertinkle · Jun 23, 2004

VFrank said:
If you think you can do well, I would recommend taking the courses at University. I mean, wouldn't you want medical schools to see an "A" instead of a "T (transfer)"?

AMCAS sees all grades as grades because a transcript will be sent to them from both the cc and the 4 year institution. But they'd prefer you get an A at the 4 yr.

Pinkertinkle · Jun 23, 2004

melvinthegame said:
Ok I understand that now. What about non-core classes like History II and Government II? Does it matter where I take these classes?

I believe those would be better courses to take at a CC.

DirtySouthMD · Jun 23, 2004

Don't worry about what everyone says here, one of my best friends completed every lower division premed req' at community college (bio I&II, chem I&II, ochem I&II, physics I&II, calc I&II, english I&II), after the first two years, he transferred to a four year to get his bachelor. He's getting his MD at UVA, and he's not a virginia resident. As long as you do well in your prereq's and mantain strong grades after you transfer you should be fine. However, if you get straight A's in HCC and then have declining grades at UH, you might make adcoms think twice.

melvinthegame · Jun 23, 2004

DirtySouthMD said:
Don't worry about what everyone says here, one of my best friends completed every lower division premed req' at community college (bio I&II, chem I&II, ochem I&II, physics I&II, calc I&II, english I&II), after the first two years, he transferred to a four year to get his bachelor. He's getting his MD at UVA, and he's not a virginia resident. As long as you do well in your prereq's and mantain strong grades after you transfer you should be fine. However, if you get straight A's in HCC and then have declining grades at UH, you might make adcoms think twice.

Dang, that just took me right back to point one! I'm confused again.
I guess this uncertainity is not good for me personally.

Pinkertinkle · Jun 23, 2004

DirtySouthMD is correct in that if you do well in more advanced classes at a 4 year institution, adcoms will not care that you took your prereqs at a CC. So, here is a new modified analysis.

Take Bio and Chem at CC:

Goods: Cheaper, easier, sooner, med schools won't care if you can do well in more advanced classes at a 4 yr.

Bads: Med schools prefer prereqs not be taken at CC, so grade might not be worth as much in a qualitative way.

Take Bio and Chem at UH:

Goods: Med schools prefer this

Bads: Harder, have to wait, puts you behind a bit

I guess it all comes down to how confident you are about your ability to do well.

OnMyWayThere · Jun 23, 2004

My friend graduated with a computer science degree for a 4 year... worked for a few years and decided to go into medicine. He then took ALL sciences at a CC and has been accepted to quite a few schools. Not bad at $13 a unit!

Take what you like a CC.

DrSwede · Jun 23, 2004

As someone who's taken various classes at HCC, chemistry for example, I would say take them at the collegiate level for a little more challenge. However, you will cover the same material that is needed for the MCAT regardless if you take it at HCC or UH. HCC is kind of weird though. Depending on what campus you take the course at pretty much decides the kind of experience you'll get. I know I've taken some classes at one HCC campus and had access to poor facilities and mediocre instruction while on other campuses I received great instruction, better facilities, and a more challenging class overall. As far as adcoms go, I've heard they prefer you to take most of your science courses at a 4 year institution, but I can't back that up with any proof. You would be surprised how many community college professors are professors at the University and teach the same material in both settings.

Tiki · Jun 23, 2004

I took my first two years at a Community College and I've been accepted. If you do well on the MCAT and have a good GPA, it doesn't really matter where you attend college, unless you are striving for the top elite schools.

elliot · Jun 23, 2004

Sounds pretty cool since my local cc offers classes at 120$ per credit oppose to my U which costs 609$.. I'm thinking of taking some liberal arts and maybe a EMT-B/EMT-I class there so i can save some mula 🙂

thewzdoc · Jun 23, 2004

For the love of??.we?ve had this discussion many times. Call any medical school and ask, ?Does it matter where I took my undergraduate classes??. The answer will always be, ?No as long as the institution is accredited.?. I?ve called and I know people that have been accepted with a full 2 years of community college classes (plus the last 2 at a 4 year school).

SDSU will send you to a local CC starting this year or next. You will pay SDSU unit prices??WTF?..why not pay CC prices then transfer!?

