Community college vs four-year?

[nohika]

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I was just browsing some of the different colleges in preparing for my meeting with my potential-advisor-person tomorrow, and I was wondering...

Will it slaughter my chances if my classes are done at a community college vs a four-year? I mean, my CC offers organic chem, gen chem, physics...not genetics or biochemistry, but it does offer pretty much everything else I've seen so far.

Help?

 

[snapcall]

It depends heavily on where you plan to apply. Some schools don't care at all where you take your pre-reqs and others place significant emphasis on the quality/competitiveness of your undergraduate institution. Imo it's better to go the 4-year route if possible since you've got more bases covered that way.

 

[nohika]

It depends heavily on where you plan to apply. Some schools don't care at all where you take your pre-reqs and others place significant emphasis on the quality/competitiveness of your undergraduate institution. Imo it's better to go the 4-year route if possible since you've got more bases covered that way.

I've not decided /yet/, but I do plan to go to a two-year and knock out the basics (gen-chem, o-chem, physics, and a bunch of maths). I do plan to go to a four-year and knock out a bunch of high-level science courses to make up for taking my curriculum at a two-year college.

 

[shred4life]

I'm a community college student myself. This year is my second year and I'll be getting my A.S. in Liberal Arts Math and Sciences in May. I had always been unsure of what I wanted to pursue as a career (I wanted to be a marine biologist for a while and work in marine mammal husbandry but a nice little online course in Oceanography crushed that dream), but I decided that I really wanted to pursue vet med this semester. By the time I made my decision it was a little late to try and plan a sensible schedule for the year, so now I'm being totally insane and taking on a ridiculous Spring schedule (bio 2, chem 1, physics 1, and calculus!) 16 credits of madness 😀 and then finishing up chem 2 and physics 2 over the summer. Oh and a public speaking class this winter. I am starting my apps now for four year college, and will be transferring out next Fall.

My advice is to take all your 100 level general ed and general science course requirements at CC, i.e. your Biology sequence 1&2, your general chemistry sequence 1&2, your physics sequence 1&2, your core math classes, your english comp, a few electives and ace them. Take a look at the vet schools you think you might be applying to down the road and see what they require as far as math (some want calc, some want stats etc)

Transferring to a four year institution is a must at some point. CC's are great resources and offer a great education for the money for your lower level pre-reqs, but vet schools want to see your 200 levels and more specialized courses (bio chem, cell bio, genetics, etc) completed at a four year school. Some vet schools won't even accept credits earned at CC for upper level courses. If you really want to get a 200 level course done at CC (i.e. organic chem), I would suggest to call each vet school you want to apply to and see if they will accept it as a credit.

Also, it's a great idea to earn your associates at CC before transferring out. Colleges will be happy to see that you've earned a degree and really utilized your community college experience. Let me know if you need any more info!

 

[radio2020]

I was just browsing some of the different colleges in preparing for my meeting with my potential-advisor-person tomorrow, and I was wondering...

Will it slaughter my chances if my classes are done at a community college vs a four-year? I mean, my CC offers organic chem, gen chem, physics...not genetics or biochemistry, but it does offer pretty much everything else I've seen so far.

Help?

I am also a comm. college transfer and I was specifically told by an advisor, who is also on the admissions panel at my state school, to only take your general biology and general chemistry at the community college level. He said they want to see you can handle physics, genetics, orgo, etc at the university level. Vet school is SO competitive so you should most definitely go to a four year university/college. God luck!

 

[snapcall]

I've not decided /yet/, but I do plan to go to a two-year and knock out the basics (gen-chem, o-chem, physics, and a bunch of maths). I do plan to go to a four-year and knock out a bunch of high-level science courses to make up for taking my curriculum at a two-year college.

I would advise against taking o-chem, or any other upper level science courses, at a CC. As Radio2020 said, vet schools really want to see that you can handle the more challenging courses at a 4-year. Is it possible to delay taking o-chem until you transfer?

 

[snapcall]

I'm being totally insane and taking on a ridiculous Spring schedule (bio 2, chem 1, physics 1, and calculus!) 16 credits of madness 😀

Hey, me too! I'll be taking animal bio, physics 2, gen chem 2, and calc. Everyone thinks I'm completely insane (they're probably right ), but I'm hoping that having already had calc in HS (8 years ago at a teeny tiny school that offered no AP credit) will help. Guess we'll see

 

[mtambaschi]

I emailed many of the vet schools when I became serious about taking pre-requisites. They all said that it didn't matter if you took lower division pre-requisites, including organic and physics, at a community college. They considered it more important to take a full-time science course load and not one class at a time. They also felt it was important that I already had a bachelors degree.

 

[nohika]

Hmm...the only bio sequence we have here at my college is a 200-level.

I'll have to do some more research, which doesn't bother me. Cept finding the time to do so is a mite difficult, blech.

 

[gilch]

I got my AA degree and took GenChem, Bio, & Physics at my Community College. My circumstances were unusual, but I don't regret it at all and I don't think that the class content is especially easier than some of the tests I've seen classmates have at my massive 4 yr university. Most of the schools I've talked to have had no problem with it at all.

That said--transferring to a 4 year is a must. Very few Vet schools take students with just the minimum pre-rerequsites. Community colleges just don't offer the sort science courses that you need to be on the same plane as other applicants. You also can't get any research oppertunities at a cc that you could at a 4 year university.

It also depends on why you are taking classes there and if you are taking advantage of the atmosphere. Most CC professors I had or met really wanted to see students succeed and went out of their way to help those struggling. At my massive state university, sometimes I feel like the professors don't care or have such busy schedules that simply arranging a time to meet can be hard. The school sometimes uses freshman science classes as weeders to discourage students from those overpopulated majors too.

One last note--if your local cc offers Biochemistry, I would reccomend not taking it there or replacing it with a higher level class later for a pre-req. Even if vet schools will take lower level BioChem, most really prefer upper level.

Good luck!

 

[2short4life]

I've just transferred to a 4-year university with an A.S. Degree in Biological Sciences. I've been told that it doesn't matter where you take the lower-division requirements but it is "highly advised" to take upper-division classes at a 4-year institution.

BTW, I finished my lower-division Biology courses, GChem, a semester of OChem, and Calculus (2 years) at a community college.

 

[ckgilabert]

you CANNOT apply to prince edwards island if you take classes at community college.

i know SEVERAL people who got into vet school, including myself, who took a bunch of classses at a community college.


anyway, classes i took: gen bio, gen chem, physics, microbio, calculus, and all my general education classes.

so when i transferred to cal poly pomona i had to take all my upper division classes together....which was difficult cuz you dont have those easy classes (like dance 100) to mix with them. lol.

GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[primatevetjess]

Just to give a differing opionion, I took quite a few of my pre-reqs at a community college. I took gen chem and bio at a 4-year university many years ago, but took 2 english classes, statistics, speech, physiology, microbiology, organic chem (2 semesters), physics (2 semsters), and biochemistry at a community college. I did take genetics at a 4-year institution, but not because I transferred. It was through a program that my community college had where you could take one class per semester at the local university for a drastically reduced rate. I never transferred from the community college to a 4-year university and do not have any degrees.

I was accepted to Michigan, Ohio, and Davis, waitlisted at Wisconsin, and asked to interview (but declined) at Minnesota. There were three schools that outright rejected me.

So of course a 4-year university is ideal, but in my situation it was just not feasible and it's obviously possible to gain admission after taking classes at a community college.