Community College or No?

iwantyouradvice

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I am a high school junior, and I need advice.
I want to be a doctor. I have passion for it. It is everything that I want in an occupation.
I have planned out three routes to go to medical school:

1) CHSPE
The CHSPE is an exam in California that allows you to graduate high school early. It is equivalent to a diploma, and if I pass, I will be completing high school. However, after this I will be applying to a Community College, and then I will transfer to a 4 year university to receive my Bachelor's. The schools I have in mind are USC, UCLA, UCI, and CalTech

2) Normal Route
This is the normal route. I graduate high school, and during the fall of my senior year, I apply to a university. Again, the schools I have in mind are USC, UCLA, UCI, and Cal Tech

3) Community College Route
I will graduate high school normally, go to a Community College, then transfer to a university. The difference between this route and the first one is that the first one will do the same thing, except I'll be younger.

I want to go to the best medical school in Southern California.

Say I had outstanding grades for all routes, and I did plenty of research and volunteer work, high MCAT, high GPA. Would I look bad if I took the first route (CHSPE)? I want to get out of high school because I feel that the pace is way too slow, and I do not want to just "skip a grade". I just feel weighed down in my abilities. I have a GPA of 3.83 (unweighted) right now, and I'm not sure if I would get accepted to USC or UCLA as readily than if I was a transfer student.

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!

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I am a high school junior, and I need advice.
I want to be a doctor. I have passion for it. It is everything that I want in an occupation.
I have planned out three routes to go to medical school:

1) CHSPE
The CHSPE is an exam in California that allows you to graduate high school early. It is equivalent to a diploma, and if I pass, I will be completing high school. However, after this I will be applying to a Community College, and then I will transfer to a 4 year university to receive my Bachelor's. The schools I have in mind are USC, UCLA, UCI, and CalTech

2) Normal Route
This is the normal route. I graduate high school, and during the fall of my senior year, I apply to a university. Again, the schools I have in mind are USC, UCLA, UCI, and Cal Tech

3) Community College Route
I will graduate high school normally, go to a Community College, then transfer to a university. The difference between this route and the first one is that the first one will do the same thing, except I'll be younger.

I want to go to the best medical school in Southern California.

Say I had outstanding grades for all routes, and I did plenty of research and volunteer work, high MCAT, high GPA. Would I look bad if I took the first route (CHSPE)? I want to get out of high school because I feel that the pace is way too slow, and I do not want to just "skip a grade". I just feel weighed down in my abilities. I have a GPA of 3.83 (unweighted) right now, and I'm not sure if I would get accepted to USC or UCLA as readily than if I was a transfer student.

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!

Why are you in such a hurry to grow up and become a doctor? Just relax, have a good time in high school and college (while still working hard), and then apply for med school. Trust me, its those times you will value the most.
 
Say I had outstanding grades for all routes, and I did plenty of research and volunteer work, high MCAT, high GPA. Would I look bad if I took the first route (CHSPE)? I want to get out of high school because I feel that the pace is way too slow, and I do not want to just "skip a grade". I just feel weighed down in my abilities. I have a GPA of 3.83 (unweighted) right now, and I'm not sure if I would get accepted to USC or UCLA as readily than if I was a transfer student.

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!

Trust me, you'll feel like the pace is "way too slow" at a community college more so than if you were to just to a university. You just have one year of high school left. Continue taking AP classes and start volunteer work. Medical schools often frown on pre-requisites taken at community colleges anyhow.
 
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Okay, then let's say that I leave high school normally. Should I do the CC route, or apply directly to a 4 year university?
 
Okay, then let's say that I leave high school normally. Should I do the CC route, or apply directly to a 4 year university?

Go directly if you are able to. Also, this forum is mostly for medical students, try posting in the high school SDN forum for more advice from people very knowledgeable about your stage of the game.
 
Go directly if you are able to. Also, this forum is mostly for medical students, try posting in the high school SDN forum for more advice from people very knowledgeable about your stage of the game.
👍

Also, the correct way to abbreviate the California Institute of Technology is Caltech. I understand this may be confusing because sometimes we just refer to it as "Tech", but otherwise never use the capitalization in the middle or the space in between, nor three letters like that-other-institution.

