Major Dillema with School List, All help appreciated!

[moogle44]

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Hi, I'm trying to decide on a school list but I'm finding it difficult to see where my stats are. I'm a transfer student at UCLA. I spent 3 years at a community college because I couldn't afford to go to the university right away and then 2 years at UCLA.

My GPA at the CC was 4.0 with 140 units and my GPA at UCLA is 3.6 with 80 units. AMCAS GPA is 3.92

When looking at school stats what GPA should I compare with myself? the AMCAS? or the UCLA one?

For example U Michigan would be awesome to apply to if i consider my AMCAS GPA but I would haave no chance if they only consider my UCLA GPA.

Please help me out with some feedback.

Thank you.

 

[NervousandScare]

Obviously, they would look at the AMCAS GPA. However, you should keep in mind, that a drop from 4.0 to 3.6 when completing the transition from community college to the university is somewhat alarming. It would have been better if it was the other way around. In the end, it will depend on your MCAT to validate your GPA. In other words, if you dont score above 30, reconsider applying this cycle. Also, keep in mind that many universities do not accept community college credits- these schools include Yale, and many other top schools- Michigan might be one of them. Make sure you research everything thoroughly. I had a friend who applied last year with a 4.0 GPA, with a 65/50 split of credits between community college and the university and a 32 MCAT. He was not accepted anywhere. He even had published research, and clinical experiences, etc.

 

[moogle44]

Obviously, they would look at the AMCAS GPA. However, you should keep in mind, that a drop from 4.0 to 3.6 when completing the transition from community college to the university is somewhat alarming. It would have been better if it was the other way around. In the end, it will depend on your MCAT to validate your GPA. In other words, if you dont score above 30, reconsider applying this cycle. Also, keep in mind that many universities do not accept community college credits- these schools include Yale, and many other top schools- Michigan might be one of them. Make sure you research everything thoroughly. I had a friend who applied last year with a 4.0 GPA, with a 65/50 split of credits between community college and the university and a 32 MCAT. He was not accepted anywhere. He even had published research, and clinical experiences, etc.

Thank you for the advice. Wow 4.0 32MCAT and no acceptances! did you're friend application have weak ECs? or did he apply only to reach schools? there must have been a reason.

 

[NervousandScare]

Thank you for the advice. Wow 4.0 32MCAT and no acceptances! did you're friend application have weak ECs? or did he apply only to reach schools? there must have been a reason.

If he knew, he wouldn't be applying to dental school right now.

 

[UNMorBUST]

Thank you for the advice. Wow 4.0 32MCAT and no acceptances! did you're friend application have weak ECs? or did he apply only to reach schools? there must have been a reason.

There had to be a flaw somewhere within his application.

 

[mspeedwagon]

My guess is a combination of poorly selecting schools and applying late. But I agree... with those numbers he should have gotten in somewhere.

There had to be a flaw somewhere within his application.

 

[halethsonofhama]

Also, keep in mind that many universities do not accept community college credits- these schools include Yale, and many other top schools- Michigan might be one of them.

Can you please explain what you mean that some schools don't take community college credits.

Do you mean that they don't factor in community college to the GPA?
This would be awesome as my CC GPA is ~3.7 and ucla is 3.95, cumulative of 3.82 (I know I said 3.9 on another post, I forgot to account for the first community college I went to... in which I wasn't pre-med and didn't care about grades)

Are are you saying they won't accept pre-reqs from a community college?
This would NOT be awesome

Side Note: As much as I love my old CC, and am extremely thankful I went there as it allowed me to find medicine (I was psychology first, then graphic design, then I got on the road to being a firefighter, then medicine; after I took the EMT course), it really did not help me understand the realities of applying to med school. Granted I should have been keeping on top of it myself, but it didn't help that my CC didn't have pre-med counciling and that the professors had no idea about the med-school process.

OP, were you like me, finding yourself completely overwhelmed with how far behind you were upon transferring?

At my CC, I was the beez-neez; I was the only one who had clinical experience, top of the class yadda yadda yadda..... now at UCLA.... I'm just another pre-med student with average stats.

In conclusion, CC's are awesome as long as you can handle a reality check.

 

[MiniMoo]

Also, keep in mind that many universities do not accept community college credits- these schools include Yale, and many other top schools- Michigan might be one of them.

This, as far as I know, is not true. Taking community college courses may be discouraged, but they are accepted.

Can you please explain what you mean that some schools don't take community college credits.

Do you mean that they don't factor in community college to the GPA?
This would be awesome as my CC GPA is ~3.7 and ucla is 3.95, cumulative of 3.82 (I know I said 3.9 on another post, I forgot to account for the first community college I went to... in which I wasn't pre-med and didn't care about grades)

Are are you saying they won't accept pre-reqs from a community college?
This would NOT be awesome

Side Note: As much as I love my old CC, and am extremely thankful I went there as it allowed me to find medicine (I was psychology first, then graphic design, then I got on the road to being a firefighter, then medicine; after I took the EMT course), it really did not help me understand the realities of applying to med school. Granted I should have been keeping on top of it myself, but it didn't help that my CC didn't have pre-med counciling and that the professors had no idea about the med-school process.

OP, were you like me, finding yourself completely overwhelmed with how far behind you were upon transferring?

At my CC, I was the beez-neez; I was the only one who had clinical experience, top of the class yadda yadda yadda..... now at UCLA.... I'm just another pre-med student with average stats.

In conclusion, CC's are awesome as long as you can handle a reality check.

Medical schools do accept community college credits (for pre-requisite and non-prerequisite courses). All classes taken at the community college level will be factored into GPA calculations by AMCAS. The reason that taking pre-requisites at a community college is typically discouraged is because CCs are often regarded as less rigorous than their 4-year counterparts. I found an article on SDN about this topic with a quick search: http://www.studentdoctor.net/2009/04/community-college-and-professional-school-admissions/

And I agree with your assessment that the CC to 4-year university transition can be rough. For me, it was the high school to university transition (I went to UCLA as well). In high school I felt like a very big fish indeed. Little did I know that the ocean I was swimming in was, in fact, a very small pond. 😛