So I'll be entering college this summer and I have trouble deciding on whether to go to the community college nearby or to state university. Either way, I plan on transfering to the in-state university I want to attend. I've done a search and it seems people are split up between whether or not adcoms look down on community college credits. With that in mind, what is the best option, community college or state university?
Community College or State University?
- Thread starter Innokus
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Are you ****ing kidding?
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there is no split... community colleges are looked down upon
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Where do you live OP?
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Although Community Colleges are less intensive on the tuition, they are also largely considered less intensive on academic rigor. If you can, attend your State University.
However, if you end up going to Community College, you have to somehow convince the adcoms beyond a reasonable doubt that your time at Community College wasn't some sort of GPA padding and that you were productive/challenged.
This means taking a heavy-ass course load; try maxing out on credits (although this will usually increase tuition and defeat the whole purpose of attending a community college for cost reasons).
Try NOT to take the prereq's at the community college, but if you do, be sure to KICK ASS on the respective MCAT subject area.
(This is my own theory). Make sure your GPA trends shows a strong continuation or improvement from Community College into your University years when you transfer. This means no sudden drops in GPA. Also, try your very hardest to maintain a 4.0. (Yeah, this means 4.0 in community college and then a continuation of the 4.0 in your University years......not a hard rule but my own theory. Take it with a grain of salt.)
Work on other parts of your application that will show your success in medicine: awards, highly selective society's/clubs, patents, maybe research publications, volunteering, and etc. In general, give every piece of evidence to show that you can be successful in an academically rigorous environment. Even if you do all these things well, the stigma of the less-rigorous Community College may still resonate strongly with certain adcoms and work against you. But then again, people have received admission despite enrollment at a community college. Remember, it's the overall application and applicant that the adcoms look at (given you pass the initial screen).
Personally, if you have the balls (or boobies?) to bank on a strong future application with strong GPA, MCAT, research, and clinical experience, you should be fine at a community for your first year or two.
Good luck dude (or dudette)
However, if you end up going to Community College, you have to somehow convince the adcoms beyond a reasonable doubt that your time at Community College wasn't some sort of GPA padding and that you were productive/challenged.
This means taking a heavy-ass course load; try maxing out on credits (although this will usually increase tuition and defeat the whole purpose of attending a community college for cost reasons).
Try NOT to take the prereq's at the community college, but if you do, be sure to KICK ASS on the respective MCAT subject area.
(This is my own theory). Make sure your GPA trends shows a strong continuation or improvement from Community College into your University years when you transfer. This means no sudden drops in GPA. Also, try your very hardest to maintain a 4.0. (Yeah, this means 4.0 in community college and then a continuation of the 4.0 in your University years......not a hard rule but my own theory. Take it with a grain of salt.)
Work on other parts of your application that will show your success in medicine: awards, highly selective society's/clubs, patents, maybe research publications, volunteering, and etc. In general, give every piece of evidence to show that you can be successful in an academically rigorous environment. Even if you do all these things well, the stigma of the less-rigorous Community College may still resonate strongly with certain adcoms and work against you. But then again, people have received admission despite enrollment at a community college. Remember, it's the overall application and applicant that the adcoms look at (given you pass the initial screen).
Personally, if you have the balls (or boobies?) to bank on a strong future application with strong GPA, MCAT, research, and clinical experience, you should be fine at a community for your first year or two.
Good luck dude (or dudette)
Awesome, thanks for the help everyone. This board is really great. I think I will go to the state university so that I have a better chance. I think I would rather have a strong overall application later on than an application that is slighted by community college classes.
Btw: I am a guy.
Btw: I am a guy.
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Innokus said:
I think that's a better assessment than you using the phrase "I am a man".
