Community College vs. University - MoneyMoneyMonaaaaay!

[Nevadanteater]

I'm starting my pre-recs in January.

I can take biochemistry at the local university at a hugely inflated (?) price of $775/quarter or something.

I can take anatomy/phyisio at the local community college for the much more reasonable $150/semester or so.

Is community college the black mark that the people over in the pre-med forum make it out to be?

Money isn't a HUGE issue for me, though $775 would involve a strict tightening of my budget, and is probably money that i'd be using in the future for application costs...

I was a chemistry major for undergrad and did pretty well if that changes anything.

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[Law2Doc]

I'm starting my pre-recs in January.

I can take biochemistry at the local university at a hugely inflated (?) price of $775/quarter or something.

I can take anatomy/phyisio at the local community college for the much more reasonable $150/semester or so.

Is community college the black mark that the people over in the pre-med forum make it out to be?

Money isn't a HUGE issue for me, though $775 would involve a strict tightening of my budget, and is probably money that i'd be using in the future for application costs...

I was a chemistry major for undergrad and did pretty well if that changes anything.

N/A

If money isn't a huge issue for you, then go with the university over the community college. Also biochem will be more useful to you in med school than the CC's A&P, but neither constitutes a prereq for most schools (biochem is required at only about a dozen).

 

[mshheaddoc]

I wouldn't worry about it too much and take the biochem if you were a chem major. As the previous poster said, A&P isn't required by schools (although some require upper level biologies) so I would just take the biochem and roll with it.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

I wouldn't worry about it too much and take the biochem if you were a chem major. As the previous poster said, A&P isn't required by schools (although some require upper level biologies) so I would just take the biochem and roll with it.

What schools require upper level biologies? I know some require additional bio credits (in which case A&P would suffice), but I haven't seen one that says upper level is a requirement?

To the OP, I would stick with what you can afford. If you can afford CC, do it. Learn the material. Ace your classes and ace the MCAT. If you choose the CC route, make sure you get A's. All A's. No matter what, get A's. Getting a B at a CC won't look good. If you get your A's and do well on the MCAT, I don't think it'll be a problem.

 

[MiesVanDerMom]

man thats cheap. i've had $2000 for a 4 credit science course at the 4 years around here and $500 at the community college. Good deal for you at either school.

 

[calcox]

UC Davis, UC Irvine and OHSU all require at least one upper division bio class if not more than one.

 

[calcox]

Oh yeah, I did the community college thing by the way and have so far had multiple interview offers. I did well on the MCAT and got all A's in the cc classes, so one can do it the cc route.

 

[mshheaddoc]

What schools require upper level biologies? I know some require additional bio credits (in which case A&P would suffice), but I haven't seen one that says upper level is a requirement?

To the OP, I would stick with what you can afford. If you can afford CC, do it. Learn the material. Ace your classes and ace the MCAT. If you choose the CC route, make sure you get A's. All A's. No matter what, get A's. Getting a B at a CC won't look good. If you get your A's and do well on the MCAT, I don't think it'll be a problem.

You'd have to check but I have heard a few of them require upper levels. The only school I know for sure off the top of my head is OSU-COM. They only require 1 but 3-5 is "preferred" and yes it is "preferred". I have heard that some schools require but unfortunately I do not know which.

 

[melissainsd]

Oh yeah, I did the community college thing by the way and have so far had multiple interview offers. I did well on the MCAT and got all A's in the cc classes, so one can do it the cc route.

Me too. I had a 4.0 from the cc and then transferred, but most of my pre-reqs were done at the cc and I have 9 interviews so far. Of course I am a little worried hell is cooling down (seriously...how am I getting these interviews!?!).

 

[NonTradMed]

I've noticed that more and more schools 'recommend' certain classes such as biochem or genetics....so I'm going to guess that it's good to have it on your transcript if you can get it.

FWIW, thus far, the undergrad course I took in biochem really helped in med school....I spent far less time on biochem than if I had never taken the class and had no background in it.

 

[Law2Doc]

I've noticed that more and more schools 'recommend' certain classes such as biochem or genetics....so I'm going to guess that it's good to have it on your transcript if you can get it.

