Any culinary students out there?

[Noid]

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And if not, anyone have an idea of how med schools might look at culinary students when they apply to med school? I like to consider myself pretty well versed (indeed, I got most of my initial information off of this forum nearly a year ago, bought some books, talked to some people) in this whole mess but the forum is pretty dead at 9:00pm and I'm bored and hungry for opinions.

I'd have to take my pre med prereqs at a community college since it would offer both the best location and most flexible times (not to mention that nice low price of 60-70 bucks a credit which, admittedly, will save me some money so I can pay off $45,000 of <I>other</I> school loans). The culinary school, by the way, is fully accredited by the Middle Eastern States Accrediting something-or-other, Secretary of Education, and is reputable in the dynamic and exciting industry of carving up dead cow parts and assorted horse unmentionables. It also grants BAs, which is what I'm earning, and has about 129 credits in such a program (above the normal 90 minimum most schools require). I guess my question is can a Europeon swallow carry a coconut from the tropics? And, if you can find the time, your opinion on how non-state med schools look at community college pre med prereqs (I already know how my home state schools in Michigan react to them (quite well)).

To answer a question I'm guaranteed to hear later on in this thread, I'm going to such a school because cooking is something I'd like to do inbetween that potentially long phase of handing med schools $3,000 a year to consider me for admission. Not that I'm already bitter from reading StudentDoctor Network's forum for so long, although I do dream about what the people in the affirmative action threads <I>really</I> look like (green skin, six eyes, possibly some kind of tentacle)

 

[Premed2003]

I think you're joking, but in case you're serious

There is no way that you'll get into medical school without a bachelors degree from a 4 year undergraduate institution, and you must take most (if not all) of your premed prerequisites at the 4 year institution. Community college is a laugh. I took courses there in high school. If you're concerned about money now, how do you expect to pay for medical school? I think people who claim they're completing their prerequisites at community college for financial reasons really just don't want to challenge themselves. If money were such a concern, they wouldn't consider 4 years of $200,000 in the first place. and this is how admissions committees feel also since it is impossible to get in if you take all of your prereqs at a community college. A few courses here and there might be okay if you take upper level classes at the 4 year college, but taking all of your sciences at community college will be laughed out...hysterically

 

[Trix]

Originally posted by Premed2003
... and this is how admissions committees feel also since it is impossible to get in if you take all of your prereqs at a community college. A few courses here and there might be okay if you take upper level classes at the 4 year college, but taking all of your sciences at community college will be laughed out...hysterically

Regardless if the OP is joking or not, I actually did my gen chem, o-chem and bio at a community college. I applied to 20 schools, and I was offered 15 interviews (went on 5), and I have 4 acceptances to date. They must not have looked at where I went to school, huh?

 

[Premed2003]

Did you take any courses in a 4 year institution, besides cooking?

 

[Trix]

Originally posted by Premed2003
Did you take any courses in a 4 year institution, besides cooking?

Yes I did, but my prereqs were done at the CC. The attitude that an education at a CC is necessarily inferior really, really irritates me though.

BTW,I have taken a fair amount of culinary classes and my interviewers have been quite interested in them 😀

 

[whozshoe]

Hey Noid,
It's true that most med schools won't look favorably upon having fulfilled all your science requirements at community college. For example, UCSF limits the number of credits you can transfer from J.C.'s. However, please don't be discouraged from applying to med schools. If it is something you really want to do and you don't want to get into too much debt, then try state schools to receive your B.A. Interestingly, at U. Pitt there is currently a student who used to be a gourmet chef for 18 years ("and he was an excellent dissector of cadavers in Anatomy.")! There are certainly schools out there which appreciate unique experiences like your own. Good luck!

Premed2003,
Wow - what can I say? I've consistently cringed at your posts, which poke fun at the original poster, at Ph.D.'s for being inferior to M.D.'s, at Wash. U. for not producing any leaders, etc. Then you whine about getting a 7 on the Verbal section of the MCAT, despairing that you've wasted your time at Princeton because the low score might prevent you from entering a top 10 medical school. You might as well have gone to a state school, you once lamented! But after you actually got into a decent medical school, you once again praise the prestige carried by an Ivy League college. I sincerely hope that - if not for your own good but for your future patients' sake [shudder] - you grow to become more humble, and cherish the different backgrounds from which your colleagues and your patients will have come.

