Community College

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yodzavid

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I have a question concerning community colleges. I'm a high school senior, and I will be entering college soon. I got accepted into a few colleges, but I'm considering going to a community college first. Would this effect my application to medical school?
 
It's affect. Your med school application may be affected by attending community college. Community college grades may have a negative effect on your med school application. You can look forward to caring about the difference when you get to afferent and efferent neurons in a few years.

You can do a year or two at a community college without necessarily doing yourself any harm. Might be great preparation for you. But you want to do your prerequisites, and lots of other hard classes, at a 4 yr school to demonstrate your academic prowess. If you do an interesting science-y major like bioengineering, neurobiology, microbiology or suchlike, you will have a hard time finishing in 4 years, if you start at a community college.

There are a bazillion other factors to consider, but if you have a choice, go with the 4yr where you'll be happiest.

Best of luck to you.
 
I would attend a university only. Although maybe you might get away with community college, med school is very competitive and so I recommend that you play it safe. Don't do anything that might make you a weaker applicant.
 
If you definitely want to go to one of the more prestigious medical schools, I would probably recommend a university. If a state med school is your goal, I wouldn't worry about it. My best advice is to pick up an MCAT prep book during your med school pre-req's (physics, organic, biology, etc.) to make sure that you're getting all of the content regardless of what college you attend.
 
If it saves you money and puts you in less undergrad debt, then go with the CC. I took bio1, bio2 and chem1 at community college(spent a year there) and got scholarships to two great(top 20) medical schools. Just get straight A's at the CC, then transfer to a four-year school and keep the grades up and you'll be fine. I honestly had some of my best teachers at CC, because they are actually paid to teach. And do take a few hours a week to start volunteering or tutoring or start a club or be in the student govt, med schools love that leadership stuff. Hope this helps.
 
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