I would actually recommend against going to Caltech if you're trying to be a doctor unless you're VERY good, and if you're interested in learning how to be a Scientist while you're at it. Professors there are hired to be researchers, not educators, so if you want some research experience you're in luck, but for learning you often have to figure things out with your classmates. The students at Tech are all really smart and it's amazing being surrounded by so many high caliber people, but keeping in mind that GPA and MCAT are important for getting your foot in the door for Med School, you will probably (actually almost definitely) take a GPA hit. There is a required 2 year core curriculum that *everyone* takes, and most of the classes are really intense.

That said, I don't know how competitive acceptance into the Caltech-UCSD BS-MD program is, as it was initiated after I graduated. And, if you can survive drinking from the firehose at Caltech, then at least you know you can pull it off for Med School, too. (I'm also not saying that you shouldn't apply to Caltech, just make sure you pick it because you actually like the culture there and not just because it has high rankings.)
 
its better to do 4 yr HS because it allows you to do research in your junior year of high school and better grades cause you are taking the same # of courses spread out over a longer time =better grades + SAT = better college
 
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I'd vote for going to a university and be able to enjoy your college life. You sound like you might be spun a little tight (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) but don't forget to live in the midst of your future planning.
 
Trust me, you'll feel like the pace is "way too slow" at a community college more so than if you were to just to a university. You just have one year of high school left. Continue taking AP classes and start volunteer work. Medical schools often frown on pre-requisites taken at community colleges anyhow.

I'm curious why you think this, did you find this to be the case at your CC?

@ OP, I would recommend you to chill and stay the last year at your high school. I personally graduated from my HS in the same manner that you're thinking about and went to a CC immediately after. I personally can say that I had a good time at my CC and was well prepared for education at a 4 year college afterward.
However, what I did feel I missed out was a bit of a social life. Your freshman year of college is a year where you really get to party it up and make a lot of new friends. If you transfer to a new college after 2 years at a CC you lose out on the opportunity to make a lot of friends and if you're transferring to a big college you will likely either be a commuter or living in an apartment as your college will not likely have adequate space in dorms.
I personally think I did the right thing for myself by graduating from HS in 3 years and going to a CC right after, I saved a crap ton of money, I had small class sizes, and I could structure my schedule with a lot more flexibility than at my current 4 year college ( 10 sections of 30 ppl v.s 2 sections of 150 ppl). But yes, it's really up to you and my experience shouldn't sway you in any manner.
 
I really would like to go to a CC the first two years because of the price. I'm just wondering. Has anyone on here taken some of the pre med classes at a cc and done really well and gotten into med school? I'm just worried that some schools see that as a negative
 
I have heard talk of vet schools looking down on pre-reqs completed at CCs, since they are generally less rigorous than 4 year colleges. I'm guessing it would be the same for med schools. The thought behind it is that succeeding in those classes at a 4 year institution is a better demonstration of how capable you are of handling challenging coursework like that you would experience in med school.
 
I really would like to go to a CC the first two years because of the price. I'm just wondering. Has anyone on here taken some of the pre med classes at a cc and done really well and gotten into med school? I'm just worried that some schools see that as a negative

I took almost all of my pre-req's at CC (except o-chem) and obviously did just fine. Just be sure to rock your upper-division bio classes when you transfer to the university and have a good GPA all throughout college.
 
Simple answer is YES you can succeed at whatever you put your mind to. There is no set in stone "model" route in terms of how you get there. There is a general idea in terms of the timeline of when things should take place, however you will be very surprised how a majority of your classmates and peers have deviated from that model route. It's usually the lucky and the fortunate who can accomplish that task, but if you don't do it that way, oh well.

Personally, I'm a product of public education as well as a community college. I didn't have AP courses in high school, and I took as many of my prereqs at CC as was transferable. I transferred to a four year college and stuck it out for two and a half more years. Had another year and a half to wait after that to start med school. Didn't get in the first time, but eventually I did next time around.

Bottom line, as long as you keep your eyes on the prize, doing whatever it is you need to do to get there, nothing should stop you short of what you want to achieve.
 
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