Eek! Gigantic post ahead!
SOunds like you will be able to write a very interesting PS!
Thanks! I know it's wayyyyyy early to be thinking about my PS, but so far I imagine the "unschooling" thing might be an interesting angle to work on my PS--how it's prepared me to be a lifelong learner and rely on my natural curiosity to spur me to pursue things that interest me. Or something.
A GPA is a GPA. To my understanding AMCAS does not differentiate between CC and University. And this whole "University preparing you better" probably more depends on you then the place you are. University professors are usually balancing research with large class sizes. CC classes are small and the teachers are only there to teach.
This is a good point. My best friend dropped out of high school, then went to a CC for two years and then transferred to UCLA and said the CC was better because of the smaller class sizes and more intimate setting (she also went to a great CC as far as CCs go). I'm not sure of her CC GPA, but she graduated from UCLA with a 3.85 and kicked so much butt on the LSAT that Harvard law school wrote her a letter asking her to apply. She said that because of the huge lecture halls and such, she hadn't gotten to know any of her professors well enough to be able to get any spectacular LORs and is unhappy about it. I hear stories like that, and it makes me pretty hesitant to transfer to a large state school.
1. Is CC work, at your particular CC, going to prepare you for the rigors of upper div science at a 4yr university, for the MCAT, and for med school? Find a grad of your program who is in med school and ask him/her. The premed advisor may not keep up with folks after they leave the CC, so his/her assurances don't hold water. If your CC does NOT offer sufficiently rigorous science prep, then that's an argument to wait on prereqs until you get to a 4yr.
This is a good question. Finding a grad who went on to med school is a fabulous idea. I'll ask my advisor. She said she's had a lot of pre-meds.
I'm sure it's not the world's best CC, but I don't think it's the world's worst either. It's fairly large--there are 5 campuses spread across 4 counties. The campus closest to me is shared with a state university's satellite campus. They recently began offering a few bachelor's degrees and are actually having to change their name from "_____ Community College" to "_____ College" as of next year because of it. Another state university (whose main campus is on the other side of the state) has a regional campus of their med school (for third and fourth year only) shared with the main campus of my CC. All that stuff makes me think they're probably at least fairly legit. I've also heard (on SDN) that my state has "articulation agreements" preventing state medical schools from discriminating against other publicly funded higher ed institutions like CCs (although I'm sure they do anyway). The only problem with that is that I'm hoping to go to a med school in another part of the country (and in fact, I hope to transfer to a university in that part of the country first).
2. What do you want to get your bachelors in? You probably don't know yet, and that's fine. If you eventually want to do bio or chem or any hard science, then you absolutely need to finish some or all of the prereqs at your CC, or you won't finish in 4 years (which isn't a disaster at all). For a science degree, the med school prereqs are also the prereqs for most of your major coursework during your junior/senior years. A science degree is arguably more convenient than non-science, in preparation for med school.
- But no matter what a premed advisor, your uncle, or a 60 year old MD says, it DOES NOT MATTER what you major in for medical school. You can major in anything you want. If you want a psych degree, or a music degree, then you can do the prereqs on your own schedule, such as during your junior/senior years.
You're right, I don't know yet. I'm imagining it'll be in something like philosophy or anthropology, but I'm keeping a very open mind because of my educational background (or lack thereof). I don't have enough experience with enough subjects to know what I really love the most. I remember reading on one med school's website (at least I
think that's where I read it) that 49% of bio majors who applied were accepted, but 51% of humanities majors who applied were accepted. So I'm definitely not hung up on the idea that I have to get a science degree, and will pursue whatever catches my fancy most (I actually lean toward a non-science degree for the appearance of greater well-roundedness). And afterall, these four years will be my last chance for a very long time to take those sort of electives.
3. How many years do premed graduates of your CC typically need after they transfer to a 4yr? It might be MUCH more typical that they need a 5th year. Somebody working on a business or anthropology degree can easily finish an AA and then get a BA in another 2 years. Traditionally "difficult" majors are much more difficult to finish in 4 years, even when all 4 years are at a university.
- Also, how many premed grads of your CC go straight into med school the fall after they finish their undergrad degree in 4 years, with solid extra curriculars and letters? Probably a very, very small number. Taking advantage of your scholarship could mean you need a 5th year when you get to university.
More good questions that I'll definitely ask my advisor. Do you know of any other resource I might look into for finding these sort of stats? My scholarship requires me to complete an A.A. at their school (which requires 60 credits and should take about 2 years; I believe a bachelor's would require about another 60 credits, depending on major).
