List of community colleges offering pre-reqs

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catdoctor77

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I'm a non-trad student who needs basically all of the biology pre-reqs (list below). I'd like to take as many as possible at community colleges if possible to save on cost. Some classes are at most community colleges, like anatomy and physiology or intro to biology. Others are much less common, namely cell and molecular biology. Location isn't relevant to me because the schools I'm most interested in (NC, Auburn) don't have community colleges in that state with the right courses (at least, as far as I know). Would anyone like to share what community college you attended, the classes you took, and where you were accepted?

I know that every school is different. Some are very concerned about the rigors of your study, others are not. So I figured I'd email a few schools with a list of colleges and see what they thought.

I'm looking for:
Bio 1/2
O Chem 1/2
Biochem
Cell Bio
Physics (not bio but still need it!)
Genetics

Doing some research, I've found the following offer all or most of these classes (I researched a while back and am not 100% about each offering genetics, but I know they offer cell bio):
City Colleges of Chicago
Atlanta Metropolitan State College
Community College of Allegheny County (Pittsburgh, PA)
West Valley College (Saratoga, CA, south of San Fran)

What others have you found?

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I can't imagine any community college not having Bio 1/2, genetics, or physics 1/2.
 
If you live in California, assist.org, is the best place to find transferable courses (more and more CCs in CA are having online courses now, too). UCD Vet Med and some other UC pre-health schools are on it. If those schools accept the courses, usually other schools accept them (from my experience).
 
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I would truthfully just look at the local community colleges in your area of residence - I had no trouble finding multiple county colleges in my area that offered at least Bio 1/2, Physics 1/2, Gen chem & O-chem. The ones I looked at offered microbiology and A&P as well. I would email NC State & Auburn to see if they are alright with taking community college science classes - many vet schools want to see them taken at a 4-year institution. I also would HIGHLY doubt that there are NO community colleges in either NC or AL that don't offer the above courses I listed, but if they don't offer the higher level courses (i.e. genetics, cell bio, biochem) it is likely because it's more appropriately taught above the community college level.
 
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Blue Ridge Community College
Central Virginia Community College
University of New England

Those are where I took all of my science prereqs for VMCVM and I was accepted. Bio 1 and 2, O Chem 1 and 2, Biochem, and Physics 1 and 2. The Physics classes were the only ones I took in-class at CVCC. All the rest were online.
 
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I'm a non-trad student who needs basically all of the biology pre-reqs (list below). I'd like to take as many as possible at community colleges if possible to save on cost. Some classes are at most community colleges, like anatomy and physiology or intro to biology. Others are much less common, namely cell and molecular biology. Location isn't relevant to me because the schools I'm most interested in (NC, Auburn) don't have community colleges in that state with the right courses (at least, as far as I know). Would anyone like to share what community college you attended, the classes you took, and where you were accepted?

I know that every school is different. Some are very concerned about the rigors of your study, others are not. So I figured I'd email a few schools with a list of colleges and see what they thought.

I'm looking for:
Bio 1/2
O Chem 1/2
Biochem
Cell Bio
Physics (not bio but still need it!)
Genetics

Doing some research, I've found the following offer all or most of these classes (I researched a while back and am not 100% about each offering genetics, but I know they offer cell bio):
City Colleges of Chicago
Atlanta Metropolitan State College
Community College of Allegheny County (Pittsburgh, PA)
West Valley College (Saratoga, CA, south of San Fran)

What others have you found?

Northern Virginia Community College: Northern Virginia Community College

I did not take classes there because I had funding to through a post-bacc at a university nearby, but they have every common pre-requisite including all of the ones you listed. They also have multiple campuses, and many semesters some or all of those classes can be done online.
 
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This has been very enlightening! The community colleges here don't even offer bio 1/2. They're all vocational schools. I had talked to the University of Illinois a few years back and they had told me no online courses. So there is a lot of variability for sure. Thank you all!
 
