I dun goofed

[Alve24]

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Im 18 years old and I'm at my first year in a community college, now i know how some people look at community college, but hear me out. When i was applying for universities i saw the charges of tuition and was like wow! But one of my friends mom who is an RN(my major is Pre-med so i asked for her advice) said that i didn't have to go to a university straight away and the community college is a good idea.

At first i looked down on the idea(what assumptions can do) but then she explained that universities required you to do pre-requisites that you have to take and community college will help you get used to the college life and work out what to do with half the cost. I live with my parents and we don't have a lot of money plus i didn't know anything about colleges since my parents are immigrant and the kids in my senior year were clueless also. Needless to say i went the community college route and boy is it great, the classes that they required me to take are like 400$ and the university i was going to go to since i was accepted was like 800$, so fasfa covers everything and me and my parents don't have to pay.

Im in the spring semester of my 1st year right now and i go to talk to a counselor about summer classes and while I'm at it decide to pick classes for fall. He works out how many credits i have and he looks at me with a smile and says since you did Ap classes and dual enrollment classes in high school and got credit for them they combine with your classes you passed and now you only need 3 classes to get your A.A and graduate. Im horrified i planned to milk this as long as i can and take all my pre-med pre-requisites all the way up to organic chemistry, how was i suppose to know the things that boosted my gpa in high school will do this to me.
Fasfa only covers up to 90 credits at the one college and ill be 60 in if take those 3 classes. So he did some thinking and worked out this schedule for me so i can take organic chem. it goes like this
Summer 16: Chem 2045/L, biological science 2010/L, pre-calc with trig., and maybe physics
Fall 16: Chem 2046/L, biological sciences 2011/L, Chem 2210/L Humanities
Spring 17: Calc I Chm 2211/L, IDS, Phy 2053
Is this course load crazy? or is it manageable. (He did it this way so i can mix in those pre-requisite classes that will let me graduate.) If its crazy then ill just transfer to the university, but if not then ill like to save some money since grad school is going to cost me a lot.

 

[idontwatchgreysanatomy]

Consequences will never be the same

 

[elliejellybean]

First of all don't be embarrassed by being a student at a community college! It's not about where you start out...its the journey and destination that matter! Dr. Miami (Snapchat/World Famous plastic surgeon) started out in CC and look at where he is now lol.
Ok to answer your question honestly... I've had horrible semesters like now for instance Orgo II lecture, orgo lab I & II, neuroscience lab, and drugs in the nervous system (4000 level course). It is/was terrible, but every premed pretty much goes through it. I think that's what distinguishes pre-med/dental/vet/pharm life from seeking out your bachelors for a nonscience career. Some of these classes (and course loads) are hard, but they set you up for the more rigorous classes (course loads) in medical school. Moral of the story, and I mean this in the most non-discouraging way, it only gets more difficult. Either stretch it out, pay more over time (which isn't necessarily bad) or get 'er done. Those are your only options. Best of luck which ever you choose.

Note: pre calc and physics are not bad at all!

 

[Alve24]

First of all don't be embarrassed by being a student at a community college! It's not about where you start out...its the journey and destination that matter! Dr. Miami (Snapchat/World Famous plastic surgeon) started out in CC and look at where he is now lol.
Ok to answer your question honestly... I've had horrible semesters like now for instance Orgo II lecture, orgo lab I & II, neuroscience lab, and drugs in the nervous system (4000 level course). It is/was terrible, but every premed pretty much goes through it. I think that's what distinguishes pre-med/dental/vet/pharm life from seeking out your bachelors for a nonscience career. Some of these classes (and course loads) are hard, but they set you up for the more rigorous classes (course loads) in medical school. Moral of the story, and I mean this in the most non-discouraging, it only gets more difficult. Either stretch it out, pay more over time (which isn't necessarily bad) or get 'er done. Those are your only options. Best of luck which ever you choose.

Note: pre calc and physics are not bad at all!

Thank you for the reply, i really appreciate this. I guess those really are my three options, i might just finish them now and not pay as much. Also comparing your course with my classes, my classes don't seem bad now lol.

 

[ed*26]

The only person who can tell if your course load is too much is you. Taking 3-4 science/math courses at a time is nothing to sneeze at if you've never done that before, even if they are CC courses. If I were you I would take the time to really think about whether you're prepared to take that many difficult classes at once. Saving some money isn't worth it if you end up getting subpar grades because you weren't prepared.

Remember that classes other than the standard pre-med courses can be valuable to take at a community college too. I'm thinking of classes that are highly recommended but not required (stats, sociology, psychology, etc), or classes that can fulfill GED requirements at whatever college you plan on transferring to. Also remember that some medical schools will ask that you take some upper-level science courses at your university to prove that you can handle medical school.

In the end doing the schedule you listed above may very well be worth it in terms of saving money and GPA, but make sure you're not sacrificing grades for $.

 

[elliejellybean]

Thank you for the reply, i really appreciate this. I guess those really are my three options, i might just finish them now and not pay as much. Also comparing your course with my classes, my classes don't seem bad now lol.

No problem. I actually get it. I did dual enrollment and took AP classes so my freshman year of college/senior year of HS was spent taking all of my other gen. requirements so I could graduate high school. Now I'm a semester behind in my pre Med classes hence why I'm taking on a crazy schedule. I need it to take my MCAT, so I know what I need to do. When you really really want to be a doctor like we all do you have to do it and do it well! Whatever lets you walk away with the highest GPA do it.


Another thing I just want you to be wary of...and it may be different from school to school, but my uni only accepts 60 transferable credit hours. For instance, let's say at ur school Brit lit is 201 and the school if you're transferring to has under 3010 ( just making up numbers here) they would give you credit for a lower level class or maybe not even give you credit at all. Make sense because what incentive do they have to give you a Georgia Tech diploma if you completed over half of your credit hours at Virginia State University. You're right at 60 so you should be fine, but that's just a heads up

 

[DokterMom]

Don't take ALL of your medical school pre-requisites at a community college or you risk having some medical schools question your academic chops... Save a few for university --

But go ahead and continue on the pre-med path for the rest of the year and maybe summer, then transfer to a 4-year school to finish up. The important thing for pre-meds to remember is to keep your GPA up (WAY up) and also to do the kinds of volunteering work you'll need to do to demonstrate that you're an altruistic person with a strong desire to serve.