Classes from Community College

[rollingmedicine]

I usually hear this a lot from my friends regarding classes you need to take for pharmacy school.

1) If you take pre-req courses from community college, you are making yourself less competitive because admissions know that classes are "easier"

2) It is better to take pre-req courses in a university if you are a university student.

3) It is not recommended to take science pre-req courses from community colleges.

I was planning to take Biochem and Ecology from a community college during the summer to save some tuition money since I don't really receive grants or loans.

But now I'm a little skeptical to take it because of the negative things that I hear about community colleges... is this really true?

If I take around 1~2 classes at community college would pharmacy school really "look down" on it?

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[DrHerbmann]

Haha this one is always fun. I am a firm believer in "no".

 

[owlegrad]

I agree with DrHebrMann. I don't think there is any bias and even if there is it is not enough to hold you back at all.

 

[KasHfg]

I usually hear this a lot from my friends regarding classes you need to take for pharmacy school.

1) If you take pre-req courses from community college, you are making yourself less competitive because admissions know that classes are "easier"

2) It is better to take pre-req courses in a university if you are a university student.

3) It is not recommended to take science pre-req courses from community colleges.

I was planning to take Biochem and Ecology from a community college during the summer to save some tuition money since I don't really receive grants or loans.

But now I'm a little skeptical to take it because of the negative things that I hear about community colleges... is this really true?

If I take around 1~2 classes at community college would pharmacy school really "look down" on it?

As somebody that completed all of the prerequisites at community college and got accepted to a good school (UIC) I believe that it does not matter were you go as long as you have a good GPA and PCAT scores!
The one thing that I would be concerned about is weather the schools you want to apply to accept summer classes, because I know that some schools don't! I think you should check that with them.

 

[Skrumpy]

I usually hear this a lot from my friends regarding classes you need to take for pharmacy school.

1) If you take pre-req courses from community college, you are making yourself less competitive because admissions know that classes are "easier"

2) It is better to take pre-req courses in a university if you are a university student.

3) It is not recommended to take science pre-req courses from community colleges.

I was planning to take Biochem and Ecology from a community college during the summer to save some tuition money since I don't really receive grants or loans.

But now I'm a little skeptical to take it because of the negative things that I hear about community colleges... is this really true?

If I take around 1~2 classes at community college would pharmacy school really "look down" on it?

Well I happen to know for a fact that some administrators at certain pharmacy schools do have a bias against CCs. I specifically heard a dean speak disparagingly of them during a preview day for their pharmacy school. It is rather easy to surmise that most people look down upon CCs especially when compared to most universities. They believe that CCs have lower standards for who the allow in and engage in grade inflation. Now you have all these people that will come out of the woodwork to say "hey I went to CC and got into the #1 ranked school" that is all fine and dandy, but it doesn't mean that the ad com didn't hesitate when they were reviewing their application. Now I'm not saying that you won't get into a good school simply because you went to a CC. I also went to a CC and got into a good school. I made sure I got straight A's, was involved at the school, and took a decently heavy course load. The short answer is that 1-2 classes won't hurt you and it is a good money saving tactic. I would even suggest taking more at a CC to save yourself even more money. Just do well in those classes and make sure you are doing other things to beef up your application on the side.

 

[p0lo]

You will be totally fine. I took all pre-reqs at CC and got accepted to a reputable public school. Just make sure you have a stellar GPA.

 

[Rivers99]

is it true some pharmacy schools don't accept summer classes from community college? I'm kind of scared to take a pre req in the summer now..

 

[88888888]

is it true some pharmacy schools don't accept summer classes from community college? I'm kind of scared to take a pre req in the summer now..

Probably not true. Contact the schools youre interested in and ask them. each school is different.

 

[KasHfg]

is it true some pharmacy schools don't accept summer classes from community college? I'm kind of scared to take a pre req in the summer now..

I read somewhere that some schools might not accept summer classes at all (community college or university) - this is not confirmed; I just thought I should mention it. I know for a fact though that UIC does not accept summer classes taken the year you apply for. Meaning they won't take summer 2013 if you want to apply for Fall 2013.

 

[Skrumpy]

is it true some pharmacy schools don't accept summer classes from community college? I'm kind of scared to take a pre req in the summer now..

It is entirely possible. My CC had a listing of all their courses and which schools they did or didn't transfer to. There was an entire room with different colored sheets identifying all of these. I would make sure to check with both schools (but primarily the one that would have to accept the transfer). Nothing worse than wasting your time and money for no gain.

 

[Rivers99]

It is entirely possible. My CC had a listing of all their courses and which schools they did or didn't transfer to. There was an entire room with different colored sheets identifying all of these. I would make sure to check with both schools (but primarily the one that would have to accept the transfer). Nothing worse than wasting your time and money for no gain.

but I doubt they would list pharmacy schools as transferable.. dont CCs usually only list transferable to UC or CSU? (talking about california CCs) or other 4 year undergrad schools..not professional schools

well i guess there is no other way than contacting the school directly

 

[Skrumpy]

but I doubt they would list pharmacy schools as transferable.. dont CCs usually only list transferable to UC or CSU? (talking about california CCs) or other 4 year undergrad schools..not professional schools

well i guess there is no other way than contacting the school directly

Well if it is a standalone pharmacy school maybe/maybe not. Mine was for a university and that university had the attached pharmacy school. Since the courses were all accepted at the university I assumed they needed to be accepted at the CoP as well (which was a valid assumption). I'd make sure to give yourself some leeway.. it can take some time for the school to determine if the classes are transferable or not.

 

[gregors]

When I was going to school at a run of the mill state university there would always be people who transfer in from local community colleges with As in prereqs and proceed to fail upper level science courses. The same can be said about those who APed out of prereqs. But I would have a hard time seeing pharmacy simultaneously being a serious profession and discriminating against people for the place they went to college, which is decided by so many factors.

My suggestions are check with individual pharmacy schools because some DO care and be aware your courses may not be as hard and work even harder to learn the material in preparation for pharmacy school.

 

[Wallace12]

to avoid starting a new thread I'll just post here...

Does it matter under what subject you take a statistics class? Like my university has social stats, understanding stats (psych), bio stats, and a few others. My number one school doesn't require statistics but I'd like to be able to apply to other schools as well, I will probably have to take this class at a community college too.

 

[rollingmedicine]

Thank you everyone for the reply! I really appreciate all the answers! Maybe if I don't get into the specific pharmacy school that I wanted, then I can retake some of my classes again in community college.