Community College?

[wolfyzheart]

I want to ask a few people's opinion on this subject. I want to go to ultimately get into Veterinary School. I would like to go to community college to save money, is this ok? I've been told by a few people it is, but I'd just like to confirm. If I maintained a good GPA and transferred to a 4 year school after, would I still be able to have an equal amount of opportunity getting in as someone who went to another University? Are there research opportunities I'll be missing out on my first two years that'd boost my Vet School application?
Thanks for any advice!

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[organdonor]

As far as the prestige of your undergrad that matters little. My best advice to you would be to NOT plan on transferring schools. You set yourself up for the receiving school to not accept all your transfer credits (guaranteed you'll lose some. Had a friend transfer from the main campus to a satellite campus of the SAME university and They still didn't take all the credits) and all the contacts friends and time you've spent networking those first two years will be for naught. Think back to all the nuances of your high school that you knew by the time you started junior year, you potentially knew who the good/bad teachers, the best places to eat, you already had a group of friends...

I would recommend going to an affordable 4 year state school preferably with an established pre med program. A med school on campus is a plus but not required. It worked for me.

As far as research opportunities you'd really be hurting yourself. Usually you would spend freshman and/or sophomore year doing scut work before doing something more meaningful as an upperclassman. As soon as you would build some rapport with someone you'd be graduating!

 

[Hospitalized]

CC will not hurt your chances. Just make sure everything you take is accepted at both colleges, I'm in a fortunate situation where the local CC works pretty cohesively with a university branch campus, so it has been a seamless transition (aside from classes being much more difficult). I would try to volunteer as soon as possible for an animal shelter or something of that nature. Opportunities will open from there if you keep in contact with your academic adviser and volunteer coordinator.

 

[Mad Jack]

Went to CC, made it into med school. You can do it, but with the issues that can occur when transferring credits, it might be a bit of a pain.

 

[AlteredScale]

Going to a CC has it's pros and cons, as said above you may miss out on research opportunities and if the 4 year is affiliated with a medical center you'll miss out on awesome mentor programs.

BUT going to a CC was good in working with teams and partaking in ECs that you may not be able to do when you're at a 4 year. As an example I was able to tour as a musician for a while and my CC instructors were lenient when it came to postponing my exam or missing class. At a 4 year it gets ruthless, faculty do not have the time or patience to deal with accommodation.

I took the CC route because I came from a small charter high school and felt unnerved going into classes of 200-400 students to one lecturer. I def don't regret it, I just got accepted

 

[that redhead]

Plenty of people do pre-reqs at CC and get in; you don't even necessarily have to transfer to a four year institution, but that depends on the schools you want to apply to. I do think that four year institutions offer more in the way of opportunities (research, networking, animal contact through clubs or classes) but in the end, your debt needs to be manageable as the debt:income ratio of vet med is awful. The less you have on your back going in to vet school, the better. You can still get experience without doing the four year university thing, and research isn't a requirement

 

[wolfyzheart]

Thank you everyone for your input, its super helpful!!
I'll look around at some cheap four year schools and see if I fall in love with any, if not Ill go to CC.

 

[Strudel19]

Prestige definitely matters for top medical schools. For all other schools I don't know if it matters as much. In my opinion, I would go to the school where you can get the highest GPA that also has the most amount of opportunity as far as things such as meeting professors, doing research, volunteering and getting officer positions in clubs.

I will say this much. From my undergrad institution (small, private urban university), people with near a 4.0 and over a 35 MCAT and great EC's still never get into top schools, but get into good regional programs.

 

[Evisju7]

I want to ask a few people's opinion on this subject. I want to go to ultimately get into Veterinary School. I would like to go to community college to save money, is this ok? I've been told by a few people it is, but I'd just like to confirm. If I maintained a good GPA and transferred to a 4 year school after, would I still be able to have an equal amount of opportunity getting in as someone who went to another University? Are there research opportunities I'll be missing out on my first two years that'd boost my Vet School application?
Thanks for any advice!

I did this, and it wasn't really a choice for me. If I could go back and do it again, I would start out at a university.

It was a huge transition when I got to a university. I felt so lost and behind my peers.

 

[bonedoc82]

I started off at a CC to save money. But, just like they are saying above, the name of the school matters.

Good luck!

Dr. Webb
Orthopaedic Surgery Resident
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