Med Schools and their stance on community college credits for prerequisites

[Tommyguns89]

My situation is pretty much forcing me to take the rest of my prerequsites at my community college, as there arent enough seats in the state school for me to get a spot by the time I am allowed to register as a non degree student. And I cant afford private tuition when loans arent available for non degree students.

So I started doing some research on Med Schools and their stance on community college credits. Here is what I have so far(from emails to admissions and school websites) and I would appreciate if anybody would chime in with their experience.

Hofstra- Doesnt seem to have a problem with them
Suny Stony Brook- would prefer that they are done at a 4 year university
SUNY upstate- wants them done at a 4 year university.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Goro]

As you have seen, they vary greatly from school to school. Investing in MSAR will be a rapid way to find who accepts what.

My situation is pretty much forcing me to take the rest of my prerequsites at my community college, as there arent enough seats in the state school for me to get a spot by the time I am allowed to register as a non degree student. And I cant afford private tuition when loans arent available for non degree students.

So I started doing some research on Med Schools and their stance on community college credits. Here is what I have so far(from emails to admissions and school websites) and I would appreciate if anybody would chime in with their experience.

Hofstra- Doesnt seem to have a problem with them
Suny Stony Brook- would prefer that they are done at a 4 year university
SUNY upstate- wants them done at a 4 year university.

 

[Indianarn]

My situation is pretty much forcing me to take the rest of my prerequsites at my community college, as there arent enough seats in the state school for me to get a spot by the time I am allowed to register as a non degree student. And I cant afford private tuition when loans arent available for non degree students.

So I started doing some research on Med Schools and their stance on community college credits. Here is what I have so far(from emails to admissions and school websites) and I would appreciate if anybody would chime in with their experience.

Hofstra- Doesnt seem to have a problem with them
Suny Stony Brook- would prefer that they are done at a 4 year university
SUNY upstate- wants them done at a 4 year university.

Hey I have half of mine from community colleges and half from 4 years school, I didn't have any problems with any of the schools. But I only applied to Osteopathic schools.

 

[ruedjgtc]

Hi,

As Goro has already suggested, there's a lot of variance per program, so the best place to start is the MSAR (Medical School Admissions Registry) and see if the schools you intend to apply to have a preference. Personally, I only applied to MD schools, and most of them I applied to happened to prefer the prerequisites be fulfilled at the university level.

My only advice is to do what you can so you can apply as broadly as possible as some aspects of applying to medical school is a numbers game.

MSAR Link:
https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/requirements/msar/

 

[Elewynne]

Based on my own experiences this cycle, schools willing to consider CC credits include:

Temple, Jefferson, Drexel, West Virginia, Rosalind Franklin, University of Colorado, Hofstra, Western Michigan.

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

Most schools will accept them, unless you're trying for Ivy League, then you'll be out of luck... if not, you're fine

 

[Beargryllz]

Save your money

Here, the difference is $90 per credit hour vs $500-600 per credit hour

Having taken 2 semesters of ochem at 2 locations, I can say that I really, really regret wasting all my money at an overpriced 4 year institution

 

[TwinsFan]

From my experience the cc classes were a bit easier but many schools don't care if you back it up with some As in upper levels at a 4 year and a solid mcat.

 

[Tommyguns89]

Good to hear that I am not totally out of luck but it does worry me that some schools will hold it against me. Since the Community college and 4 year university are literally 10-15 minutes away from eachother I might be able to work it so I can attend both next semester.(take the classes that are full at SBU, at SCCC and the rest at SBU) Would that raise eyebrows or would it be worth it?

 

[katiemaude]

As long as you get all As and rock the MCAT, you should be OK at 75% of schools (I have no idea what percentage, really, but you asked so I made it up.)

Seriously, though... do what you have to do. As you've seen, some will not penalize you for it and other schools will.

 

[Tommyguns89]

After analyzing the options I think I am going to take chem 2, physics 1 and bio 1 at the CC this spring. In the summer I will take physics 2 at the CC(Im taking algebra based which doesnt transfer over to Stony Brook even though it transfer to other SUNY schools) and then I will try to take BIO 2, Orgo 1 at Stony Brook in the fall of 14 and finish up with Orgo 2, genetics, cell biology and microbiology at Stony Brook in the spring of 2015. Of course the upper level courses may be just as crowded in which case Ill just have to do CC(which to my surprise offers some upper levels that transfer to Stony Brook).