Community college a good idea?

[Lil Bear]

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So I am a senior in High school at the moment and my plan goes as follows.

Basic background: Slack(ed)ing in high school and have a 2.9 gpa (should definitely be at least a 3.1 after this semester).

1. Go to Community College (save lots of money, probably do some pre reqs there)

2. Transfer to a University

3. Finish pre-med, apply to med school

4. If I don't get in, re apply and such

5. Work as a computer technician if it becomes clear that I won't be able to get into a med school.

I have heard a lot of people say that med schools will not look upon CC very well. I have also heard as long as you save some upper level science classes for a university and do well there, they don't care too much that you went to CC.

Does this seem like a good plan or should I just go into more debt by starting out at a University?

 

[chman]

There is a thread we have responded to not too far down. Otherwise use the search tool. Not trying to be mean, but you could see how it might get old to answer the same thing multiple times.

 

[Lil Bear]

I looked for threads and they all seemed far out dated. Probably just did not search right =/.

Can't find that thread. If you could link it that would be appreciated

 

[Appless]

Your plan is fine...as has been stated numerous times before going to a CC will NOT affect your chances in any way. As long as you do well at the CC then do well at the transfer university you are fine. The only advice I would give is that you dont take all the pre med reqs at a CC and take some upper div science classes at the 4 yr school. Do this and you would be fine assuming your mcat and ECs are in order. I and many others have went to a CC and are now either in med school or having good success this cycle. I went to a CC and not one interviewer has bothered me about it in any way, i even used a LOR from a CC prof. I have 6 interviews so far so i really doubt there is much of a prob with CC. Good lcuk.

 

[Lil Bear]

Your plan is fine...as has been stated numerous times before going to a CC will NOT affect your chances in any way. As long as you do well at the CC then do well at the transfer university you are fine. The only advice I would give is that you dont take all the pre med reqs at a CC and take some upper div science classes at the 4 yr school. Do this and you would be fine assuming your mcat and ECs are in order. I and many others have went to a CC and are now either in med school or having good success this cycle. I went to a CC and not one interviewer has bothered me about it in any way, i even used a LOR from a CC prof. I have 6 interviews so far so i really doubt there is much of a prob with CC. Good lcuk.

Thanks, really appreciate the input. I have been stressing out a little bit over this after reading an old thread from like 02 on here where people were made it seem like going to CC would end your life. Sorry for making what seems to be a repetitive thread but thanks a ton for your helpful answer!

 

[12345a]

I went to CC as well. As a premed/dent I have to say that it was the best decision in my life. I had a 2.8 in high school, I got my act together and got a 3.8 in CC. I took Genchem and a semester of physics and bio at CC (I'm repeating the Phys and bio at university) and I would suggest that you look more at how med schools will view your transcript. I didn't take the prereqs at CC b/c I thought it would be better to wait. Do a little more reserach about the trade offs for taking the "easier" CC prereqs Vs. taking the harder university level ones then decide which route you're more comfortable with.

Best of luck!

 

[apumic]

I went to CC as well. As a premed/dent I have to say that it was the best decision in my life. I had a 2.8 in high school, I got my act together and got a 3.8 in CC. I took Genchem and a semester of physics and bio at CC (I'm repeating the Phys and bio at university) and I would suggest that you look more at how med schools will view your transcript. I didn't take the prereqs at CC b/c I thought it would be better to wait. Do a little more reserach about the trade offs for taking the "easier" CC prereqs Vs. taking the harder university level ones then decide which route you're more comfortable with.

Best of luck!

CC's fine IF and ONLY IF you do well. Slack at a CC and you're done. Screw up at a 4 yr as a freshmen, you'll probably be given some grace but poor grades (meaning below about 3.6-3.8) means you're done if they were in prereq classes. (Yes, you can always come back here and whine about it like some do and you'll get sympathy and told you could still get in somewhere and it's true, you might, but seriously...why plan on being that sorry ***...?!)

 

[12345a]

CC's fine IF and ONLY IF you do well. Slack at a CC and you're done. Screw up at a 4 yr as a freshmen, you'll probably be given some grace but poor grades

👍

 

[Lil Bear]

CC's fine IF and ONLY IF you do well. Slack at a CC and you're done. Screw up at a 4 yr as a freshmen, you'll probably be given some grace but poor grades (meaning below about 3.6-3.8) means you're done if they were in prereq classes. (Yes, you can always come back here and whine about it like some do and you'll get sympathy and told you could still get in somewhere and it's true, you might, but seriously...why plan on being that sorry ***...?!)

Ok, so it's a good idea to take my pre reqs at the university. But will it be too much of a workload if I only do my senior and junior year at a university? Also, I don't plan on slacking at CC

 

[TexasPrincess]

Advice: Start now doing all the extra things for your med school app like volunteering, shadowing, extracurriculars, summer research (check on NSF REUs www.nsf.gov), I also suggest taking all your standard classes at the CC that will transfer well. Maybe English your first year to prepare you for writing down the road. Psychology, sociology, etc are all good classes to take at a cc and you should do well.

