Does coming from a community college look bad?

[Mohammed1989]

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Hey Guys,

Just curious does it look bad that you are started off at a community college and finished most of your pre-reqs there? I mean med schools see kids come from high end colleges known around the world. Since I'm still new in the game I'm going to be finishing all of my pre-reqs by next spring except organic chem.

Besides that if I go from a community college to a college with a better name and do neuroscience, would that help in any role? I personally think that the major won't really make a difference even if it's all intense science courses.

I already have a year of volunteer in the ER and Pharmacy with columbia and have worked 4 months as a pharm tech. The volunteering I will continue to do until the end of the MCATs. That being said I will be getting to LORs from the director of each department and I have been shadowing various doctors in the ER but I can get one or two to say that I have shadowed them for a period of time. Might get one from where I work too, thinking about one of my professors who teaches anatomy & Physiology since she has a background degree in MD. Would that be good?

I know I have a lot of time but I rather have a lot to bring to the table instead of a little.


Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[JamesBond15]

Hey Guys,

Just curious does it look bad that you are started off at a community college and finished most of your pre-reqs there? I mean med schools see kids come from high end colleges known around the world. Since I'm still new in the game I'm going to be finishing all of my pre-reqs by next spring except organic chem.

Besides that if I go from a community college to a college with a better name and do neuroscience, would that help in any role? I personally think that the major won't really make a difference even if it's all intense science courses.

I already have a year of volunteer in the ER and Pharmacy with columbia and have worked 4 months as a pharm tech. The volunteering I will continue to do until the end of the MCATs. That being said I will be getting to LORs from the director of each department and I have been shadowing various doctors in the ER but I can get one or two to say that I have shadowed them for a period of time. Might get one from where I work too, thinking about one of my professors who teaches anatomy & Physiology since she has a background degree in MD. Would that be good?

I know I have a lot of time but I rather have a lot to bring to the table instead of a little.


Any feedback is appreciated.

The front page of Studentdoctor.net should answer your question. But I will link just in case...
http://www.studentdoctor.net/2009/04/community-college-and-professional-school-admissions/

 

[AzithromycinFTW]

Mohammed, I often wondered the same thing. I asked my family physician this question, and he basically said that it depended on the specific institution. Additionally, I believe that the key to this is showing a consistent upward trend in your GPA.

For example, getting a 3.75 at a community college, then getting a 3.8+ at the university level shows that your grades weren't just from a perceived variance in the difficulty of your workload. Of course, I'm not saying this is the case, just relaying what my family doctor told me. 🙂

Just give it 100%! One big lesson I've learned is to not focus everything on the GPA. If you think you are missing something, make up for it by doing some outstanding ECs!

 

[Mohammed1989]

Mohammed, I often wondered the same thing. I asked my family physician this question, and he basically said that it depended on the specific institution. Additionally, I believe that the key to this is showing a consistent upward trend in your GPA.

For example, getting a 3.75 at a community college, then getting a 3.8+ at the university level shows that your grades weren't just from a perceived variance in the difficulty of your workload. Of course, I'm not saying this is the case, just relaying what my family doctor told me. 🙂

Just give it 100%! One big lesson I've learned is to not focus everything on the GPA. If you think you are missing something, make up for it by doing some outstanding ECs!

That's actually what I am trying to do by having a lot of ECs on the side. I just need to do something outside of the med field so I won't look so boring. Like show some interest in RCs(I love RCs so much 🙂 ).

I guess it shouldn't matter, I got confused because of the main page. I was like O SNAP! Just wanted to hear from fellow SDN members.

 

[Mohammed1989]

The front page of Studentdoctor.net should answer your question. But I will link just in case...
http://www.studentdoctor.net/2009/04/community-college-and-professional-school-admissions/

Link was great and just boosted my confidence even more. I guess the name "community college" puts a impression on the person, that the name isn't known. Now I guess I don't care about the results, just have to keep going with my studies and get into med school.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

Community college is a great place to get started, get back into school, take summer classes, save tuition $$$, take night classes, and/or learn from some great profs who don't do research and really love teaching.

Just do consistently well and enjoy your college life. Tons of great docs who went to great med schools started off at a CC, and plenty of other ones took classes there at one point or another. 👍

 

[Mohammed1989]

Community college is a great place to get started, get back into school, take summer classes, save tuition $$$, take night classes, and/or learn from some great profs who don't do research and really love teaching.

