Community College credits

[Mr. Furious]

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Well, folks, I've received a couple replies regarding this subject. Not all med schools I emailed participated in my little survey, but I did hear back from two of schools I was actually interested in applying to in the future.

The questions posed were "does your admissions committee consider grades earned from 2-year colleges when evaluating one's composite GPA? Does the committee have a preference for whether I take my required science courses at a 2-year or 4-year institution?"

Harvard replied with a short note that said:
"Your requirements must be taken at an accredited institution for a letter grade. We look at all grades earned in your post-secondary career."

Albert Einstein College of Medicine replied with:
"Dear [Mr. Furious]: Better to take your pre-med courses at a four year college. Good luck to you. We'll look forward to your application in a few years."

I have not heard from the other four schools and now that I've posted this here some of them might not reply at all. Which is alright by me, I think these two replies examplify what I feel I'd receive from them. The impression I got from this is that they don't care if you go to community college first and then transfer to a 4-year college, but they do have a preference that pre-med courses be taken in the latter.

Of course I recommend you contact the specific schools you are interested in regarding this subject before applying. In some cases this doesn't work through e-mail.

Mr. 😡

 

[oldman]

I have a few credits from a community college, but it was my EMT class. I put it on my AMCAS transcript and it helped boost my overall GPA.

 

[Atlas]

Community colleges are accredited institutions. Therefore, Harvard SHOULD accept those credits. Of all of the schools I've contacted, only one seemed "iffy" while the rest said bring it on! MOST medical schools will give your CC credit the time of day. Trust me.

 

[Mr. Furious]

I had read on the Kaplan book "Medical School Admissions Adviser" that some med schools do not accept community college grades. If they don't they are certainly snobs. Many people start off in CC because it opens the door to state universities that wouldn't take them without a bunch of "standard" admissions procedures. And those procedures make me FURIOUS! 😡

Mr. 😡

 

[Atlas]

You say "some" med schools don't accept them. This number is more like a handful. MOST med schools will give your credits the time of day. No need to be furious. Say screw the ones that don't and move on. I can only think of one school (Wake Forest) that has straight up told me no. Every school I've asked, including top schools, say that CC credits are ok. I've found a couple schools like Cornell and Pritzker that seem "iffy" on them, but will accept the credits nonetheless. To me, it doesn't make sense if Pritzker will accept them when Wake doesn't! Oh well. I didn't want to go to Wake anyway. SIU, Rush and U of I are my main schools and ALL of them have NO PROBLEMS and give FULL CREDIT for ALL WORK done at a CC. If I were you, I'd look at the schools that accept CC credits (which is about 90-something % of the med schools in the US) and apply there. Don't waste your time with snobs.

 

[mma]

I took one course at a CC and none of the schools I applied to (including Baylor, Harvard, Yale, UPenn) seemed to care...

There is a post in the Allo forum about this as well.

mma

P.S. to Atlas: I love kung fu.

 

[Mr. Furious]

Atlas, you are absolutely right. I have no time to waste with snobs.

Anyway, I've just received a puzzling e-mail from Penn State College of Medicine. Check this out:

"Penn State does not provide advisors. You will need to seek advice from your school advisor. Where you go to school is your own personal choice, we cannot make this choice for you.
Thank you,"

This reply was just so weird. I didn't ask them to tell me where to go to school, I just asked them the questions I mentioned on the first post to this thread.

While I appreciate the fact that they bothered to reply, I am confused by their misinterpretation of my query.

Mma, you went to Harvard, right? BTW, when you say "Kung Fu" are you talking about the martial art, or is it the David Carradine tv show?

 

[mma]

Dear 😡 ,

When I say "kung fu," I am referring to the same movie to which Atlas refers to when he explains in his sig how much work he gets done in a week...

Also, yes, I went to Harvard for undergrad, but I was a different person back then--I was on the road to humanities-PhDville. Once I got to my PhD program, I realized I was meant for something else, i.e. medicine. So, I took a course at a community college before I started my post bacc pre-med program.

That Penn State response was weird. You'd really think they would try to be more helpful. But I think your school advisor would tell you that CC credits won't necessarily hurt you--I think I just wouldn't rely solely on them.

Good luck!

mma

 

[Jameson]

So does anyone have a list of schools that do NOT accept CC credits, aside from Wake?

 

[Mr. Furious]

Mma, you were sooo lucky to go to Harvard! I'd have loved the prestige that comes from going there. But, is it true that it's a good school in a bad neighbourhood?

I hear ya on the "I was a different person" deal. Same here. Oh if ONLY, IF ONLY, IF ONLY I had gone to college straight out of High School instead of doing other stuff...It's true that I wouldn't trade my experiences in, but now I'm a decade behind everyone else.

That Penn State reply was the second time I get a screwed up response from them in twelve years. 12 years ago I phoned them up for an undergrad application and someone there started telling me I'd never get in because I went to High School abroad and that because of that they had no way of knowing anything about me. What @$$#*!&$!!! I wouldn't have gone there anyway, I was only requesting an application because I was thinking of applying to a handful of schools on a list and they were there. Turned I went nowhere since I got busy otherwise. 😡 😡 😡

Are you sure you didn't mean "Kung Pow"? The one where the guy fights with a cow in the trailer? Just curious.

Mr. 😡

 

[Mr. Furious]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Newton:
•God is good, life is hard...don't get the two confused-
•••••Ya know, this site has the funniest quotes. 😀

Anyway, yeah, that was part of the purpose of this thread: to establish which schools care or not about CC credits. Unfortunately not everyone who replies to e-mails is as competent as the two people from Harvard and AE, while other schools don't reply at all. In the case of Penn State, it would've been less confusing had they not bothered to reply. Penn State makes me effervesce in a geyser of fury, cascading wrath in every direction.
😡 😡 😡 😡 😡

Mr. 😡

 

[Droopy]

I received this message from University of South Florida:

•••quote:••• I just reviewed your file and I will provide you with my honest thoughts if you want to be a competative candidate here. The Premed Committee Letter you describe is from your Community College, we greatly prefer the academic letters to be from the institution from which you received your bachelors degree. ••••Background: Undergrad at a military academy in with a BS in Electrical Engineering, 6 years of military service.

Post-Bacc: At a community college (to save money). Since I had several different professors for my classes, they compose a composite letter, not a pre-med letter (there is no Premed Committee).

I'll be attending George Washington this fall.

 

[Mr. Furious]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Droopy:
•I received this message from University of South Florida:
•••••HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> To quote Vizzini, "*****S!"! They can't spell "competitive" and yet are in position to choose who goes to college there.

Good thing you are going to GW. It's one of my choices, actually, since I found out more about it last night after Doc Foxy mentioned it in chat.

Thanks for the input.

Mr. 😡

 

[FLY]

going back to the original CC gpa topic of this page... Does anyone know if the CC classes are factored into the cum. gpa if you took them while in highschool..??

 

[ewells]

Mr. 😡 I have about seventy CC credits, including almost all of my prereqs and I will be attending Penn State starting this this fall (it still feels weird saying that.)