English Prerequisites

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HunterGirl3

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Ok, so I have been searching everywhere for an answer to this and have not been able to find a solid answer. I am a dual credit student, and by the time I graduate high school I should have roughly 85 credits completed with roughly 65 credits remaining. The local community college has told me that I can skip English 101 and go directly into 102, and I will be granted the 101 credits on a Pass/Fail basis after completing 102 with a "C" or higher. The English 102 would also be taken online. Is this a bad idea as a pre-med? Has anyone else done a similar way? It's pretty much the only way I can fit it in unless I decide to overload on several semesters, but even then I am not sure if it would fit in my schedule. Would Adcoms look down on these classes considering they are online, at a community college, and one is pass/fail? Thanks in advance for the help!

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I think you're trying to rush your graduation, and I also think that it won't work in your favor.

You have 85 credits of dual-enrollment. The solution to your problem? Stay in college for more than the four semesters it would require to get your degree.
It will allow you to register for truly meaningful classes, expand your learning horizon, meet new people and, very importantly, partake in activities that will buff up your medical school application. It's hard to compete with 25 y/o students (the average age of matriculants) with only two years of college.

That being said...

pass/fail: fine
community college: if all your courses -and especially prerequisites- were taken there, you will have problems. Consider a transfer
online: fine if the mention "online" does not appear on your transcript for the course
 
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Thanks! It's not that I'm necessarily trying to rush graduation. My school has just allowed me to take college courses in place of high school ones. Most people graduate from my high school with over 30 credits, and I will have more just because I switched some classes (for example, psych at my school is two semesters and I am going to take it at the 4-year for one instead and take sociology the other semester) and I take summer courses every year. I'm still obtaining all the EC's and other experiences that a premed would, just minus the amount of high school courses.

For my prerequisites, all of them will be at the 4-year university except for math (precalculus and calculus are online through the community college, statistics was in person through the 4-year), and then there is the English that I mentioned in the original post. The only reason its not fitting into my schedule is because I should have taken it this semester but didn't. If the transcript does say online, will that be an issue? Thanks again for your help!
 
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I think you're trying to rush your graduation, and I also think that it won't work in your favor.

You have 85 credits of dual-enrollment. The solution to your problem? Stay in college for more than the four semesters it would require to get your degree.
It will allow you to register for truly meaningful classes, expand your learning horizon, meet new people and, very importantly, partake in activities that will buff up your medical school application. It's hard to compete with 25 y/o students (the average age of matriculants) with only two years of college.

That being said...

pass/fail: fine
community college: if all your courses -and especially prerequisites- were taken there, you will have problems. Consider a transfer
online: fine if the mention "online" does not appear on your transcript for the course

Sorry my response above was to this...
 
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IMO, I would spend 3 years at a traditional 4-year college full time after graduating high school to be most competitive. Don't rush the degree, unless its a big financial issue.
 
IMO, I would spend 3 years at a traditional 4-year college full time after graduating high school to be most competitive. Don't rush the degree, unless its a big financial issue.
Thanks!
 
Thanks! It's not that I'm necessarily trying to rush graduation. My school has just allowed me to take college courses in place of high school ones. Most people graduate from my high school with over 30 credits, and I will have more just because I switched some classes (for example, psych at my school is two semesters and I am going to take it at the 4-year for one instead and take sociology the other semester) and I take summer courses every year. I'm still obtaining all the EC's and other experiences that a premed would, just minus the amount of high school courses.

For my prerequisites, all of them will be at the 4-year university except for math (precalculus and calculus are online through the community college, statistics was in person through the 4-year), and then there is the English that I mentioned in the original post. The only reason its not fitting into my schedule is because I should have taken it this semester but didn't. If the transcript does say online, will that be an issue? Thanks again for your help!

OK I see.

The rule of thumb is that experiences completed before entering college should not be accounted for on your AMCAS (unless they are significant and still continued in college).

If only these three courses are taken at a community college, it will raise eyebrows. Many will see it as "downgrading", aka you were scared of taking them at your institution and risk a lower grade. Truer with the "online" part too, which will be a problem at certain schools if it appears on the transcript (a number of medical schools do not accept online prerequisites period). However, if you truly deem it the best solution for you, you could probably make it work. It's far from a death sentence.

Good luck!
 
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OK I see.

The rule of thumb is that experiences completed before entering college should not be accounted for on your AMCAS (unless they are significant and still continued in college).

If only these three courses are taken at a community college, it will raise eyebrows. Many will see it as "downgrading", aka you were scared of taking them at your institution and risk a lower grade. Truer with the "online" part too, which will be a problem at certain schools if it appears on the transcript (a number of medical schools do not accept online prerequisites period). However, if you truly deem it the best solution for you, you could probably make it work. It's far from a death sentence.

Good luck!
Thanks! It's kind of confusing because all of my dual credits are from different colleges in the area surrounding me. The school it is through all depends on who offered the course that semester for the dual credit price. It wasn't because I was trying to find the easier path. About 20 to 25 are community college, and the remaining are four year universities.

As for the EC's, that is true. I volunteer at the local hospital, which I will continue to do in college at the same hospital. I also have done several shadows, and I will be continuing to shadow with these same physicians in college. I still have one more year of high school after this year, but I will be full time at the four-year university, so I was planning to join clubs there. It is the same four-year I want to attend after high school, so I figure even though I am technically in high school when I started in the clubs, I will be continuing with them when I become a "real" college student.

When it comes to explaining why only those three courses are through community college, mostly it is for financial reasons. The community college offers discounted credits to dual credit students year-round, while the universities only do during the summer. Also, they were the only schools that offered the courses online because I still attend the high school part time. I know it is very important to take the sciences in person at a four year institution, which I why I am going to attend the college full time during my senior year of high school.
 
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