Community College vs. University

[Ahmad04]

Help! I can't decide where I should finish my pre-reqs. Both community college and university sound very tempting to me. Community college, I like because there is less students in the class, often times the course is easier, it's much cheaper, and it's closer to home. The university route is tempting because either way I'll have to goto university to finish up my degree, so why not just finish my pre-reqs there, plus I'll live alone or with others and be more focused without the distractions (family, house, etc.). The cons, I might, like the other 80% of the people taking the courses get a horrible grade, especially since the university is the only medical school in 4 neighboring states, so everyone is pretty die-hard and cutthroat. So I'm assuming since I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, that I would fail...miserably. The cons of community college, adcoms would look at it with less prestige, seeing as though I did my pre-reqs at a community college versus the university. I can't find one that'll be my over all fit.

Which one guys?

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[luckyzero]

I have heard that it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (almost manditory) to take the majority of your pre-reqs at a university.

 

[thewzdoc]

Originally posted by luckyzero
I have heard that it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (almost manditory) to take the majority of your pre-reqs at a university.

Not true. I called UCSD and they said they "Had no preference so long as the school is accredited and the courses meet the requirements"

 

[Nutmeg]

In part, it depends on your major. If you plan to major in biology, for instance, then you needn't really worry about the prestige issue, as you will have to take a great number of additional upper division biology courses at the university anyhow. I must say that despite the added prestige of a university, I can attest to the fact that the smaller class size will help you learn more. At the university level, your HW and exams are graded by grad students and seniors, who have to grade against a key--the result of this is that if you don't have certain key words or key concepts, you get marked down regardless as to whether you were right or wrong. The result is that every teacher will tell you "I want you to undertsand the material, not just memorize," but you'll know better and just memorize everything anyways. Two weeks after finals, you will disgard all of your useless memorized crap. By contrast, in CC, your professor is usually the one to grade you, and you can show that you understood something much better. The smaller size of lab classes especially works to your advantage.

So I'd say take any prerequisite courses to your major at CC, and if you're still worried, strengthen your application by adding volunteer work or research.

Good luck! You'll do better than you think

 

[Smitty75]

Schools are aware of grade inflation, and inflation tends to be present more at a community college. An A from a university will therefore look better than an A at a community college.

 

[Jillianrae]

I did my first two years (including my intro biology series) at a community college. I went on to major in bio, so the adcoms knew that I could handle it. It can be done if you're willing to work hard and prove to the adcoms that you can take a normal curriculum. I wouldn't recommend taking all of your prereqs at a CC or JC though.


-Jillianrae

(I should probably mention that I was still in high school when I did my first two years of college, so that could have had an impact on how adcoms look at it, but I could have gone to a university for my program, so the basics still apply)

 

[Nutmeg]

Originally posted by Smitty75
Schools are aware of grade inflation, and inflation tends to be present more at a community college. An A from a university will therefore look better than an A at a community college.

That is not at all necessarily true. Many of my CC courses were more demanding and required more to get a good grade than my University coursework. I've also heard quite a bit of criticism of Stanford and Harvard for grade inflation recently.

 

[Aptamer]

I would take your prereqs at the University. Really, you will want to show medschools that you can handle the coursework. Your objective and the objective of other premeds are to stack the cards in your favor when it comes time to apply. Make yourself look as good as possible. Do not give medschools a reason to count you out. Take the harder university classes and learn from those classes, do well on the MCAT because of your hard work, get great letters of recommendations from those professors whose classes you aced, and get into the medical school that you want.



**I now step down from my soapbox.**

 

[rjmst]

totally take them at community

 

[souljah1]

I think if you ultimately graduate from a 4 year university and do very well on the mcat it won't matter one bit that you took your prereqs at a community college. I took mine at CCSF (2 years) then transfered to UCB (2 years). A few interviewers during the admission process commented on how that was a great idea. I really couldn't afford to go directly into a 4 year school and was also a returning student. It all worked out and not just for me, but for quite a few other people who started off at CCSF with me.

I have heard that California CC is a bit more rigorous than most states and I also know that the UC system does not seem to look down on CCs, but maybe that isn't true for other states. I think the best thing you could do is to contact medical schools in your area and ask them their views on community college prereqs, explain to them your situation, and hear what they have to say. Go right to the source.

Best of luck.

 

[supersunny]

go the cc route.

 

[mute360_CO]

Not once during the interview process did ANYONE ask me about CC prereqs. Go with whatever is cheaper and more convenient. Besides, you'll be able to get your professors better at a CC compared to a university. Definitely a plus come LOR time!

 

[Stranger]

If you take the classes at a CC, you'll probably learn the material better, which will ultimately help you do better on the MCAT. You're also more likely to get a good grade. Getting good grades and good MCAT scores are way more important than the (slight) prestige of a university.

 

[2badr]

I am taking classes at the CC. I am transferring next year to a university. However, I won't be taking all of my pre-reqs at the CC. (I am taking all of the social sciences, math and humanities at the CC.)

Considering the cost of the CC and the convenience to my job, I simply could not pass up the opportunity. After reading alllllllll the posts on CC vs University, and after researching the schools I would like to apply to I am pretty comfortable with my decision. (Well so far anyway. )

 

[Anka]

One possibility is to get a job at the university, work full time, and take classes under the tuition benefit that most of them offer -- it can make it real cheap, plus you'll have money from a full time job to take care of living expenses. Personally, and this might not work for you, I found that having the structure of a full time work day really helped me when it came to studying.

I'm at Penn, where you can take two classes per term, and you can earn your degree through all evening classes (I acutally did my undergrad somewhere else, and am still paying for it... but I did my pre-med courses here). B/c there are summer classes, too, you wind up able to take 6 classes per term, get lots of work experience, and the credits are from an Ivy. And the pay is great -- esp since Philly is cheap. I'm not saying this is better than the cc route, but I found it worked for me.

Anka