Just do consistently well and enjoy your college life. Tons of great docs who went to great med schools started off at a CC, and plenty of other ones took classes there at one point or another. 👍

So I guess I made a wise decision in life. Yeah I am saving tons of money and I am learning a lot compared to some friends of mine in high places like Rutgers and etc. It really does depend on the student I guess. If you really want it you will get it.

 

[scpod]

Community college is a great place to get started, get back into school, take summer classes, save tuition $$$, take night classes, and/or learn from some great profs who don't do research and really love teaching.

Agreed. The thing is, though, that if you are taking Community College classes you need to be making A's. No! B's are not good enough. No matter how hard you condider your class, even if a retired Harvard professor is teaching it and he teaches the very same class he did at Harvard.... it doesn't matter. Community College classes have the reputation of being much easier than regular classes.

The thing that's most important is what you have done recently. If you have excelled in your current course work, where you did your prereqs can mean next to nothing.

 

[Barts]

Agreed. The thing is, though, that if you are taking Community College classes you need to be making A's. No! B's are not good enough. No matter how hard you condider your class, even if a retired Harvard professor is teaching it and he teaches the very same class he did at Harvard.... it doesn't matter. Community College classes have the reputation of being much easier than regular classes.

The thing that's most important is what you have done recently. If you have excelled in your current course work, where you did your prereqs can mean next to nothing.

I agree with the last sentence of the above post. I started at a CC and did less than spectacular (shameful really). I then went to a 4 year University and did pretty well -I would have to go back and look, but I think around a 3.8--which was MUCH higher than my CC GPA. Anyway, even though I did horrible at the CC I got my stuff together at the 4 year and my CC mess was never an issue.

 

[Mohammed1989]

I agree with the last sentence of the above post. I started at a CC and did less than spectacular (shameful really). I then went to a 4 year University and did pretty well -I would have to go back and look, but I think around a 3.8--which was MUCH higher than my CC GPA. Anyway, even though I did horrible at the CC I got my stuff together at the 4 year and my CC mess was never an issue.

So I guess in your situation atleast it was okay to do well pretty much average as long as you got your act together at a 4 year college/university. During a interview wouldn't the question pop up then, what prevented you from getting those grades at the cc?

I guess it does depend on school to school. Also did you take your pre-reqs at the cc? You didn't mention that.

 

[Barts]

So I guess in your situation atleast it was okay to do well pretty much average as long as you got your act together at a 4 year college/university. During a interview wouldn't the question pop up then, what prevented you from getting those grades at the cc?

I guess it does depend on school to school. Also did you take your pre-reqs at the cc? You didn't mention that.

From your questions I think you pretty much understand the game. But I will try to expand on my history just a bit.

When I was at the CC I was working about 60 hours a week and raising a daughter. Also, I hadn't been in school for about 15 years so had long lost any sense of studying. After I got an AS from the CC I transferred to a 4 year university to get a BS in Biology. At this point I dropped my work hours down to 35-40 per week and had also gotten more into the "groove" of school. Although the courses were harder, I had more free time and better study habits, so I performed better.

And yes, the horrible CC GPA was brought up on occasion, but I basically just told the above (in an expanded version) and that was as far as the issue went--so, it really wasn't an issue at all.

I did take two prereqs at the CC. BIO I & II, and I didn't do well in them at all. I think I may have been asked about those specifically a few times, but since I pulled A's in all of the upper division biology courses at the university, those were not an issue either.

I really just wanted to get across that while I agree with scpod suggesting that while at a CC it's best to get all A's, I don't think that not getting all A's at a CC will automatically keep you from getting into medical school either. Just keep in mind that if you do perform *less than spectacular* at a CC, it would be wise to try and perform well later on, as scpod mentioned.

To summarize my academic life up until med school:

-Horrible grades from when I was fresh out of High School and attended a 4 year university for the first time.

-15 or so year break then back to school at a CC where I did 👎

-Started attending a 4 year university (again) and did pretty good.

-Took the MCAT (twice) and scored good on my second attempt.

That's really about it. I did the basic volunteer work but nothing overly exciting. So, not much to tell really. Just do your best and if you mess up some given semester(s), just try and make up for it in a following semester!

Good luck! 🙂

 

[Mohammed1989]

From your questions I think you pretty much understand the game. But I will try to expand on my history just a bit.

When I was at the CC I was working about 60 hours a week and raising a daughter. Also, I hadn't been in school for about 15 years so had long lost any sense of studying. After I got an AS from the CC I transferred to a 4 year university to get a BS in Biology. At this point I dropped my work hours down to 35-40 per week and had also gotten more into the "groove" of school. Although the courses were harder, I had more free time and better study habits, so I performed better.