As far as ECs: I am planning to apply to volunteer at the best hospital in the area (although that isn't saying much) starting this fall (about a year after delivering my son there!), and as far as I know they do need volunteers. There is a major biomedical research facility being built about 5 minutes from my house that is scheduled to open its doors in Jan '09, and I'm not sure how, but I plan to get myself in there in some capacity.
One thing I haven't quite gotten around to figuring out yet is shadowing. The only doctors I know around here are my own OB/GYN and hemotologist, and my children's ped (and our mohel, who is also an OB/GYN). I'm not sure if it would be entirely inappropriate to ask if I could shadow them? (I've really done almost zero research on shadowing, so forgive me if that's a silly question.) I got into a long conversation with our ped about DO vs. MD (he's a DO), and mentioned my plans and he was very encouraging.
4. Is it absolutely critical that you finish your undergrad education in 4 years and immediately begin medical school? Why? If you need a gap year between finishing undergrad and starting med school, is that the end of the world? My real point here is that there's a whole lifetime between now and med school, and being all twitterpated about whether you have everything correctly scheduled so that there's no "lost time" isn't really helping you focus and succeed. Get straight A's at your CC, and then you can start thinking about your med school app.
No, I'd say it's not critical. I'm just eager(/impatient), and I cringe at the idea of another year's income lost down the line, but that's most certainly not a dealbreaker if it means doing it right. I know I'm getting a little ahead of myself--my husband tells me so all the time! Do you think it would be worth it to take that gap year, in order to do the bulk of my pre-reqs at a university rather than doing about half of them there? I guess that partly depends on the quality of my CC. I'm not so much worried about lost time as I'm worried about not making any missteps. I certainly intend to enjoy the journey, but it's hard to just worry about what I'm doing right now when I know it has so much effect on my ultimate goal.
If the community college is your ONLY option, then you take your science pre-reqs at the community college.
Community college is my only option to start with, since I'm starting completely from scratch with no prior college experience (and no SATs or anything like that). It's not necessarily my only option for taking the pre-reqs, if I wait until I transfer to a university to take them.
The reasons for recommending that you wait are primarily:
- Classes that follow in sequence above the intro-level are generally geared toward the intro-level course at the university.
- If your community college course is not of sufficient depth and breadth for the MCAT, you have a major problem to solve before you take the MCAT.
How are you going to know if your CC courses are of sufficient depth and breadth? Download the topic list from the MCAT website, compare this with your course syllabus and take additional coursework if needed.
Do realize that if your CC intro-course is not a good intro for your future university-level courses, you may need to take additional coursework in addition to the into-level courses in order to do well in your upper division courses.
This is excellent advice! Thank you!
The most important criterion for whether or not you will be successful in your question to enter medical school is your performance in your classes. Where ever you take your courses, you need to do well. If attending a university puts a severe hardship on you financially, and from a practical standpoint, then you need to do your best to solve these problems before you start your upper division work.
People are accepted into medical school with community college coursework and after completing pre-med pre-reqs at a community college. You just have to be very vigilant in making sure that your coursework is of very high quality and that you do very well.
I am fairly certain I will be able to do well. From a financial standpoint, the next two years of tuition and books at CC are paid for and they promised me a generous transfer scholarship if I do well. The conditions on my scholarship are that I have to go full-time, maintain a 3.0, and complete an A.A. from their school. I've been a stay-at-home-mom to my two young children for the last 4+ years, so my husband is able to carry the financial burden of maintaining the household. I'm not afraid to take out loans to help with the cost of childcare or university tuition if I don't get another full scholarship (drop in a bucket compared to the loans I'll have to take for med school, as they say).
As far as my ability to get A's in my classes, I'm not super worried. I'm an intelligent person. When I was a child, I was in the gifted program. My brothers both did a couple years at a fairly good community college in California and maintiend ~3.87 GPAs, and they're not smarter than me. I have Yale alums on both sides of my family. I barely studied for the GED, and I really hadn't done ANY schooling since I left public school a few months into sixth grade. I'm confident I won't have a problem understanding concepts or remembering facts. If anything will trip me up, it will be maintaining my focus/motivation, and staying diligent about my schoolwork while also trying to take care of my children/husband/house/pets, not to mention myself. I expect there will also be an adjustment as I figure out what my best learning style and studying style are.
Thank you all so much for your thoughtful replies!
