CC summer courses/textbooks/biology courses help

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[TheMightySmiter]

Would adcoms look badly on the fact that I'm doing one course at my university and one course at my community college during the summer? I know that I have to give both transcripts, which is no problem. My CC's courses are literally 1/3 of the price.

Unfortunately, it is usually discouraged to take pre-reqs at a CC if you are already enrolled in a four-year university, even though it is so much cheaper. There are certainly schools that wouldn't care, but I personally wouldn't risk it. Can you apply for scholarships to offset the cost of taking summer courses at your regular university?

Another, unrelated question I had is, does anyone keep their premed requisite course textbooks? I've already taken cell biology and have kept the textbook. Is there any point to that? When studying for MCAT, will I use that at all or will I be taking everything from the prep books?

I rented most of my textbooks so I had to give them back at the end of the semester. The ones I kept I never used. An MCAT prep book or class will have all the material you need, which will be far less detailed. I would just sell your textbooks, no need to hang onto them.

Another quick question, I took AP biology in high school, got a 4 and it was accepted as 2 courses at my university. Introductory Biology I and II. They are both lab courses. Have I made a mistake in taking Cell Biology and Biostatistics? I took the Biostatistics because it's needed along with Cell Biology to take Genetics. I assumed I need the Cell Biology and Genetics for my two biology lab courses for my prerequisites; assuming I'd like to save as much money as possible, should I take Genetics? Would those two Intro Biology courses have been enough for medical school acceptance?

Many med schools do not accept AP credit for pre-reqs, but most will accept upper-division coursework instead. So, you should definitely take Genetics if you can. Each individual med school will have a policy regarding this. A few will say that you have to have taken Intro Bio at the college level, so just be careful and know the school's policy before you apply.

 

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[TheMightySmiter]

It's not really about being "excused", it's more about how your app looks to someone who doesn't know you. 🙂 There isn't really a place to explain why you took a summer course at a CC. Like I said, it's more than possible for adcoms to not care at all. But I still don't see it as a good choice.

 

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[Morsetlis]

I don't do textbooks, but my GPA was only 3.64.
Is it a correlation or a causation? Who knows!?

 

[TheMightySmiter]

Ok, well assuming a 3.8 GPA and at least a 30 MCAT, I know this is all hypothetical, and very standard extracurricular, would prereqs from a CC stop me from getting into a med school with a average GPA of like 3.5 or 3.4? I mean is it THAT much of a bad thing?

Sorry if I'm getting into weird territory, but we're talking a few thousand dollars and I just want to gauge the consequences of doing the CC courses.

It's really impossible to say. Probably wouldn't make much difference at that point, but who knows? Just be sure that med schools you apply to accept CC credits for pre-reqs (it's listed in MSAR).

 

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