Community College or Post Bacc?

[SK02453]

Hello!

A little background - I'm 28 and have been working in healthcare for 5 years. I have a Masters in Health Promotion/Disease Prevention but have always wanted to be a physician. I'm finally in a place where I only need to worry about myself and will be working towards this.

My big question is this - based on the fact that I need to continue working and want to finish up prerequisites part time, the only options I have local to me are a community college with weekend/night classes as well as a very competitive post-bacc at a prestigious 4 year school.

My GPA from undergrad is 3.459, and graduate is 3.841. I have taken micro and A&P I a second time at a community college because I was considering applying to nursing school which had a time limit. My science GPA currently is 3.53. I still would have to take Bio II, Chem I & II, Org Chem I & II for sciences...and possibly Biochem. I'm certain I can pull that science GPA up or at least keep it around 3.5

I'm more concerned about the math. I would have to work up to physics and I only ever took Algebra in college. Also being out of school for quite some time I am wondering if I need a refresher on the science and math before heading off to med school - I don't want to be at a disadvantage.

I am loosely thinking of enrolling in the bost pacc program even though it will be 3x/more expensive. I have heard though that some people will take the lower level sciences at a community college and then take a few higher at a four year on topics like Immunology.

I will say that I feel my professional life and other parts of a medical school application will benefit me. I've spoken at healthcare conferences around prevention and technology. I also am very comfortable with EMR systems and do some process improvement/QI stuff at my current job (which is patient facing/interaction).

Any thoughts/tips? This all feels a bit overwhelming and being older with a mortgage and only my own income I'm a bit scared. But hey, what is life without a little risk?!

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[CyrilFiggis]

I'm more concerned about the math. I would have to work up to physics and I only ever took Algebra in college. Also being out of school for quite some time I am wondering if I need a refresher on the science and math before heading off to med school - I don't want to be at a disadvantage.

I am loosely thinking of enrolling in the bost pacc program even though it will be 3x/more expensive. I have heard though that some people will take the lower level sciences at a community college and then take a few higher at a four year on topics like Immunology.

The college level physics you need is trig based so if you don't have that knowledge you will struggle.

You don't need a refresher before "heading off to med school". You need those things so you can get As in the required pre-reqs.

Higher level courses are good, but they thing they will look at is the core requirements. If you take them at CC that doesn't speak to learning a rigorous course load. You will only be at a disadvantage if you don't learn and do well in these courses, including Biochem.

Your life experiences will help with your application, but not specifically with med school. Good luck.

 

[Skiiiiiing]

The college level physics you need is trig based so if you don't have that knowledge you will struggle.

You don't need a refresher before "heading off to med school". You need those things so you can get As in the required pre-reqs.

Higher level courses are good, but they thing they will look at is the core requirements. If you take them at CC that doesn't speak to learning a rigorous course load. You will only be at a disadvantage if you don't learn and do well in these courses, including Biochem.

Your life experiences will help with your application, but not specifically with med school. Good luck.

While I agree that if the OP has realistic options to take at a 4 year, they should do so, mostly because they are more likely to receive high quality instruction at a 4 year.

However, I don't think that taking courses at a CC are all that frowned upon by lower-tiered MD schools and DO programs. OP's existing academic record suggests that this range would be the appropriate target regardless of how they do in their postbac.

 

[chooks]

I think it also depends on the quality of the CC and its relationship to the 4-year universities and med school. I did all my pre-reqs at CC, but faculty from the med school actually taught classes at that particular one (and took some of my pre-reqs from them). The CC also had a good reputation with an affiliated 4-year (state) university with a pretty much 100% credit transfer for 100/200 level type courses. I did end up taking biochem as a one-off from the 4 year university (at a cost for that one class that essentially equaled all of my other CC classes combined!)

The end result was multiple interviews around the country and multiple acceptances (from state and private med schools). I the CC has a dedicated pre-med advisor (as the one I went to did) then it would be worthwhile touching base with them. Ditto for the post-bacc program. They should be able to give you an idea of the success rate of their students in achieving their goals.

And yes - it is scary to think about. For me, it helped minimize anxiety knowing a had a minimally initial cost investment and knowing that I could back out at any time. It took some of the pressure off and made things fun. I know that is not the approach that works for all, and some on here would say it is the wrong approach. But for me just taking one step at a time helped manage those feelings of being overwhelmed.

Good luck,

- c

 

[WhiteCoatWonder]

i think a question almost identical to yours was heartily answered within a month or so on this very same forum. looks like you're new here, but there is definitely an option to search forums for answers that might also be helpful for you.

i also came from a career of similar length in healthcare and took a few CC courses + did a formal post-bacc prior to medical school, both while working full time.

really, youre the only person that can assess your level of competence in the areas that youre concerned about...if you look at the requirements for the medical school that you want to go to (idk if many of the entry requirements changed recently), you can determine what they require and how that lines up with what YOU need to complete.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

However, I don't think that taking courses at a CC are all that frowned upon by lower-tiered MD schools and DO programs. OP's existing academic record suggests that this range would be the appropriate target regardless of how they do in their postbac.

I think that's a bit dismissive of OPs chances. He's an older non-trad with a decent GPA, stronger masters GPA and still needs to take 6 of his 9 core pre-reqs. While he may find better success at low-tier/DO programs, he is in no way excluded from mid-tier programs and shouldn't self-select himself out of those options. Older applicants with significant work history and many years out of undergrad tend to be viewed/judged differently than a run of the mill college junior/senior. I say this all as someone with a worse cGPA who was in a similar position 3 years ago and still got multiple interviews at mid-tier schools.

 

[Skiiiiiing]

I think that's a bit dismissive of OPs chances. He's an older non-trad with a decent GPA, stronger masters GPA and still needs to take 6 of his 9 core pre-reqs. While he may find better success at low-tier/DO programs, he is in no way excluded from mid-tier programs and shouldn't self-select himself out of those options. Older applicants with significant work history and many years out of undergrad tend to be viewed/judged differently than a run of the mill college junior/senior. I say this all as someone with a worse cGPA who was in a similar position 3 years ago and still got multiple interviews at mid-tier schools.

What programs "mid tier" care about CC's? I'm presuming you're talking about programs ranking roughly 50-100?

Taking courses at a 4 year can mean dropping out of a profession and incurring 10s of thousands of dollars. Marginal analysis is in order.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

Taking courses at a 4 year can mean dropping out of a profession and incurring 10s of thousands of dollars. Marginal analysis is in order.

Been there. Done that. $25K in additional loans later, I'm at a Top 50 school. But I get it. To each their own and I was still working full-time while doing it.

I don't have time to pull all my application stuff off an old drive, but i remember specifically Georgetown discouraging CC coursework. Some other programs too. But the long and short from them is that they don't want a majority of the coursework from CC. For OP, since he is a non-trad and he will be compared against applicants based on those courses, some will rank his success less than someone who did the same at a 4 year.