When a school recommends rather than requires something, it isn't going to affect admissions if you don't have it. However, it generally means all your classmates will have taken the undergrad version of it. So while the schools won't focus on its absence in terms of acceptance, you may find yourself having to work hard to catch up because a basic starting point in courses like biochem, etc is going to be assumed. That being said, even at such schools, a large handful of people each year get by with just the absolute minimum required prereqs and do fine. Profs often circulate handouts of background info you should already know, and so catching up is very doable.

 

[albaniandoc]

I'm starting my pre-recs in January.

I can take biochemistry at the local university at a hugely inflated (?) price of $775/quarter or something.

I can take anatomy/phyisio at the local community college for the much more reasonable $150/semester or so.

Is community college the black mark that the people over in the pre-med forum make it out to be?

Money isn't a HUGE issue for me, though $775 would involve a strict tightening of my budget, and is probably money that i'd be using in the future for application costs...

I was a chemistry major for undergrad and did pretty well if that changes anything.

N/A

I did most of my course work at a community college. I was told by ADCOMs that as long as you can show that you can handle a full load at a four year university taking at least three hard sciences for at least two semester you are ok. If you have a degree in Chemistry, I think you have proved that already. So I think taking pre-reqs at a CC will not hurt your chances, unless:
1. You get less than an A and/or
2. Do poorly on the MCAT.
Good luck

 

[VanessaLee13]

man thats cheap. i've had $2000 for a 4 credit science course at the 4 years around here and $500 at the community college. Good deal for you at either school.

The undergrad school I graduated from charges over $1,000 per credit hour. It is ridiculous. That's why I love the CC option of less than $100 per credit hour.

 

[Nevadanteater]

as always, y'all rock...

much thanks for the advice, so here's part 2 of the questioning:

at the university where i might be taking biochemistry the course is considered a lower division course. the sequence at the school is:

lower division:
diversity of life
ecology
genetics
biochemistry
molecular bio
-----------------
upper division:
cell bio
developmental bio
physio

they force you to take the lower division in that order. there are no 'general biology' courses.

fortunately i took the first three courses for undergrad as a part of the chemistry degree i have, so i get to start with biochemistry. will med-schools that do require upper-division courses recognize this as upper division?

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ack! more questions!

i also did a course in chemical biology and its associated laboratory. it is listed as a upper division chemistry course on my transcripts. would that be considered an upper division biology course + lab?

 

[oxeye]

i also did a course in chemical biology and its associated laboratory. it is listed as a upper division chemistry course on my transcripts. would that be considered an upper division biology course + lab?

My guess is probably not since it was in the chemistry department but you never know - call a few med schools you are interested in that have an upper level biology requirement and see what they say.

The school I am going to next year does have an upper level biology requirement but biochemistry does NOT meet it (even upper level biochem) so I doubt your chemical biology class would work at that particular school unfortunatey.

And btw - I did 75% of my prereqs at a CC and got into medical school just fine.

 

[Astrithir]

Hey there, I also majored in chemistry in college, so I can relate to some of your questions. But this is what I'm curious about: why do you need to do pre-reqs if you're a chem major? I mean, I understand if you need a quarter or semester of bio, but otherwise you should be all set.

Also, IMHO, I don't think it matters where you do your pre-reqs. This gets argued back and forth on SDN. But this is my 2 cents: If you're only taking one or two classes, go CC. It's cheaper and you can get night/weekend classes. If you get asked about it on an interview, you can honestly say that you were being frugal and that you needed classes that could work around your work schedule. On the other hand, if you're taking a significant number of pre-reqs, then I would go to a 4-year university.

fortunately i took the first three courses for undergrad as a part of the chemistry degree i have, so i get to start with biochemistry. will med-schools that do require upper-division courses recognize this as upper division?

Biochemistry tends to be recognized as upper-div, or a third-class. While there are medical schools (e.g. University of California schools) that require 3+ semesters of biology, they don't require upper-div biology.

i also did a course in chemical biology and its associated laboratory. it is listed as a upper division chemistry course on my transcripts. would that be considered an upper division biology course + lab?

It depends on the school. I ran into this problem in my applications. About two-thirds of the schools that I applied to accept it as a biochemistry or an upper biology requirement so long as you have something that says you took basic bio (AP, CC course, lower-div undergrad, etc). About a third of the schools will not accept it because AMCAS counts it as chemistry, and so I had to rely on other courses to fulfilll the reqs.

 

[Beau Geste]

uh-oh, I got a B in Calc and Physics from my cc.... I guess that's going to kill me