Transferred classes don?t show with just a T on your AMCAS?..your 4 year university will show that?.

thewzdoc · Jun 23, 2004

elliot said:
Sounds pretty cool since my local cc offers classes at 120$ per credit oppose to my U which costs 609$.. I'm thinking of taking some liberal arts and maybe a EMT-B/EMT-I class there so i can save some mula 🙂

OH MY GAWD!!!!! CC for $120!!! Students are screaming about $18 out here....oh no it is going upt to what $22!? :laugh:

jpro · Jun 23, 2004

There is nothing wrong with taking classes at CC. I went to UH after one year at WCJC. The whole time at UH I took classes at HCC and Mongaomery County Junior College during the summer and those short winter classes they have. I wouldn't recommend taking a bunch of pre-med classes outside of UH though. They might not prepare you enough for the MCAT. I'll list the classes I took outside UH below. I mostly took core classes so that I could focus on my harder classes thoughout the year.

ENGL 1&2
CHEM 1 plus lab
CALC 1&2
HIST 1&2
GOVT 1&2
Art History
Speech

Iv'e heard some pre-med at UH wanted to take Orgo at HCC. This is a bad idea since the class is a Junior level class (at UH) and at HCC they classify it as a freshman class. My advice is that if you are thinking about going to UH, do it as soon as possible. UH is a good school, and many the pre-meds are very succesfull at Texas schools and some even get into tough out of state schools like Hopkins.

samurai_lincoln · Jun 23, 2004

I would hold off on taking Bio & Chem I until you get to UH. Not because of any inherent bias against CC coursework, but rather due to the fact that taking the first half of a year-long sequence at one school and the second half of another is a bad idea. You may be left with some knowledge gaps going into the second half that you were expected to have learned during Bio & Chem I. You never know how the course syllabi may vary... it is bad enough within the same large university, much less a totally different institution.

medic170 · Jun 23, 2004

samurai_lincoln said:
I would hold off on taking Bio & Chem I until you get to UH. Not because of any inherent bias against CC coursework, but rather due to the fact that taking the first half of a year-long sequence at one school and the second half of another is a bad idea. You may be left with some knowledge gaps going into the second half that you were expected to have learned during Bio & Chem I. You never know how the course syllabi may vary... it is bad enough within the same large university, much less a totally different institution.

Good advice. That said, there is nothing wrong with saving some cash and taking some courses at CC . Just don't do ALL of you premed classes at a CC, but there is nothing wrong with taking a few. I had BIO 1 at CC way back in 1996(I feel old), and I also took my Gen Chem and Math at CC. I did everything else at the university though, and I don't think I would recommend doing more than a few classes at CC.

WatchingWaiting · Jun 23, 2004

Taking the first year or two of classes at community college and then transferring to a four-year is perfectly acceptable and will not be held against you. It's generally easier to get "A"s in community college courses due to them being curved to a similar grade as the four-year university version, but your fellow students not being as hard-working/competitive/bright. It is problematic when someone gets poor grades at university versions of the premed core and then takes part of the sequence at a community college and shows "A"s-- these are viewed as suspicious.

You will have to do well in your second two years at a university and get a good MCAT. But, this is not really a disadvantage because if you are not able to do well in your upper-division two years at university, it is unlikely you would have done well in the first two pre-med years anyway.

willthatsall · Jun 23, 2004

Do whichever one you want, ace the MCAT, and you'll be fine.

DrWorkNeverDone · Jun 23, 2004

totally agree, this is the same route i am going and i have heard many CA people success stories!! Like this forum though there are those on the panel who are a little bias so just be ready to defend your choice at an interview....Example, "So why did you take some of your base science classes at a jc?" They are trying to see if you really were taking an easy route, ambitious, or maybe having some life experience you can bring to their school.

DirtySouthMD said:
Don't worry about what everyone says here, one of my best friends completed every lower division premed req' at community college (bio I&II, chem I&II, ochem I&II, physics I&II, calc I&II, english I&II), after the first two years, he transferred to a four year to get his bachelor. He's getting his MD at UVA, and he's not a virginia resident. As long as you do well in your prereq's and mantain strong grades after you transfer you should be fine. However, if you get straight A's in HCC and then have declining grades at UH, you might make adcoms think twice.

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