Do med school admissions prefer all classes from one institution?

[DiavoloAlighieri]

Like the title suggest, I was wondering what the deal was with medical school admissions and taking classes from multiple institutions.

My advisor at my 4-year institution told me that taking a course over the summer at a local community college could potentially harm my chances at medical school admission. She explained that institutions like to see that all courses are taken under one roof at one 4 year institution rather than a blend at a community college and a traditional 4 year college.

I am not sure of the veracity of this statement...maybe she is told to say that so that students spend more money on summer tuition, but I could be wrong and perhaps she is telling the truth.

I was set to take physics 1 this upcoming fall semester at my regular 4-year college but unfortunately due to my schedule I was unable to fit it as I am double majoring, so I am taking it right now at my local community college, where it will transfer over to my main institution and count for the credit. (I don't have the option of taking it at my main institution, as summer tuition is extremely expensive in comparison to where I am currently taking the class, and I also live over an hour away from my college and am home for the summer.)

Personally, I am very happy with taking the class now, as it gives me something to do over the summer to fill in the gaps between shadowing and finding a retail job, but I am still a little put off by the words of my advisor.

As such, I am curious. Will taking core classes at a community college negatively affect my med school admissions?

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[Goro]

Ohmigawd!!!!

Run don't walk, from that advisor before she destroys your medical career!
Some med schools do not like weeding courses to be taken at CCs, but check MSAR to see if this is now fully outdated info.

 

[LunaOri]

We really, really don’t care. (Exception being if you had a non-science major at your university but took all your STEM courses at a community college.)

 

[Rachapkis]

This advisor is giving you bad advice. Taking a single prerequisite at a community college will not harm your chances for admission. Of course, if you took all of your medical school prerequisites at a community college, that would be a different story.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

It's only convenient from the standpoint of asking for transcripts and calculating GPA's, but you are not excluded because you took a course at a CC.

Just make sure the CC course you take in physics is recognized by your home school as being equivalent. There may be such a thing as physics for non-majors or allied health students, but I doubt that. (Someone can correct me.)

 

[DiavoloAlighieri]

It's only convenient from the standpoint of asking for transcripts and calculating GPA's, but you are not excluded because you took a course at a CC.

Just make sure the CC course you take in physics is recognized by your home school as being equivalent. There may be such a thing as physics for non-majors or allied health students, but I doubt that. (Someone can correct me.)

Everything transfers over pretty seamlessly. I made sure to take the right course and quadruple checked because I was scared of taking a harder course than necessary

 

[DiavoloAlighieri]

We really, really don’t care. (Exception being if you had a non-science major at your university but took all your STEM courses at a community college.)

This advisor is giving you bad advice. Taking a single prerequisite at a community college will not harm your chances for admission. Of course, if you took all of your medical school prerequisites at a community college, that would be a different story.

I see. I already have credit for anatomy and physiology, both 1+2 from taking them at community college during high school.

If I were to apply those credits over and skip taking A+P 1+2 from my main institution, would that be pushing it? I don’t want to come off as lazy, but at the same time I do not see the point in spending money and time to take classes when I do not really have either resource to spare.

I won’t apply any more classes at community college after that.

Thanks.

 

[anothermedstudent98]

Like the title suggest, I was wondering what the deal was with medical school admissions and taking classes from multiple institutions.

My advisor at my 4-year institution told me that taking a course over the summer at a local community college could potentially harm my chances at medical school admission. She explained that institutions like to see that all courses are taken under one roof at one 4 year institution rather than a blend at a community college and a traditional 4 year college.

I am not sure of the veracity of this statement...maybe she is told to say that so that students spend more money on summer tuition, but I could be wrong and perhaps she is telling the truth.

I was set to take physics 1 this upcoming fall semester at my regular 4-year college but unfortunately due to my schedule I was unable to fit it as I am double majoring, so I am taking it right now at my local community college, where it will transfer over to my main institution and count for the credit. (I don't have the option of taking it at my main institution, as summer tuition is extremely expensive in comparison to where I am currently taking the class, and I also live over an hour away from my college and am home for the summer.)

Personally, I am very happy with taking the class now, as it gives me something to do over the summer to fill in the gaps between shadowing and finding a retail job, but I am still a little put off by the words of my advisor.

As such, I am curious. Will taking core classes at a community college negatively affect my med school admissions?

Hi! I had the same question when I was in college. My advisor told me to take courses at state schools near me if I were to take any over the summer (I was at an OOS undergrad) and not at community colleges. It worked out fine -- I had many interviews and have been accepted into MD schools. Hope that helps

 

[LizzyM]

Adcoms may be biased against applicants who appear to have "taken the easier path" by taking pre-reqs known as "weed-outs" at a school that the adcom perceives to be less rigorous than one's home institution.

 

[DiavoloAlighieri]

Hi! I had the same question when I was in college. My advisor told me to take courses at state schools near me if I were to take any over the summer (I was at an OOS undergrad) and not at community colleges. It worked out fine -- I had many interviews and have been accepted into MD schools. Hope that helps

Good to get some anecdotal evidence on the matter. Congrats on your acceptances

 

[chicandtoughness]

@ me sending in 15 transcripts to TMDSAS 😅😅😅

I’m sure it raised some eyebrows but I was able to justify it with reasoning.

 

[eigen]

I think it depends on whether there's an apparent pattern (i.e., you avoided taking "hard" classes at your school and took them at a CC) or if you picked things up as you were able (and as was affordable).

I know several non-traditional students or career changers who've taken all their pre-requisites at a CC because they didn't initially have those courses as part of their degree, and a CC was the available and affordable option. They did fine.

 

[darkeon]

multiple schools. among the several interviews, only asked about it once and it was not a big deal at all, more of a question of curiosity. in my case, these were upper level courses as an informal post bacc