I'm a non-trad student who needs basically all of the biology pre-reqs (list below). I'd like to take as many as possible at community colleges if possible to save on cost. Some classes are at most community colleges, like anatomy and physiology or intro to biology. Others are much less common, namely cell and molecular biology. Location isn't relevant to me because the schools I'm most interested in (NC, Auburn) don't have community colleges in that state with the right courses (at least, as far as I know). Would anyone like to share what community college you attended, the classes you took, and where you were accepted?

I know that every school is different. Some are very concerned about the rigors of your study, others are not. So I figured I'd email a few schools with a list of colleges and see what they thought.

I'm looking for:
Bio 1/2
O Chem 1/2
Biochem
Cell Bio
Physics (not bio but still need it!)
Genetics

Doing some research, I've found the following offer all or most of these classes (I researched a while back and am not 100% about each offering genetics, but I know they offer cell bio):
City Colleges of Chicago
Atlanta Metropolitan State College
Community College of Allegheny County (Pittsburgh, PA)
West Valley College (Saratoga, CA, south of San Fran)

What others have you found?

I'm not sure where you currently live but I'm in NC and took Bio 1/2, Microbiology, Chem 2, and Statistics at Wake Tech Community College. They have a couple campuses around Raleigh. I did have to take the upper level sciences (O Chem 1/2, Biochem and Genetics) at NCSU as a Non Degree seeking student but those classes are so large that I had no issues getting a seat in them.
 
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If you live in NC, I would recommend Wake Tech Comm Coll (WTCC). I went there, took the below pre-reqs, transferred to NCSU for my last two years, and got accepted to NCSU-CVM c/o 2023. So, I can tell you from my experience that NCSU doesn't care that you got some pre-reqs at a community college. For what it's worth, when taking higher level science courses at NCSU, I never felt that I was at a disadvantage for taking the lower level sciences at Wake Tech.

Out of the required ~58 credits for pre-reqs, I took 37 pre-req credits at WTCC and NCSU accepted them all.

Pre-reqs I took at WTCC that counted for NCSU CVM Admissions:
-Gen Bio 1 with lab (they offered both Gen Bio 1 and 2; Bio1 = cellular and molec bio, Bio2 = Ecology, Evolution, and Biodiversity
-Gen Chem 1 with lab
-Gen Chem 2 with lab
-Orgo Chem 1 with lab
-Orgo Chem 2 with lab
-College Physics 1 with lab
-College Physics 2 with lab
-Intro to Communications
-A Humanities Class for 3 credits (doesn't matter which) (NOTE: NCSU requires 6 credits, but I only submitted 3cr from WTCC)
-Statistics

Side note: If I recall correctly, they also offered microbio. I attended WTCC a few years ago, so they most likely offer Genetics and Biochem by now.
Here is a link to their course catalog, do your homework. Course Descriptions | Wake Technical Community College

If you have any other questions please let me know.
 
I'm a non-trad student who needs basically all of the biology pre-reqs (list below). I'd like to take as many as possible at community colleges if possible to save on cost. Some classes are at most community colleges, like anatomy and physiology or intro to biology. Others are much less common, namely cell and molecular biology. Location isn't relevant to me because the schools I'm most interested in (NC, Auburn) don't have community colleges in that state with the right courses (at least, as far as I know). Would anyone like to share what community college you attended, the classes you took, and where you were accepted?

I know that every school is different. Some are very concerned about the rigors of your study, others are not. So I figured I'd email a few schools with a list of colleges and see what they thought.

I'm looking for:
Bio 1/2
O Chem 1/2
Biochem
Cell Bio
Physics (not bio but still need it!)
Genetics

Doing some research, I've found the following offer all or most of these classes (I researched a while back and am not 100% about each offering genetics, but I know they offer cell bio):
City Colleges of Chicago
Atlanta Metropolitan State College
Community College of Allegheny County (Pittsburgh, PA)
West Valley College (Saratoga, CA, south of San Fran)

What others have you found?


North Central Missouri College. I teach general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics there. All of my courses are online and available each term. Feel free to ask any questions.
 
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