CC vs. Private Uni Informal Post-Bacc Need Advice

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Kouneko

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Hello fellow pre-dents,

I just graduated last month and currently am studying for DAT which I'll be taking next month. I'm not going to apply until next cycle because my stats are not great atm and I don't have many shadowing hours and ECs.

Grades:
1 year CC+ 2 years uni
My overall GPA = 3.43 (senior year 3.95: I took 38 units with 25 BCP units, 1 B+, 3 A+, rest are As)
My science GPA = 3.27
My BCP GPA = 3.16

To boost my GPA a bit higher, I want to take A&P and Microbiology before applying next cycle. I have two options currently. At my nearby CC, I still have priority registration through honor's program and the professor is great, plus the cost is low (~$200). Another option would be taking the course at a nearby private university. The cost is a lot higher (~$4400) and I'm not familiar with the registration process.

Since I just graduated from a 4-year uni, would the admission dislike my choice of attending a CC instead of the private uni? I'm not going to apply to Boston, Tufts, etc. that don't take CC credits since I already completed some prereqs at CC during my first year of college.

Tl;dr: Should I take A&P and microbiology at CC (lower cost) or private uni (higher cost) for informal post-bacc?

Thank you for your inputs!

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Private uni. Your science GPA and BCP are on the lower side so you really want to establish you're capable of doing well in science courses, and taking them at a community college is not ideal for that purpose.

Alternatively, you could do really well on the DAT and avoid having to worry about that.
 
Private uni. Your science GPA and BCP are on the lower side so you really want to establish you're capable of doing well in science courses, and taking them at a community college is not ideal for that purpose.

Alternatively, you could do really well on the DAT and avoid having to worry about that.
I still need to establish that I'm capable of doing well in science courses even if I just took upper div courses like Cell Bio, Biology of Cancer, Biochem lab, Med Chem, Quan Bio, etc. and got A and A+? I did really bad first year of uni due to personal reasons which brought my GPA down a lot but I did great second year. Forgot to mention, I'm going to apply for master's to bring my GPA up after post-bacc, would that make the choice of attending CC post-bacc less damaging to my app?

All in all, do you still believe that taking the courses at private uni justify the 22x cost and not guaranteed classes/good professors?

Thank you for your reply! Currently using your notes to study for bio and hoping to do well on the DAT.
 
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I still need to establish that I'm capable of doing well in science courses even if I just took upper div courses like Cell Bio, Biology of Cancer, Biochem lab, Med Chem, Quan Bio, etc. and got A and A+? I did really bad first year of uni due to personal reasons which brought my GPA down a lot but I did great second year. Forgot to mention, I'm going to apply for master's to bring my GPA up after post-bacc, would that make the choice of attending CC post-bacc less damaging to my app?

All in all, do you still believe that taking the courses at private uni justify the 22x cost and not guaranteed classes/good professors?

Thank you for your reply! Currently using your notes to study for bio and hoping to do well on the DAT.

With a 3.2 science GPA you ideally want to take those courses at a regular uni, but I guess if you're going to do a master's then two courses done in a community college might not matter much since there would be substantially more science coursework for them to look at. Is the master's going to be done by the time you apply?

While I personally think the cost difference is ridiculous, you really have to look at it from the perspective of adcoms. If the master's stuff will be done by the time you're applying, don't worry about where you take these two courses.
 
With a 3.2 science GPA you ideally want to take those courses at a regular uni, but I guess if you're going to do a master's then two courses done in a community college might not matter much since there would be substantially more science coursework for them to look at. Is the master's going to be done by the time you apply?

While I personally think the cost difference is ridiculous, you really have to look at it from the perspective of adcoms. If the master's stuff will be done by the time you're applying, don't worry about where you take these two courses.
I'm going to start one year master's next June and submitting the app next June as well. They will probably ask for updates on the summer grades and maybe fall grades. If I don't get in, I will be applying the cycle after the master's.

Another option other than CC and private uni would probably be online courses (which would definitely be cheaper than private uni) from UNE, UC Berkeley Extension, and others that are commonly discussed on SDN forum.
 
I wouldn't recommend online classes, unless you have excellent study habits and don't need professors' office hours. If you're going to complete a master's by the time you apply, I would say taking your two courses at a CC (and doing very well in them) is alright.
I guess what I want to ask is in my situation, would online classes look unfavorable to adcoms or do they look better than the CC classes? If they look better than I am willing to put in the work to succeed in the online classes.

By the time I apply (next June), I will be starting master's so I will not complete a master's by the time I apply.
 
I learn best in a structured classroom setting, so personally I would focus all my work into succeeding on the DAT and taking the courses at a CC (over online). Of course a university setting is best, but between online courses and community college, the science content should be the same.

On another note, if you're doing a master's, it would be ideal to complete it and have a new set of grades before applying. Otherwise it's really not worth it IMO, just to let adcoms know you're pursuing higher education without the results of your efforts (i.e. grades) to show for anything worth considering in the admissions process.
For me master's is like an insurance... In case I don't get in next cycle, I will have better stats to apply with the following cycle. Additionally, I want to have some research experience so I'm applying to programs with some research components. Also, I'm looking into programs with linkages so I may get into a dental school that way too.

I prefer classroom setting too to be honest... I think I'll just go with CC since the prof is known to be really good too. Thank you for your inputs!
 
For me master's is like an insurance... In case I don't get in next cycle, I will have better stats to apply with the following cycle. Additionally, I want to have some research experience so I'm applying to programs with some research components. Also, I'm looking into programs with linkages so I may get into a dental school that way too.

I prefer classroom setting too to be honest... I think I'll just go with CC since the prof is known to be really good too. Thank you for your inputs!

Just to pile on what others have said...

Uni classroom > cc classroom > online.

Some schools won't even accept online science classes, despite an otherwise glowing application. I asked the ones I'm interested in. I recommend you do the same.


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