Former Community College Students

[Chrisnone13]

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If you attended community college as a pre-dental or biology student, I would like to know your experience. Do you feel that is was beneficial or a big disadvantage??? I am still in high school, but I am not sure if I want to attend a public university yet, and private college is out of my budget. Please give me your advice

 

[geometric-pain]

I am currently a D1 and took my first two years at a community college. I think that it both helped and hurt my chances getting into dental school. I took my basic classes at the CC and saved the most of the science ( all but gen chem - ironically my highest score on the DAT was in gen chem - 26) to do at a 4 year university. I came out with a 3.96 GPA so that really helped. I don't know if the classes were any easier because they were at a CC or because they were just generals that any idiot anywhere can do, but with that said I still only got into one school after applying to 12, with interviews at 6. When I applied I had a 3.76 with a 21/21/21. Would I do it again? Probably because I was poor and still am! Every person I talked with at my interview said that it wasn't a big deal. Just make sure to save as many science classes as you can for the university. The best possible way to go about this is go to a CC that has a agreement with a state university at which there is also a dental school (does that make any sense?). That way people in the dental school will have an idea of what kind of school the CC is. Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[Cavity Search]

I went to a good junior college in suburban Chicago that was actually really good (at least as far as junior colleges go) because I was in the same boat you are. I really DID save a ton of money by going there for a couple of years and getting credit for the exact same courses that would have cost 5-10X at University of Illinois or Loyola, etc. The nice thing was that since everything transfered, I could take my time and figure out exactly what I wanted to do, which turned out to be dentistry. I then picked a school that has a good (and affordable) dental school and went there (Southern IL U) to finish my undergraduate work. NOW - after getting there, I can see a few things that would have been nice to know in the past.
1) SIUE is slightly (about $500-750/semester) more expensive than the Juco I went to.
2) The experience is totally different. The coursework isn't necessarily different, but now you're in classes with SERIOUS (vast majority) students and in large, professional looking (hopefully) lecture halls/labs/facilities with people teaching that generally have more (and usually "better") credentials.
3) You have WAY more opportunities to make your application(s) stand out. At SIUE, I've volunteered in labs conducting NEW and innovative research with EXPERTS in their respective fields, recieved funding (state and university) for MY OWN projects and therefore conduct my own research (in genetics to be exact).

There's tons of other reasons that other people could bring up but at least for me, here's the bottom line: You CAN find great schools that ARE affordable. If you (and your family, presumably) just plain can't afford tuition, you're probably eligible for plenty of grants/awards/scholarships and certainly student loans. Also, keep in mind that many (if not all) schools give their grad students a FREE RIDE if they sign up as TAs. Hope this helps, if you have any more questions, please, feel free to PM me.👍🙂

 

[pishi1361]

Well, I went to JC and then I transferred to UCLA which was a great school. The good thing about going to JC for me was I could get much better grades much easier!!! but the bad part of it was when I transferred to UCLA it was hard to catch up to the pace at UCLA, since you are competing with much stronger students compare to JC, but the same time it is so much cheaper, so it has its good sides and bad sides. Good luck to you.

 

[sacjumpman]

I would do it again.

I spent 3 years at a JC taking all my pre-reqs. And I mean ALL. I don't know if I'd say classes were necessarily easier, to be honest. But you definitely get more 1 on 1 attention with the teacher and that helps, both for learning and for tests. However, the average student is often more competitive at a 4-year, in my experience.

There are catches though:

1. Being a science major when you transfer and demonstrating you can be just as successful with upper level science classes at your 4-year as you were at your JC. Keeping your GPA just as high at your 4-year as your GPA is important, IMO.

2. Doing well on the DAT. And I mean WELL. You really have to show that you deserved whatever grades you got at a JC and they weren't padded.

I personally found my classes at my JC to be harder than all my upper division bio classes I've taken thus far. Maybe because I'm more focused now, or whatever the reason.... I wouldn't assume that you will do better at a JC simply because it is a JC.

Not to assume you were considering a 4-year for that reason...

Just my 2 cents. If you can go through a 4-year, probably worth it for most, but it would have been very difficult for me to make happen even with loans.

 

[armorshell]

I took a bunch of my pre-reqs at community college while I was in high school (for free) and a few more the year after I graduated (stuck around for personal reasons) before transferring to a state university.

If I could do it again I wouldn't have the personal reasons that made me stick around 😛

However, I don't think it'll make a huge difference as long as you aren't set on Tufts. Make sure you smash the DAT into the ground to prove you know exactly what you're doing.

 

[kleenex101]

Basically Tufts is the only school that has a real idea of the difference in difficulty between a JC and a top-tier university.