Associates or no associates? How should this work?

[AshiPanda]

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I realize you all have probably answered this question a billion times, but I want to ask (O' - 'O).

I'm starting up at a community college this August, full-time. My boyfriend's sister went to this community college before her undergrad, then just recently graduated med school and said that I should just go ahead and get the Associate's degree from the school. Meaning 60 credit hours which would pretty much be two years of school.

THEN, I want to transfer to University of South Florida to finish up undergraduate studies for two years. I am thinking I will major in biology.

My question is... do you all think it's the good route to go ahead and get the associate's, or should I (and is there a way) to just get core classes out of the way then transfer to USF after maybe one year? I don't want to get the associate's and have taken those sciences, only to be told by medical schools that the lower level sciences I took were not good enough. And it might suck to have to retake classes once I get to USF, when I could be doing other things. I guess I'm just looking for some sort of precognition here...

I e-mailed USF today but no reply just yet... I work at night as a nurse and have to sleep during the day at some point, so I haven't been able to drive an hour away yet to ask the school! ^^; I don't know, my question just seems very complicated in my brain...

You all have been so helpful to me so far, so I thought I'd try for another go-around w/ this question here. Any advice at all would be awesome.

 

[Slowpoke]

many individuals on this board are/have taken the route of CC -> transfer -> Uni -> Med school.

With that said, taking pre-reqs at the CC will generally be looked down upon (as many of us have heard over and over). The key is to prove yourself worthy by doing well after you've transferred and either maintain that high gpa or show an upward trend.

Personally, I bypassed the associates degree as it is unnecessary (I was shy of a PE and 1 elective course). Though If i had a chance I'd go back and just get it. just to say I have one. haha

 

[jvesco22]

I live in Socal and am part of the Coastline Community Colleges. The above poster is right, it is NOT required to get an AA (associates degree) in order to transfer. Since you will be getting your bachelors after you transfer and graduate, the AA is unnecessary. Getting your AA might require you to take extra classes that you wouldn't need, thus extended your journey to med school. For the quickest route, bypass the AA, do your 60 transferrable credits and transfer!

Good luck

 

[Mattabet]

Right. Unless that associate's degree is going to be used to get a job (or payed more for your job), I'd bypass it. If you're going to take a few years down the line to work, it might be nice to have it as a fallback. But if you're looking at the most efficient route to medical school, go take your classes that matter at USF, get the Bachelor's.