Community College student, prereq schedule for next year?

[VBCTea]

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Hello, I am currently a community college student, and I just completed my first year and plan to stay a second year, and transfer to a university in Fall 2011 (Junior year)

I've been reading that most Dental schools prefer prereqs taken at a university, and I'm concerned if my upcoming Fall and Spring schedule will put me at a disadvantage.

I completed General Chem I this summer during the first summer session with an A, and now I'm currently taking General Chem II in the third summer session.

So by upcoming Fall 2010, I will have completed Calculus I, General Chem I and II for my dental prereqs.

I'm currently scheduled to take General Bio I, Organic Chem I, and General Physics I in Fall 2010, but after reading about how dental schools views community college credits, I'm not sure if I should go a different route?

Should I withdraw from these classes, and just transfer into a university with only Calculus I, and General Chemistry I and II completed? And complete all my other prerequisites at a university before applying to dental school?

If so, then the problem is, I don't know what classes I would have to take, since I already completed my general education classes like English, History, Arts, etc.

 

[dentistmom]

I'm in the same situation, in my second year at cc. I had to go through the whole precalc series, so I'm taking Calc1 this fall. Other than that, my only dental prereq I'm transferring is the Gen Chem. series. I talked to my transfer U, and they accepted me with less than junior standing. You might look into that. I've heard the same thing, and I think it's pretty ridiculous, but oh well. I'm not taking any chances- I want most of my sciences to be from a four year. Also, I'm hoping to get into my state school- UW, and they have direct transfer agreements with all of the classes I'm taking. How can they really look down on my app for those, especially considering I'm making all A's?

 

[rjm546]

I'm a CC transfer and in my opinion it really doesnt matter if you do your organic series at the cc. I know a lot of people who got into dental and they took there organics at a cc and it was never discussed in their interview.

The only draw back of taking them there would be that some schools dont accept science prereq at a cc but there are only a few schools that have this policy.

I personally took my organics at a university b/c I knew that I would have a better understanding of it if I took it there. The cc where I went didnt even have to read the book and the percentage of A's was like 60%. Even though it would have been an easy A I wanted to really grasp the material.

 

[VBCTea]

Thank you both for the replies!

And if you don't mind me asking rjm, did you transfer after two years at your community college to your third year of undergraduate at a university? If so, which prereqs did you complete at your university?

And, I'm wondering if it would be a better idea for me to try and transfer into a university like Rutgers for Spring 2011 and complete my prereqs there, instead of at a community college?

I was ideally looking to transfer to Temple University, and completing my prereqs at their school, then applying straight into Temple's Dental school, until I read they don't accept any community college credits. Since if I transferred there, I would have to end up applying elsewhere for dental school after my final two years of undergraduate.

Also, is the 2009 list posted on which Dental schools accept community college the most updated and recent?

 

[lmaozedong1]

I'm in the same situation, in my second year at cc. I had to go through the whole precalc series, so I'm taking Calc1 this fall. Other than that, my only dental prereq I'm transferring is the Gen Chem. series. I talked to my transfer U, and they accepted me with less than junior standing. You might look into that. I've heard the same thing, and I think it's pretty ridiculous, but oh well. I'm not taking any chances- I want most of my sciences to be from a four year. Also, I'm hoping to get into my state school- UW, and they have direct transfer agreements with all of the classes I'm taking. How can they really look down on my app for those, especially considering I'm making all A's?

They can look down b/c CC credits are a joke. Who cares if you get A's...it's too easy at CC's.

 

[rjm546]

Thank you both for the replies!

And if you don't mind me asking rjm, did you transfer after two years at your community college to your third year of undergraduate at a university? If so, which prereqs did you complete at your university?

And, I'm wondering if it would be a better idea for me to try and transfer into a university like Rutgers for Spring 2011 and complete my prereqs there, instead of at a community college?

I was ideally looking to transfer to Temple University, and completing my prereqs at their school, then applying straight into Temple's Dental school, until I read they don't accept any community college credits. Since if I transferred there, I would have to end up applying elsewhere for dental school after my final two years of undergraduate.

Also, is the 2009 list posted on which Dental schools accept community college the most updated and recent?

