NYC DIY Route - Advice Requested!

[tclayton26]

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Hi everyone,

I'm considering a career change and looking into completing my prerequisites by taking classes a la carte as opposed to the more expensive postbac route.

I would LOVE to hear from anyone who's taken this approach, especially if you've done it at a community college! I've heard that are problems with over enrollment at some of the schools (specifically City College). Has anyone taken this route recently? What was your experience like?

Thanks so much!

 

[darkeon]

I've met people who've done the cc route. they've been successful in med school admissions and those of allied health careers like physical therapy and PA.
City College, while a good school, has too many premeds...just too many. in your case, you'll get last dibs on classes so it can be a bit stressful looking online everyday for classes. there are classes to enroll in but they may not be classes of interest to you.. (i.e. ecology, etc). people do speak horrors of the school's premed advisor though so beware. Honestly, you're better off going to your local 4 year cuny school. Whoever is closest go for it. You'll need to attend a 4-yr for at least the biochem prereq which all four year cuny schools offer.

 

[Bru]

Why not do the Hunter Post-bacc program?

 

[pageantry]

Oh word. I went to City College and I am glad I did. Don't worry about the over-enrollment situation. No matter where you go, as a second-degree student you're going to be last or next to last to get access to registration. But! I NEVER failed to get the classes I wanted, and here's how:

1) Go in EARLY every semester to the science office and the pre-med office to get approved for your classes and remove any holds on your registration. Don't discover at the last moment you can't register when you want to.
2) Take a deep breath and watch all your classes fill up by the time your registration date arrives. You are above panicking.
3) Find out the two drop dates before each semester begins. They are: a) the date that everyone gets the grades (if you are going for upper division or anything with a pre-req, some people will fail out and get dropped) and b) the date you're supposed to pay for classes. People always forget and get dropped.

Make friends with the advisors and be sincere and non-needy. They appreciate your appreciation. They love to see a genuine interest in the community (CCNY, Harlem, and the underserved), as well as personal growth. They love to see service, hard work, comeback stories, and humility. They will be your biggest advocates if you show that.

Be careful of less rigorous classes. The bad teachers are TERRIBLE and will affect your future MCAT. This is the case everywhere though and you can easily do as well on your MCAT as the Columbia post-baccs. Pay attention to the ratemyprofessors pages. They do help.

And, uh, enjoy! I gained more from my time at CCNY than I could possibly have imagined. It's frustrating at times, for sure, and I worried I'd shot myself in the foot next to brandname post-baccs, but at this point in the cycle I already have two interview invitations and I have to say I have no regrets.

And good luck whatever you decide to do. 🙂

 

[darkeon]

QC gives first priority to their 2nd degree so they are one exception to the 2nd degree-last registration rule. But they require departmental approval to get your major declared and if you enroll in the summer or winter for fall or spring classes respectively, you'll find yourself waiting because dept staff are usually out on vacation. Plus QC is far out of the city so it will be quite the commute if you don't live in Queens.

I will say in response to the above poster, CCNY has had recent good history of med acceptances. it boasts having its first public schooled latino student getting into harvard med

 

[pageantry]

The general deal as I understand it is that the previous advisor at CCNY (who has since moved on) was beloved for being extremely encouraging to almost anyone. That resulted in a higher pre-med population, and fairly high numbers of actual acceptances, but lower *percentage* of acceptances.

The current advising is more interested in encouraging people they see as good bets. This really (and rightfully) upsets some people. But their percentages are higher, and you're more likely to be able to get into a class, etc.

P.S. It is way easier to get into classes (which are known easy A's) at City Tech--and they are a 4 year CUNY. However, the education is way watered down, there is no pre-med committee, and the classes feel painfully like high school. And I've never seen such blatant cheating in my life. I'd avoid unless you want to teach yourself the entire MCAT. Fine if you just need to kill off a pre-req.

 

[tclayton26]

Thanks everyone!