And yes, the horrible CC GPA was brought up on occasion, but I basically just told the above (in an expanded version) and that was as far as the issue went--so, it really wasn't an issue at all.

I did take two prereqs at the CC. BIO I & II, and I didn't do well in them at all. I think I may have been asked about those specifically a few times, but since I pulled A's in all of the upper division biology courses at the university, those were not an issue either.

I really just wanted to get across that while I agree with scpod suggesting that while at a CC it's best to get all A's, I don't think that not getting all A's at a CC will automatically keep you from getting into medical school either. Just keep in mind that if you do perform *less than spectacular* at a CC, it would be wise to try and perform well later on, as scpod mentioned.

To summarize my academic life up until med school:

-Horrible grades from when I was fresh out of High School and attended a 4 year university for the first time.

-15 or so year break then back to school at a CC where I did 👎

-Started attending a 4 year university (again) and did pretty good.

-Took the MCAT (twice) and scored good on my second attempt.

That's really about it. I did the basic volunteer work but nothing overly exciting. So, not much to tell really. Just do your best and if you mess up some given semester(s), just try and make up for it in a following semester!

Good luck! 🙂

SOUNDS GREAT!!!!!! Looks like I have a perfect understanding about being at a cc now. Let's see where this road will take me.

 

[JanikeyDoc]

This just seems to be a form of discrimination, Community Colleges are not necessarily easier. I actually knew friend who transferred from a Community College to an Ivy League university and found many courses at the Ivy League to actually be somewhat easier. It would seem though in light of this bias to take as many courses are a four year school as possible.

 

[Mohammed1989]

This just seems to be a form of discrimination, Community Colleges are not necessarily easier. I actually knew friend who transferred from a Community College to an Ivy League university and found many courses at the Ivy League to actually be somewhat easier. It would seem though in light of this bias to take as many courses are a four year school as possible.

Oh this is so true because kids from high class colleges/universities took classes at a community college with a friend of mine during the summer. He told me that those guys did not have a clue on anything especially on the work load. I guess the better the school is the more parties you will go to. 😉

I am aiming for the same thing to move up to a ivy league school, something like Columbia College. Let's see what happens.

Thank you everyone for the advice

 

[JanikeyDoc]

Oh this is so true because kids from high class colleges/universities took classes at a community college with a friend of mine during the summer. He told me that those guys did not have a clue on anything especially on the work load. I guess the better the school is the more parties you will go to. 😉

I am aiming for the same thing to move up to a ivy league school, something like Columbia College. Let's see what happens.

Thank you everyone for the advice

Its also not good to go from a less prestigious school to a more prestigious school and perform poorly in the more reputable institution. I know someone who transferred to Duke from a middle tier state school and wound up doing a lot worse at Duke.

 

[Mohammed1989]

Its also not good to go from a less prestigious school to a more prestigious school and perform poorly in the more reputable institution. I know someone who transferred to Duke from a middle tier state school and wound up doing a lot worse at Duke.

great point made 👍

 

[BeezusandRamona]

Hi, I had a couple of questions about the courses that we have to take during the first for years and was wondering if anyone can explain it to me . Also, how many times can we take the MCAT?

 

[MADD!!!]

For the majority of cases, no. But there's exceptions. Med schools care about the rigor of courses you've taken, and where.

If you take all of your pre-reqs at a community college, major in history, and take no upper-div science courses, prepare to be grilled/discriminated for good reason. If you start out at community college, the going trend is to take as many classes at the 4 year, and PREFERABLY upper div science courses at the 4 year.

My advice: take at least 1 series + upper divs like biochem, genetics, immunology, physiology, etc and you can do the rest of your pre-reqs at a cc.

Also a huge caveat: it looks bad to take a majority of your pre reqs at a community college AFTER you've graduated from a 4 year.

 

[austintr]

Also a huge caveat: it looks bad to take a majority of your pre reqs at a community college AFTER you've graduated from a 4 year.

It may be generally true that this can look bad, but I would argue that some adcoms are probably receptive of this with a good explanation. I.e, the student that doesn't know they want to be in medicine until way later in their undergrad or even after they graduate. Career changers included, which DO schools seem to like.

I would say that in this situation it would show sound decision making (financial benefits/prioritizing family by working to provide) and pragmatism. There are many scenarios in which it is much more practical and feasible to do CC work after a 4 year degree. This is far different from taking CC classes just because they're usually easier. Just my .02.