Advice please

[JessietheDog]

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I am a graduate student at UF and have worked in pre-hospital EMS for several years. I now realize that i won't be truly happy unless i go on to medical school. My question is that i still need to take the Physics requirements, and would it be okay just to get them out of the way at the community college here because i don't want to have to pay graduate school fees for those classes.

thanks

 

[Captain Fantastic]

You could, but that's not going to maximize your application. You don't want to look like you were bouncing around trying to find the easiest places to take the courses.

If it were me, I'd suck it up and take it at UF. After paying for medical school, the cost of a couple of courses will mean very little.

 

[RxnMan]

The word here on SDN is that CC classes don't count for as much as a class taken at a full four-year college. Don't most schools stop charging for classes beyond a certain hour limit? (i.e. beyond 12 hours, 15 and 19 hours of classes cost the same) There's other posters (relentless) who use those ugrad classes to supplement their grad degree requirements.

 

[Beau Geste]

The word here on SDN is that CC classes don't count for as much as a class taken at a full four-year college. Don't most schools stop charging for classes beyond a certain hour limit? (i.e. beyond 12 hours, 15 and 19 hours of classes cost the same) There's other posters (relentless) who use those ugrad classes to supplement their grad degree requirements.

I wonder what the word is with the adcoms. SDN tends to blow things out of proportion. I went and talked with admissions deans at several IL schools and they said CC courses were fine for non-trads with prior degrees.

 

[runningmom]

I wonder what the word is with the adcoms. SDN tends to blow things out of proportion. I went and talked with admissions deans at several IL schools and they said CC courses were fine for non-trads with prior degrees.

I would tend to agree. I've taken most of my bio courses (9 of 15 hours) at CCs because I was working full time. No one has questioned the courses or my motivations for taking them at an "easier" school. But then I don't have an acceptance yet. 🙂 So take my advice for what it is worth.

 

[relentless11]

I wonder what the word is with the adcoms. SDN tends to blow things out of proportion. I went and talked with admissions deans at several IL schools and they said CC courses were fine for non-trads with prior degrees.

I think it depends more on the specific school you want to apply to, and your entire application. Therefore this is a more of a case-by-case thing.

University of California has been pretty good about not caring about courses taken at a CC. But that is also weighed vs. courses taken post-transfer. So a person who did all their pre-reqs at a CC, who then had good grades in upper division science classes after transferring to a 4-year...then that is fine.

However to go from a 4-year back to a CC may look bad. Although I'm sure that this is the intention of most people, it may be taken as a way to "spruce up" your GPA with CC classes. The quality of CC classes vary among CC's, and regions, just like universities. Considering the OP only has to take a physics class....I'd suck it up and take it at a university. I don't quite understand the whole graduate tuition thing though. Out of all the schools that I went to, its been a flatrate tuition...unless this is summer session or something.

For what its worth, I have seen some of our adcoms have biases for specific schools (e.g., Berkeley, etc). If they have such biases for schools, what could that imply for CC's. They're only human ya know. But, again, if supported by evidence of high level performance in all coursework (both CC and 4-year), they can't really argue against that. 🙂

 

[Beau Geste]

I would tend to agree. I've taken most of my bio courses (9 of 15 hours) at CCs because I was working full time. No one has questioned the courses or my motivations for taking them at an "easier" school. But then I don't have an acceptance yet. 🙂 So take my advice for what it is worth.

Your MDapps profile is incredible - I think the cc issue is an issue if you're weak in other spots - obviously you've got quite a resume, a good MCAT scores and decent grades!

I don't want to discourage or encourage at this point, either because I won't apply until next year. If (when!) I get in, THEN I'll encourage non-trads to go the cc route (and do extraordinary!).

 

[Beau Geste]

I think it depends more on the specific school you want to apply to, and your entire application. Therefore this is a more of a case-by-case thing.

