BCC/Montclair/Rutgers-Newark for Pre-Med/Psychology?

[JID]

Hello. I'm 26-years-old and finally know what I want to spend my life on: a career in psychiatry.

I attended Bergen Community College five years ago for two semesters (4.0 first semester, dropped out second semester). This fall I'll be attending Montclair State University as a psychology major, but I'm hesitant to get comfortable there as only 1% of their graduates continue on to medical school.

I'm considering a transfer to Rutgers-Newark next year, but am a little concerned that their more challenging bio/chem courses could hurt my GPA. Should I stick with MSU? Risk Rutgers-Newark? Take my pre-med requisites at BCC and THEN transfer to Rutgers?

I hope to attend UMDNJ, Robert Wood or NJMS. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks!

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[DocHomer]

Hello. I'm 26-years-old and finally know what I want to spend my life on: a career in psychiatry.

I attended Bergen Community College five years ago for two semesters (4.0 first semester, dropped out second semester). This fall I'll be attending Montclair State University as a psychology major, but I'm hesitant to get comfortable there as only 1% of their graduates continue on to medical school.

I'm considering a transfer to Rutgers-Newark next year, but am a little concerned that their more challenging bio/chem courses could hurt my GPA. Should I stick with MSU? Risk Rutgers-Newark? Take my pre-med requisites at BCC and THEN transfer to Rutgers?

I hope to attend UMDNJ, Robert Wood or NJMS. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I attended Rutgers-Newark, and half of the students there are pre-meds. (The other half are business majors.) They have a linkage program with UMDNJ-NJMS, so you wouldn't have to have a glide year. It's a good program. The Bio classes are not difficult, but their chemistry courses can be challenging. Orgo 2 and orgo labs are the two classes that everyone dreads. But I don't think there would be anything that would prevent you from doing well. The way I looked at it was that I was getting good prep for the MCAT.

Their pre-med advisor is great. He's a very nice guy and willing to help you out in any way he can. I definitely recommend the school, but I'm not sure if transferring from Montclair State is necessary. However, it's nice to be in a place where there are a lot of people in the same position as you. Also, there was a good number of non-trads, so that helped too.