Yes, I did transfer after my 2nd year. The courses that I've completed so far for my sciences are Ochem I/II, genetics, and Animal physiology.

Regarding Temple, b/c you already have taken your sciences at a cc and Temple doesnt accept any. I would go ahead a take my ochem's at the cc if you are comfortable taking them there. But if you really want to go to temple dental then you should call and talk to the admissions and see what they say.

I wouldn't waste my time not taking any sciences if you still have another year to go in cc. I took my ochems at a university b/c I had more than enough credits to do so. But if I didnt, I then would have just gone ahead and taken them at the cc.

There is always Pitt. My g/f got accepted there and she took almost all of her prereqs at a cc. They never mentioned the cc courses at all during the interview.

 

[peanutb123]

Thank you both for the replies!

And if you don't mind me asking rjm, did you transfer after two years at your community college to your third year of undergraduate at a university? If so, which prereqs did you complete at your university?

And, I'm wondering if it would be a better idea for me to try and transfer into a university like Rutgers for Spring 2011 and complete my prereqs there, instead of at a community college?

I was ideally looking to transfer to Temple University, and completing my prereqs at their school, then applying straight into Temple's Dental school, until I read they don't accept any community college credits. Since if I transferred there, I would have to end up applying elsewhere for dental school after my final two years of undergraduate.

Also, is the 2009 list posted on which Dental schools accept community college the most updated and recent?

What community college are you attending? B/c there is a loop hole...

 

[VBCTea]

What's the loophole?

And alright, I was wondering if I should change all my upcoming Fall Classes to non-dental prereq classes, and take them all when I transfer? Even though I already completed all my General Ed. classes like Art, History, English, etc.

Also, in Calculus I and General Chem I, I got A's in both classes, and I'm currently taking General Chem II. Would it be an option to re-take these classes a university to get the university credits?

 

[peanutb123]

What's the loophole?

And alright, I was wondering if I should change all my upcoming Fall Classes to non-dental prereq classes, and take them all when I transfer? Even though I already completed all my General Ed. classes like Art, History, English, etc.

Also, in Calculus I and General Chem I, I got A's in both classes, and I'm currently taking General Chem II. Would it be an option to re-take these classes a university to get the university credits?

Pm me only if your CC name starts With e and ends with x.

Only for that CC there is a loop hole other than that tough luck

 

[VBCTea]

Oh, no that is not my community college, thank you though.

But I was wondering, if I should just continue my current Fall Schedule, or would it be a waste of time if I need to re-take them for university credits? Or would it look even worse, if they saw me spending an extra three to four years re-taking classes solely for university credits?

And typically, what classes do most people take after their first two years of undergraduate pre-req classes? I'm asking because, for community college, you get a majority of your pre-reqs in a matter of two years, so what is left for the other two years at the university for the third and fourth years?

 

[customx]

I think you're worrying about CC too much, but it may depend on which school you're attending. If you search through the forum, you'll find that a lot of people that have taken prereqs at CC have been admitted to dental schools. I already have my bachelors degree, so the only choice I have for taking prereqs is to go to a CC or pay $25k/year to the private universities in my area. Let's see, $3.5k vs $25k...tough choice there.

There are only a few schools, such as Tufts, that won't allow CC credits. As long as you rock the DAT, have a decent GPA, and all the other shadow/volunteer hours, you should be fine.

 

[peanutb123]

if i were you...

I would first go to the school's website that you are going to transfer... then in Spring i would transfer... take all the pre's for graduation for that school; for ex. 2 semester of history; 2 sem of literature; etc... then go to 4 year school in spring. try to keep your cc GPA ABOVE 3.0 or 3.5 depending on what campus you are going to apply to. then go onwards from there.

 

[dmitriyivanov]

They can look down b/c CC credits are a joke. Who cares if you get A's...it's too easy at CC's.

That's not entirely true!!! Not all professors are easy at a CC. There are some schools (Tuffs, BU etc.) that don't allow CC credits, otherwise you should be fine.
Dental Schools DO care if you get A's vs. B's and C's so continue doing well in the rest of your pre-reqs.

There are plenty of people on this forum that took their pre-reqs at a community college and had no problem getting accepted. I also took every pre-req at a CC and got accepted to my first choice school.

GL