Community College for first two years of pre-reqs?

[ChuckSlayer]

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Hello,

I posted before in the "non-traditional" board about becoming an RN first and then going onto either MD or DO school (I would prefer DO). I am currently an LPN and 20 years old. After working for the past 6 months in the nursing field, I realized that I didn't want to become an RN first and then goto medical school for some reasons.

1. I can't stand nursing anymore. It's a cutthroat world, and especially for a male nurse. It seems like you can never do enough. Just yesterday I was pulled aside by the supervisor (who wrote a LOR for nursing school for me and knows my future plans of medical school) and she told me, "You are doing good when it comes to your medication administration and you are highly intelligent when it comes to a lot of things, but you just seem bored and not challenged. You miss a ton of the little things like siging the med book, etc. etc" I blantantly told her that it is a boring job and monotonous. The same thing day in and day out. It does get rather annoying.

2. It seems like the world is against you. There are three males in the whole building in the nursing field, 2 are CNA's and I am an LPN. Everyone of us gets flack almost everyday from somebody. We are treated like crap and don't really know why. I understand that nurses are very territorial and whatnot.

3. I seem like I am the only one who enjoys when a Doctor visits and examines their residents. I enjoy the interaction, and I sort of see it as a mini-shadowing of sorts where I can learn just that little bit more from their visit with their residents. I can sit and talk with them for a half hour or so and enjoy it. And that seems like the only enjoyment I have in the day is if they come and visit the residents. I seem like I am the only one that does so. Every other nurse is either afraid or has a bad thing to say about EVERY doctor that enters the building. It sickens me, really.

I was accepted to Thomas Jefferson University for RN classes, I sent my commitment in and everything, but I pulled out because I am sick of it. Not only that, but for crap and everything that I KNOW is going to go on in nursing school, I would rather spend my money going the traditional biology/biochemistry route and save some coin.

So, I applied to a local community college for next fall to start my pre-reqs. My intended major is "Natural Life Science". Basically english, biology 1 and 2, organic chemistry, etc. etc. and then I plan on transferring to Penn State Universiy to finish up in biochemsitry.

My question is, how do Medical Schools look at community colleges for the first two years of your undergrad? Will they frown upon that and look at me as some sort of "*******"? I am mainly doing this because it only costs 3,000 a year to goto the community college as compared for 13,000-20,000 for the normal colleges. Figuring I could save a nice chunk of coin by going to the community college for the first two years. I just don't want it to ruin my chances of getting into medical school if I have a solid GPA and MCAT scores and they look at the first two years of undergrad and say, "Well,this person went to a community college for their first two years, they aren't worthy". Or, do they just care about the GPA, MCAT, LOR and your activities?


Also, I recently shadowed two opthamologist and a gastroenterologist. Love both of them and they treated me extremely nice, I am really into the opthamology field though. Just a little insight.

I put this here because some of my inspirations in life where DO's and that is my preferred school of choice, is a great DO school.


Thanks,
Charles

 

[whatdapho]

Hello,


My question is, how do Medical Schools look at community colleges for the first two years of your undergrad? Will they frown upon that and look at me as some sort of "*******"? I am mainly doing this because it only costs 3,000 a year to goto the community college as compared for 13,000-20,000 for the normal colleges. Figuring I could save a nice chunk of coin by going to the community college for the first two years. I just don't want it to ruin my chances of getting into medical school if I have a solid GPA and MCAT scores and they look at the first two years of undergrad and say, "Well,this person went to a community college for their first two years, they aren't worthy". Or, do they just care about the GPA, MCAT, LOR and your activities?


Also, I recently shadowed two opthamologist and a gastroenterologist. Love both of them and they treated me extremely nice, I am really into the opthamology field though. Just a little insight.

I put this here because some of my inspirations in life where DO's and that is my preferred school of choice, is a great DO school.


Thanks,
Charles

Hey Charles,

First and foremost, you definitely DO NOT need to attend a 4 year university for the first 2 years. You can take all your GE courses at a CC. As long as you do well and eventually transfer to a 4 year, you should be fine, keeping in mind that you do well at the 4 yr university as well. I went to a CC for the first 2 years for the same reasons as you- it cost a whole lot less. During my interviews the fact that I went to a CC was not a concern at all.

Going to a CC is such a great way to save money, especially if you can't get any type of scholarship or aid. Don't feel ashamed that you're taking the CC route bc in the long run it saves you a lot of moola and you end up at the same point ie you get a 4 yr degree for only paying for 2 years of it.
So don't worry about 2 yrs at a CC and go for it.
Good luck!!

 

[nlax30]

^^Beat me to it, agree with all that.....

I don't think you'd have a problem, as long the plan is to start at the CC, and then continue on at a 4year university to finish the rest of the pre-reqs. There's been some similar threads (mostly in pre-allo forum) and every once in a while someone will mention a few schools that won't accept CC pre-req courses but it looks like that isn't true if you went on to a 4 year program.

I took some pre-reqs at a CC and then transfered to a university for my 4 year degree and I was fine, and there's lots of people who do the same thing.

I really think that main issue would be someone who is at a university and then takes all the pre-reqs at a local CC thinking they'd be easier there, now that may not look good to ADCOMS.

But I think you'd be fine, make sure you do really well in those classes though.

So I guess you went straight into the LPN training after high school? And this will be your first 4yr degree?

 

[ChuckSlayer]

Thanks for the reply. I was accepted into one of Penn States "sub" schools so to speak but they cost way too much, and I would have to tranfer to their main campus anyway after two years. So, I figured why not just goto community college and save a bunch of money and then transfer to the four year university.


