I really need some advice!

[obgyny]

I know this is a little long...but I have a unique situation and I really would appreciate some advice!!!

I've just finished my 3rd year in community college (i attended a year of full time comm college during my senior year of high school) and now I'm transferring as a junior to UCI in the fall. I probably have ~92 semester units. These are the premed/MCAT related classes I've taken:

1 year English Comp
1 year General Chem
1 year Calculus
1 year General Physics (trig-based)
Cell Bio
Botany
Zoology
Human Anatomy

my comm college doesn't offer O-chem, so I'll be taking it at UCI. My planned junior year at UCI will be:

Fall quarter: O-chem A and Genetics
Winter quarter: O-chem B and Biochem
Spring quarter: O-chem C and Molecular Bio
i probably can't fit human physio into my schedule until my senior year.

My plan is to get my B.S. in BioSci in 2 years. My father is helping me pay for my undergrad education, but apparently isn't willing to support me for more than those 2 years.

I've heard that it's recommended to take the MCAT in the spring of your junior year, however, I am not sure that I will be prepared for it by then (i won't have my ochem series finished before then). do u think that the classes i have taken/will take by next spring will be enough to do well on the MCAT??

I talked to one counselor at UCI, who sort of looked at me like i was crazy for considering graduating in 2 years and applying to med school so soon. Although she didn't know my entire situation, she told me I should take 3 years to graduate and work on building up my med school app.

If I do graduate in 2 years (which it seems I have to do), then it really only leaves me with a year to build up my med school app. I have a 4.0 gpa and roughly 100 hours of hosptital volunteer experience (spread over high school and college), but i have no research experience and not a lot of med field experience.

So ultimately, my question is whether it is plausible for me to graduate in 2 years and be a somewhat competitive med school applicant?? Or am I just kidding myself??

Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated!!!!

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[154241]

I'm pretty sure a lot of community college credits are frowned upon by adcoms, which might be why your premed advisor recommended 3 years at UCI. However, if you have money issues with three years, you could think about graduating in two and taking a year or two off to build up other parts of your application (research, clinical work) while getting paid. Maybe having strong EC's through those years off will compensate for community college credits. My only expertise is reading through SDN though, so take this with a grain of salt. Good luck!

 

[Fiddlergirl]

I'm pretty sure a lot of community college credits are frowned upon by adcoms, which might be why your premed advisor recommended 3 years at UCI.

As long as you do well in the CC classes, it won't be a problem. There are half a million threads on this, so I won't elaborate.
I was in basically the same situation a few years ago, after transferring into UVA as a third year with an Associate's Degree from a community college. I graduated in two years and it didn't hurt me or my GPA, but I didn't take the MCAT after Junior year and I don't recommend that you do. It will probably be a difficult year for you, and your GPA the first semester might be lower than you expect. I took it after my 4th year and am currently working while I apply. If you have any questions, PM me and I'd be happy to help.

 

[Chill Pill]

I'm pretty sure a lot of community college credits are frowned upon by adcoms,

I am kind of in the same situation; I decided to change majors from psychology to biology so I took another year at a CC, but the only pre-reqs I took were calculus, a year of English and a year of general chemistry/labs. A total of about 95 units, most of it general education and psychology courses.

I decided to transfer to whatever university would accept me the moment I knew I'd be applying to a professional school.

Where would I explain this on my application? Or should I just not mention it? Is it that big of a deal?

 

[apnea]

MOST of the time i think the general consensus is that CC isn't the greatest way to go, but sometimes it happens. As long as you go to a proper university and prove that you can handle the courseload there too, there shouldn't be any problems an otherwise strong app can't overcome.

 

[SketchLazy]

I know this is a little long...but I have a unique situation and I really would appreciate some advice!!!

I've just finished my 3rd year in community college (i attended a year of full time comm college during my senior year of high school) and now I'm transferring as a junior to UCI in the fall. I probably have ~92 semester units. These are the premed/MCAT related classes I've taken:

1 year English Comp
1 year General Chem
1 year Calculus
1 year General Physics (trig-based)
Cell Bio
Botany
Zoology
Human Anatomy

my comm college doesn't offer O-chem, so I'll be taking it at UCI. My planned junior year at UCI will be:

Fall quarter: O-chem A and Genetics
Winter quarter: O-chem B and Biochem
Spring quarter: O-chem C and Molecular Bio
i probably can't fit human physio into my schedule until my senior year.

My plan is to get my B.S. in BioSci in 2 years. My father is helping me pay for my undergrad education, but apparently isn't willing to support me for more than those 2 years.

I've heard that it's recommended to take the MCAT in the spring of your junior year, however, I am not sure that I will be prepared for it by then (i won't have my ochem series finished before then). do u think that the classes i have taken/will take by next spring will be enough to do well on the MCAT??

I talked to one counselor at UCI, who sort of looked at me like i was crazy for considering graduating in 2 years and applying to med school so soon. Although she didn't know my entire situation, she told me I should take 3 years to graduate and work on building up my med school app.

If I do graduate in 2 years (which it seems I have to do), then it really only leaves me with a year to build up my med school app. I have a 4.0 gpa and roughly 100 hours of hosptital volunteer experience (spread over high school and college), but i have no research experience and not a lot of med field experience.

So ultimately, my question is whether it is plausible for me to graduate in 2 years and be a somewhat competitive med school applicant?? Or am I just kidding myself??

Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated!!!!

I had a similar situation to you. I transferred to UCSD with about the same amount of units. It is completely possible to graduate in two years if you also take those summer classes. I wasn't very committed back then so I didn't take the MCAT during college, but that's not to say I didn't have the time to study for it. I was just generally unmotivated. I think that you can do it, but you will be really busy.

I felt like most of the concepts that are covered in the MCAT are covered in the first segment of Ochem. The other two courses are just memorizing/understanding reactions that may or may not be on the exam. Sure it would help if you took those classes so that you can just automatically recall the reactions instead of thinking it through. But what you study in Ochem A and MCAT prep books about ochem should be enough for the test. You'll be able to figure out what is going on from the concepts you learned which is what the MCAT is about anyway. Molecular Bio is covered heavily in the bio section of the MCAT, so if you can, take it before spring. With the rest of your courses, you're good.

If you're all about boosting your app, in your spare time get more clinical experience and research. For research, a good way to get that is to take bio 199. I think I might have mentioned this to you before but it is a great way to get research experience. But you have to find someone who is willing to take you into their lab. Find out about professors and what their researching and visit them during office hours to talk to them about bio 199. It is very demanding and is practically like a part-time job but it pays off in terms of what you learn about the process.

Good luck. It will take a lot of time and commitment, but you can totally do this.