Community College Postbacc for nontrad, CS - 24 years old

[sloanp13]

I just graduated from undergrad with a 3.3 GPA in Computer Science. I have been hit with the reality that much of my career in IT would be spent doing development on some marketing/policy/business software. I am in an AI masters program now, but I am coming back around to my high school dream of becoming a doctor. I did shadowing in high school and ate it up. I went into CS for the job stability just in case, and CS + premed ended up being too much to do so I went with CS since I was good at it and a BS was immediately marketable.

This is were the question starts...
Would taking bio, chem, orgo, biochem, and genetics courses at community college hurt my application? Would it hurt for some classes but not others? Would taking it online matter?

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[RocuROMANium]

If you go to the websites of the medical schools you are interested in they will tell you exactly what you need to know regarding coursework. Also, you can take a look on MSAR. Most schools will accept CC credit but they prefer your coursework to be taken at a four year university.

 

[Gurby]

To get into medical school you need to make sure you have enough of the right boxes checked. The most important box that needs checking is "can this person handle the academic rigor?"

Taking CC courses can potentially hurt you in 2 ways:
1) You may get a crappy education. Supposedly there are good community colleges out there, but my n=3 experience is that the level of academic rigor is a joke. Your peers will not be strong students. If the professor teaches to the level of rigor you will need for the MCAT, everyone else in the class will fail. You may be under-prepared for the MCAT if you get used to the slow and easy pace of community college classes.

2) Because CC courses have a reputation for being easier, AdComs may look at your transcript and wonder, "did he become a better student, or are these courses just easier?" You can lay those fears to rest if you smash the MCAT, but getting A's at a CC post-bac will not be as impressive as getting A's at a school with a strong reputation.

 

[MrSmith000]

To get into medical school you need to make sure you have enough of the right boxes checked. The most important box that needs checking is "can this person handle the academic rigor?"

Taking CC courses can potentially hurt you in 2 ways:
1) You may get a crappy education. Supposedly there are good community colleges out there, but my n=3 experience is that the level of academic rigor is a joke. Your peers will not be strong students. If the professor teaches to the level of rigor you will need for the MCAT, everyone else in the class will fail. You may be under-prepared for the MCAT if you get used to the slow and easy pace of community college classes.

2) Because CC courses have a reputation for being easier, AdComs may look at your transcript and wonder, "did he become a better student, or are these courses just easier?" You can lay those fears to rest if you smash the MCAT, but getting A's at a CC post-bac will not be as impressive as getting A's at a school with a strong reputation.

So I am kind of in the same boat. I have an undergrad in government and an MBA and a 18+ year career in IT. I had to take all my science courses at CC since the schedule and expense of my 4-year school was just so inconvenient. I would challenge the rigor or preparedness statement. I got all As in those CC classes and studied my butt off to get them. I hammered my MCAT review material to fill in the gaps and I got a 514.

I would be interested in the adcom interpretation of that. Obviously I learned enough to get top 10% MCAT, despite the "less rigorous" CC experience. Maybe my CC was a good one? It's all about the effort you put into a course. It's the second book and same lecture material. I'm sure my grading standards were more lenient, but I can't do any better than an A.

 

[libertyyne]

If you maintain a fulltime job and take credits at CC's no one will bat an eye. That being said, it is possible that some of the more selective schools turn you down or may have some bias in this context. If you are looking to go to your state school it should not be a problem, if you want to go to harvard you should probably do a formal postbac @ one of those fancy career changer places.