More Advice: Read your textbook and keep up with your coursework.

Good luck!

 

[armybound]

Your plan is fine...as has been stated numerous times before going to a CC will NOT affect your chances in any way.

This is actually not entirely true. Schools definitely do consider where you've done your pre-reqs at and especially care how you performed if you did go to a community college.

 

[chman]

Here, this may settle the debate, but probably not.

http:www.washington.edu/students/ugrad/advising/tap/premed.html

 

[Appless]

This is actually not entirely true. Schools definitely do consider where you've done your pre-reqs at and especially care how you performed if you did go to a community college.

if u look i also stated that the best idea was to take the pre reqs at the 4 yr...my point is CC is not a death sentance like many people on here like to spread. Do well at both colleges, save the pre reqs if possible for the 4 yr, and take some upper div science classes and there will be no qualms for getting into med school. Now if your only goal in life is harvard sure there might be some hiccups, but if you just want to be a US graduated MD, then no there is no worries.

 

[Appless]

Ok, so it's a good idea to take my pre reqs at the university. But will it be too much of a workload if I only do my senior and junior year at a university? Also, I don't plan on slacking at CC

no the workload will be fine. I saved ochem, physics, and my upper div bio like genetics. biochem etc all for the 4 yr and did not find it to be to bad. Also if you have to take some pre reqs at a CC its not the end of the world, just save some for the 4 year. If you are a bio major for example you will probably have to take 1 yr of gen bio and gen chem to transfer...which is fine as you will have ochem, physics, and many many upper div bio labs and lectures to show that the A's you got in a CC were not "flukes." Seriously anyone who says that a CC will really hurt you really has no idea what they are talking about. There are only a few situations where a CC will hurt such as taking all pre reqs there while you are already in a 4 yr just so it can be "easier." If you just do the normal transfer route (which it sounds like you are) then there should be little problems.

 

[jlo9011]

Very informative thread.👍

 

[Lil Bear]

Here, this may settle the debate, but probably not.

http:www.washington.edu/students/ugrad/advising/tap/premed.html

Thanks. I think I saw that post before which is why I was a little bit confused on the way people on these forums talk about CC's sometimes. Sounds like I wanna save most of my sciences if I can but should knock out the maths and english probably.

 

[Joba]

Hey, I like what was posted so far, but I have somewhat of a different predicament.
I'm a sophmore at community college in SoCal, and plan to transfer to UCLA after completing the coursework here. I hear alot on these forums that you should take the MCAT your junior year for various reasons. If I put of pre-reqs till the year I'm taking the MCAT, I feel that would hurt my score.
Anyone have some advice for me?

/I plan on doing a 5 year plan since I'm not applying this year, and UCLA only accepts transfer applications for Fall Semesters (Just found out 🙁)

 

[Lil Bear]

Hey, I like what was posted so far, but I have somewhat of a different predicament.
I'm a sophmore at community college in SoCal, and plan to transfer to UCLA after completing the coursework here. I hear alot on these forums that you should take the MCAT your junior year for various reasons. If I put of pre-reqs till the year I'm taking the MCAT, I feel that would hurt my score.
Anyone have some advice for me?

/I plan on doing a 5 year plan since I'm not applying this year, and UCLA only accepts transfer applications for Fall Semesters (Just found out 🙁)

Wow, I never thought about that before. Someone answer his MCAT question lol, I wanna know too

 

[Appless]

Hey, I like what was posted so far, but I have somewhat of a different predicament.
I'm a sophmore at community college in SoCal, and plan to transfer to UCLA after completing the coursework here. I hear alot on these forums that you should take the MCAT your junior year for various reasons. If I put of pre-reqs till the year I'm taking the MCAT, I feel that would hurt my score.
Anyone have some advice for me?

/I plan on doing a 5 year plan since I'm not applying this year, and UCLA only accepts transfer applications for Fall Semesters (Just found out 🙁)

you dont have to take the mcat junior year...you only need to do this if you want to basically graduate in june and start med school 2 months later...so no real break. As a transfer student that isnt really an option (at least i havnt found it to be), epecially if you saved your prereqs. Those really need to be done before you take the mcat not while you are taking it. What you would probably do is take the mcat senior year, apply to med school senior year...and then you would have a basically a year off between graduation and hopefully starting your M1 at w/e school. Many people take a year off and find it great so i wouldnt worry. Also the average med school age is now like 24 and rising so the difference between entering med school at say 22 or 23 due to the year off really doesnt matter. Me personally, because of the whole pre req issue I didnt take the MCAT until my senior year after i transferred. I found it to be much less stressful as I could really focus on getting all A's in the pre reqs which as a transfer student is very very important. Then after that was done i could hit the MCAT.

Really its up to you the above is just my experience as a transfer student.

 

[LizzyM]

Going to a cc and tranferring to a university is acceptable but not optimal.


Taking summer classes at a cc while concurrently enrolled in a university is frowned upon. (it looks like you are trying to avoid difficult classes at your home univeristy).

