does it matter...

[Marcy C.]

Does it matter if I take premed courses at CC as oppose to taking them in a post bacc program? Do med school look down upon CC pre med courses or do they not care just as long as they see that you improved your grades?

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[CANES2006]

Generally, taking pre-med courses at a CC are frowned upon by med schools. You should always try to take these classes at a 4 year institution. If you have to take classes at a CC then it should be non-science classes (like English, humanities, etc).

 

[UCLA2000]

ADCOMS view it negatively. I've been told that if you take your science courses at a CC, ADCOMs view it as though you're avoiding taking the courses at the 4 year because you want the easy way out.

 

[souljah1]

i took my premed courses at a cc. i had to. i was a reentry student and could't afford a four year university at the time. as long as you can later show that you can do equally well at a 4 year institution and score highly on the mcat..you will be fine. i don't think many adcoms generalize about why a person takes classes at a CC. Many people had no choice and had to start at a CC and work their way up.

When I was at city college of san francisco there were quite a few students who had already gotten bachelor's degrees and were taking their premed reqs there. Almost all of them succeeded in getting into medical school.

If the highlight of your application is a 4.0 at a cc, then maybe they might look at you unfavorably, but if your success at a cc is part of your larger success on a whole, i wouldn't sweat it.

i went to a cc, transferred to a four year school, and will be starting at UCSF. Don't let anyone tell you that you will be looked down upon when they don't know your whole story.

 

[The Mysterious Stranger]

Most schools rank each applicant according to formulas utilizing grades and MCAT scores among other factors. Some schools will account for the quality of education by lowering/raising the weight of the GPA in the formula according to the academic reputation of the school you attend. However, I agree with souljah1 that it depends on your application as a whole. Although, your science GPA might be given a lower score because you took courses at a CC, if you excel on the MCAT and in other areas you can still have a composite score that makes you competitive. Do what's best for you and apply early!!

 

[DOC_BOB]

i took more than half of my hours at a community college. most med schools don't care if you took your lower level classes at cc. i asked several of my interviewers. most of them didn't care and one of them didn't even notice until i mentioned it. they told me that it was fine because by gpa for cc was pretty much the same as my gpa at the four year school. (both were around 3.9 and i got accepted). i think consistency or improvement is really important.

 

[The Mysterious Stranger]

Once you get an interview I don't think it matters as much. The interview is to evaluate different qualities--your communication skills, for example. However, in order to get an interview most schools rank students with forumlas that take into account GPA and MCAT scores. ADCOMS don't view a 3.8 from JHopkins the same as they view a 3.8 from CC. Why do you think most of the top schools are populated with students who attended top 10 undergrad institutions? If you have borderline stats then taking courses at a CC might hurt you. If you have a 3.9 the quality of education will be less important. Do all schools place heavy emphasis on academic reputation? most likely not. Will taking courses at a CC make or break your app? probably not. Do schools look at other factors? definately! DOC_BOB's experiences prove that! So I wouldn't worry....

 

[pbehzad]

i was wondering if i took orgo 1, and withrew from that and took it at a cc how bad would that look? i would get a W for organic on my transcript, but would be taking it at a community college. do you think the adcoms would look down upon that, and how bad does a W look in a pre-med class or any class for that matter?
how many W's would you say is pushing it as far as hurting your application?