Thanks again for the reply,
Charles

 

[GoSouthernGo]

I tend to agree.

Some med schools flat out say they don't take CC courses as pre-reqs, but I've been amazed at the response from schools that say they do.

You will find others disagree saying that they're not as rigorous or even if they are there's no way to know which CC's are harder and which ones are easy. But then again, I could say the same for 4-year universities. During my undergrad half of my psych courses only had a midterm and final, both of which were multiple choice take-home. And you could get as many extra credit points as you wanted by participating as a research subject in the department.

So, my point is, take your general requirements at a CC if you want. If you want more, go ahead and take some upper-level bios at a 4-year college too. Genetics, Physiology, Cell Bio to name a few. Genetics and A&P helped me a lot on the MCAT.

I would NOT apply with only 90 credit hours and no degree and only coursework from a CC though 😱

 

[ChuckSlayer]

^^Beat me to it, agree with all that.....

I don't think you'd have a problem, as long the plan is to start at the CC, and then continue on at a 4year university to finish the rest of the pre-reqs. There's been some similar threads (mostly in pre-allo forum) and every once in a while someone will mention a few schools that won't accept CC pre-req courses but it looks like that isn't true if you went on to a 4 year program.

I took some pre-reqs at a CC and then transfered to a university for my 4 year degree and I was fine, and there's lots of people who do the same thing.

I really think that main issue would be someone who is at a university and then takes all the pre-reqs at a local CC thinking they'd be easier there, now that may not look good to ADCOMS.

But I think you'd be fine, make sure you do really well in those classes though.

So I guess you went straight into the LPN training after high school? And this will be your first 4yr degree?

Yes, I went straight into LPN training after school and this is my first four year degree. I also wanted to be a Doctor from a child up, and even now more than ever. I was discouraged after high school about applying to 4 year colleges because my high school grades aren't that stellar because I never really applied myself in any classes besides my science and english classes (it was really weird how when I looked at my report card that I had D's in math, but A's in advanced Biology, Chemistry, anatomy, physics, and english classes.) I am still afraid to apply to a four year school off the bat, because I am afraid of rejection and community colleges accept 100% of applications.

I can say one thing about nursing however, it really did straighten me out when it comes to maturity. A lot of people say that I am dedicated and more mature than 20 by the way I act and think. That really gave me the reassurance that I needed to start my journey, because that was my biggest fear. Was starting school and not focusing 100% on class and bombing the classes. I feel like I am ready now, and I think that a community college would be a great start, not because I think it would be easier, but I hear that the professors and whatnot are more helpful and since there is a smaller class size they are more available for help than if I would have started at a 4 year university off the bat.

Going back to the high school situation, when I was watching "Trauma:life in the ER" the one day, an ER physician was talking about his high school experience of how he failed out of high school, and then decided one day that he wanted to be a Doctor and how he got his GED and went to community college and then eventually medical school. I am not in that kind of boat thankfully, but that is an inspiration to anyone who did poorly in high school and thought that they wouldn't have a chance that becoming a Doctor. I guess if someone applies themself enough, and don't underestimate themself they can accomplish anything.


Thanks for sharing your opinions and listening,
Chuck

 

[droberge]

For the most part CC credits the first two of school are not a bad thing. Some osteopathic medical schools may see CC course work as grade inflation in general. It is the common stereotype that CC'S are not nearly as competitive as universities. I think as long as your MCAT is good you will be fine. I think you may notice it at the most competitive DO schools but CC work is not something to worry about.

 

[mshheaddoc]

Thanks for the reply. I was accepted into one of Penn States "sub" schools so to speak but they cost way too much, and I would have to tranfer to their main campus anyway after two years. So, I figured why not just goto community college and save a bunch of money and then transfer to the four year university.


Thanks again for the reply,
Charles

Since I'm guessing you're in the Eastern Pa area, MANY unversities in the area are doing the cc ---> university transfer linkage. I can't add much other than I don't expect you to run into any troubles unless you want to go to harvard. They might look down on that type of thing 😉 But all the DO schools I had talked to (only 4 of them) didn't look down on cc's at all. Neither did the one MD school I talked to. Many schools are realizing with the cost of education there are quality cc's out there that students take advantage of and you have quite a few in Eastern PA. best of

 

[DiverDoc]

I did my first two years at a CC, because of athletics. I transferred to a 4 year private and my advisor told me my med school adcoms wouldnt think it an issue because my GPA went up after transferring to a 4 year. Not vice versa.

 

[Chargers]

Since we're on the topic, I have some questions.
Do MD and DO schools calculate the grades from CC into the final total GPA? What about the science GPA??? I ask this because I had a D on an English class in CC when I was in highschool, but I made up for it right after I went on to CC. Do they still want to know about that grade??? Should I list it eventough I have made up for it???
BTW I transfered to a 4 year U after 2 years in CC and get an even better GPA.

 

[Beau Geste]

Since we're on the topic, I have some questions.
Do MD and DO schools calculate the grades from CC into the final total GPA? What about the science GPA??? I ask this because I had a D on an English class in CC when I was in highschool, but I made up for it right after I went on to CC. Do they still want to know about that grade??? Should I list it eventough I have made up for it???
BTW I transfered to a 4 year U after 2 years in CC and get an even better GPA.

Yes. ALL grades from any post-high school institution are counted, even if you took the courses while in high school.

You need to list all grades and send all transcripts or you run the risk of being blackballed. There are several threads that discuss this.