University of California has been pretty good about not caring about courses taken at a CC. But that is also weighed vs. courses taken post-transfer. So a person who did all their pre-reqs at a CC, who then had good grades in upper division science classes after transferring to a 4-year...then that is fine.

However to go from a 4-year back to a CC may look bad. Although I'm sure that this is the intention of most people, it may be taken as a way to "spruce up" your GPA with CC classes. The quality of CC classes vary among CC's, and regions, just like universities. Considering the OP only has to take a physics class....I'd suck it up and take it at a university. I don't quite understand the whole graduate tuition thing though. Out of all the schools that I went to, its been a flatrate tuition...unless this is summer session or something.

For what its worth, I have seen some of our adcoms have biases for specific schools (e.g., Berkeley, etc). If they have such biases for schools, what could that imply for CC's. They're only human ya know. But, again, if supported by evidence of high level performance in all coursework (both CC and 4-year), they can't really argue against that. 🙂

I definitely agree on the case-by-case thing. And it's a good point to bring up if the adcoms ask if there's anything else you want to tell them. If the cc issue wasn't brought up, I'll be sure to tell them that I was running my business during the day and took cc classes because of the flexibility and allowing me to keep my business and prepare for med school. Again, though, that's just my situation.

 

[Lanced]

Just one data point:

My friend (post-bacc with me at a local state school) is an EE from Cal, great grades, 39 MCAT, but took g-chem online! He still has invites to top 10 schools.

For what its worth.

 

[runningmom]

Your MDapps profile is incredible - I think the cc issue is an issue if you're weak in other spots - obviously you've got quite a resume, a good MCAT scores and decent grades!

Thank you.

My point is that taking courses at a CC because that is the only way to take them for financial or scheduling reasons isn't the kiss of death - I think if anything it shows tenacity. But maybe I'll see if I get accepted anywhere before I feel like the "authority" on the subject! 🙂

 

[Twitch]

I took a bunch of pre-req classes @ a CC when I was working full time and attending grad school and I had pager on call at night. CC classes schedule just fit in my already pretty tight schedule at the time. I have a bunch of interviews and not once was I asked about it.

Though I did take some advanced bio classes (Genetics/Biochem, etc) @ 4 yr university and got my LOR from there.

So don't sweat it. If you have to take classes at CC take it.

 

[IUgrad]

I second those who say it shouldn't make a difference either way.

I don't think that CC courses are easier than those at a university. My boyfriend works full-time and has to take the prereqs for physical therapy at a CC because our local university is not flexible for professionals (very few evening classes). I went to the university for my premed prereqs, and I can tell you from helping him that it is the same material and the same difficulty, maybe even more so because his classes meet less often and he has to learn more of the material on his own.

I think more important is the fact that you are willing/able to balance the rigors of the premed classes while finishing graduate school, etc., and if you had to take the courses at CC to get it done, I don't think it matters.

For what it's worth, when my bf was considering taking the prereqs for PT at CC, we called several of the DPT programs he was interested in for their stance on the issue. Every single program we called said it was acceptable. You might try doing the same for the med schools you're interested in, to put your mind at ease. 🙂

Good luck!

 

[relentless11]

On a side note, I want to add that I was a transfer student. Our director of admissions could care less about most of my pre-reqs taken at a CC. They were more concerned about my low undergrad GPA..lol😀.

Anyway, for what its worth, UC San Diego does state that they "prefer courses taken at a 4-year institution" but "acknowledge that this may not be possible for everyone". There's the caveat...hence the case-by-case basis approach by adcoms. Like with most things, its how you SELL YOURSELF. You don't want to make it look like you're sprucing up your GPA, but you don't want to rely on work as a "excuse" for going to a CC. You want to say it like...yea I went to a CC because I had to work, but hey look, when I went to a 4-year, I performed just as good, if not better in harder classes. Evidence-Based!!!

🙂

 

[shaggybill]

For what it's worth, I had the same question and emailed UNC (carolina) and they told me that they dont accept prereq's taken from a CC.