 

[armybound]

if u look i also stated that the best idea was to take the pre reqs at the 4 yr...my point is CC is not a death sentance like many people on here like to spread. Do well at both colleges, save the pre reqs if possible for the 4 yr, and take some upper div science classes and there will be no qualms for getting into med school. Now if your only goal in life is harvard sure there might be some hiccups, but if you just want to be a US graduated MD, then no there is no worries.

there's a difference between "going to a CC will not affect your chances in any way" and "CC is not a death sentance[sic]".

but this advice is better.

 

[Lil Bear]

Going to a cc and tranferring to a university is acceptable but not optimal.


Taking summer classes at a cc while concurrently enrolled in a university is frowned upon. (it looks like you are trying to avoid difficult classes at your home univeristy).

Thanks, as long as going to CC won't hurt my chances too much, that is where I would like to go however. I feel it would help me get into a better university as well as be the better choice economically.

 

[apumic]

Going to a cc and tranferring to a university is acceptable but not optimal.


Taking summer classes at a cc while concurrently enrolled in a university is frowned upon. (it looks like you are trying to avoid difficult classes at your home univeristy).

Lizzy, would do you think if a student has taken several classes at a CC over the summers b/c they are carrying a full load every semester? In this situation, the student has a ~3.8GPA (~3.7 sGPA) and the courses include an English class (1 other English course taken at the home U and other writing intensive courses taken at the home U as well). Do you think this is likely to look bad? Do you think the student would need to take another English course at a 4-yr to show competence? All English classes taken earned As and all other writing intensive courses were As and A-s.

 

[LizzyM]

Lizzy, would do you think if a student has taken several classes at a CC over the summers b/c they are carrying a full load every semester? In this situation, the student has a ~3.8GPA (~3.7 sGPA) and the courses include an English class (1 other English course taken at the home U and other writing intensive courses taken at the home U as well). Do you think this is likely to look bad? Do you think the student would need to take another English course at a 4-yr to show competence? All English classes taken earned As and all other writing intensive courses were As and A-s.

English generally isn't an issue.

A student should be able to fit in the pre-reqs and earn a degree by taking a full load for four years. What we sometimes see is a student who takes o-chem and/or physics in the summer at a lesser ranked school. This has the appearance of attempting to avoid a weed out class at the university by taking it at the cc (or course, sometimes this backfires and the course is taught by tough-grading instructor and populated by cut-throat pre-meds from all the top schools).

 

[apumic]

English generally isn't an issue.

A student should be able to fit in the pre-reqs and earn a degree by taking a full load for four years. What we sometimes see is a student who takes o-chem and/or physics in the summer at a lesser ranked school. This has the appearance of attempting to avoid a weed out class at the university by taking it at the cc (or course, sometimes this backfires and the course is taught by tough-grading instructor and populated by cut-throat pre-meds from all the top schools).

Ok, that's what I figured. I just thought I'd run it by you. Thanks for the response!

 

[echidna]

I started at a CC in SoCal and transferred to a UC after 2 years. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't. Not only because of the stigma, but I feel like I missed out on a big part of the college experience. Living in the dorms, being away from home, making new friends- by the time I started at a uni 2 years later those social networks within my class had already been built and developed and I always felt like the new guy.

If I had known I wanted to be a doctor back then I would have strongly reconsidered it. With your 2.9, CC might be the only option (and you get a blank slate!), but I would strongly recommend doing as well academically as you can and transferring to the best university that will accept you. I got into Berkeley but ended up going to Santa Cruz because I was dating someone there, and I'm afraid that that choice is going to come back and bite me in the admissions process.

Anyway, that's what I would tell my 18-year-old self if I could. Where you go to school will matter. I have a friend at UCSF who showed me a list of his classmates and where they went to school- a huge proportion, maybe more than half, went to Ivies, and my alma mater was unrepresented, as were I think the Cal State schools altogether. The admissions process is hard enough already; might as well give yourself every leg up that you can.

 

[Lil Bear]

I started at a CC in SoCal and transferred to a UC after 2 years. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't. Not only because of the stigma, but I feel like I missed out on a big part of the college experience. Living in the dorms, being away from home, making new friends- by the time I started at a uni 2 years later those social networks within my class had already been built and developed and I always felt like the new guy.

If I had known I wanted to be a doctor back then I would have strongly reconsidered it. With your 2.9, CC might be the only option (and you get a blank slate!), but I would strongly recommend doing as well academically as you can and transferring to the best university that will accept you. I got into Berkeley but ended up going to Santa Cruz because I was dating someone there, and I'm afraid that that choice is going to come back and bite me in the admissions process.

Anyway, that's what I would tell my 18-year-old self if I could. Where you go to school will matter. I have a friend at UCSF who showed me a list of his classmates and where they went to school- a huge proportion, maybe more than half, went to Ivies, and my alma mater was unrepresented, as were I think the Cal State schools altogether. The admissions process is hard enough already; might as well give yourself every leg up that you can.

The University that I want to go to for Undergrad is University of Washington (I'm in state). I highly, highly doubt that I would be able to go there right now with my current gpa =/. Also the community college that I plan on going to has on campus housing so I will gain a little bit of the college experience back that way at least.