 

[Noid]

I'm not joking, and I think Premed2003 has a fairly biased opinion of "cooking schools." They don't teach Home Ec. in room 319 right next to the band room. They are required by law to include a certain amount of liberal arts in their courses. Just like "regular" universities. And the degree I'm going after <I>is</I> a four year undergraduate degree (BA). About half of the classes are combinations of history, English, sociology/psych, foreign languages, accounting, (very) limited math, and a boatload of business and anthropology (slanted towards culture) courses which are <I>required</I> to graduate. Must have missed the part where I said it is reputable, too. It isn't a Hollywood upstairs operation. It is one of the top schools in the country.

If I just wanted to learn how to cook, I'd run off and join an apprenticeship.

I don't cherish the idea of having to take even <I>some</I> of my prereqs at a CC, but that's how it looks like it will pan out due to location (I won't be located in the university cities since they typically don't have the employment opportunities that my home city does -- but I'll move to one if I can secure a job, obviously). The universities I've talked to (UMich, MSU, and Wayne) all have no problem with CC credits if it is from a college they are familiar with (it is; in fact, most of their in-state transfer students come from it). I assumed this more or less fried my chances at outside state programs since I can't get in touch with many of them. Money is really a small factor to me since I'll have to take out huge loans anyway, but it is still a factor nonetheless.

Not to mention that that money jab isn't very logical; doctors make on average 115,000 a year on the lower-end (training wise). Cooks and Chefs make about 28-35,000 starting out if they are good with a ceiling of 40,000 (usually). This is why the university offers all these business courses; sooner or later the students will at least attempt to start their own business to make more money doing what they enjoy. Again, so I don't attract more trolling comments, I chose "cooking school" because it is a career I'd enjoy should things not pan out. Most people major in Biology before they figure that one out it seems.

 

[Noid]

And thanks Trix and whozshoe for the advice. I probably just have to suck it up and go without a job and apply for admission at a school just to complete those Prereqs.

 

[Premed2003]

Hey whozue, you're switching my statements around to conform to what you want to think.

Okay, first of all, I said that there are brilliant researchers but many PhDs are not because they produce research that has no applications to anything. If your research contributes nothing to science or society, what's the point? Whereas if you're an MD, you contribute something to society every hour. there are tons of PhDs who produce total crap. and notice the high number of PhDs who have been caught plagarizing other works. need I say more? plagarism=no brain power

Next, I would never ever state that I should have gone to a state school. I love Princeton and would come here again no matter what. I have loans and needed financial aid but a great education and surrounded by extraordinary people can't have a price tag. And why can't I whine about my verbal section? I whined for 1 day of my life while everyone else on this board always whines constantly - they didn't get an interview, they didn't get in, they got rejected blah blah blah whine whine whine. So don't even start with saying that I whine. And with my verbal score and still got acceptances to good schools, it does show that a top undergrad education with a high gpa makes up for a bad 80 minutes of one's life. I can assure you that if I were coming from a state school with a low verbal score below 10 and the same gpa, my application would have been thrown in the garbage.

I am humble but enjoy acting obnoxious on this message board. This is my alter ego. 😛 😡 😴

 

[Hello goodbye]

Originally posted by Premed2003


I am humble but enjoy acting obnoxious on this message board. This is my alter ego. 😛 😡 😴

I hope no one ever has to encounter your alter ego outside this message board.

 

[Moskeeto]

Hey noid, not that you really need any more convincing other than trix's acceptances (she got into some really good schools), but I was at a med school myths seminar a couple of weeks ago and cc courses came up. one of the physicians on the panel was a single mother who completed ALL her prereqs at a community college after already having gotten her BA from a state school years before. most of the people on the panel, including those on uc davis adcom, didn't think having cc courses would keep you from med school. although, they did say it was a disadvantage, so i guess it depends on how you present yourself, and you should really try to get close to a 4.0. I think if you apply to the western US, they look a lot more favorably at cc courses than the east coast does. good luck.

 

[Megalofyia]

Noid you have a private message.

 

[tms]

noid...

if medicine is truly your calling...i would strongly consider a post-bacc program...it will be located in a city with tremendous job opp. with someone for your background...however, a post-bacc program is demanding and i wouldn't suggest working a great deal at the same time...you will get all of your pre-reqs and a lot of prep. for the MCAT. additionally, it will prepare you for the accademic rigors that manifest into what we call med school...

good luck and your background will give you great conversations at interviews...