Financial Troubles/Prereqs at CC?

[o-bee-gee-why-en]

Hello,

I am a first year in University that began in the Spring 2020 semester, which sets me back slightly. In order to get my medical school prerequisites completed on time, I have decided to take General Chemistry I + lab over the summer. Although ideally I would like to take the course under my University/summer term, I have found out that it would be $2,975 for the 5 units I plan to take. I am on an academic scholarship that decreases my tuition from $40,000 per year to $10,000 per year (or $5,000/semester) for the Fall/Spring terms, but not summer. This means that the 5 units over summer is nearly the same cost as an entire academic semester where I could take between 12-18 units for almost the same cost.

Due to this, I am unable to afford taking these courses at my University during summer, but really need to save time by taking a prerequisite this summer, and instead would like to take them at a CC, where I would pay a significantly smaller amount for the same professor/equivalent course. So my question is, would medical schools look poorly upon the completion of the course/lab at a CC (due to a financial burden that they may not be aware of)?

I also want to note that I already consulted the Financial Aid department at my University and have been told that there is no aid available to me for the summer term besides for loans (which I do not want to take). I also am not planning to take prereqs over the summer often (if ever again). I am only looking into this now because my previous summer opportunities have been suspended due to COVID-19.

Thank you!

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[StudentDoGter]

I’ve seen a lot of SDN recommendations to instead take a non med school prerequisite at the CC (such as English or some other required course) and then take the pre req (chem 1) during your normal semester at your university.

 

[sw99]

Pre-reqs at a CC is okay; just make sure you transfer to a university from there and take enough upper level science classes to balance out the pre-reqs. You can do a search for this on SDN ("pre-reqs at community college" or something). Remember that there is no such thing as a free lunch and plan accordingly. Just an idea--is it possible that you could take the pre-reqs online? That might be better than getting behind and losing track of everything. I feel for you--this dz has stopped everything in its tracks. Don't give up on medicine, or whatever it is that will make you happy. Good luck.