philly area courses for non-trad

[gracietiger]

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I am likely moving to Philly soon b/c my husband was accepted to school at Penn. I am a non-trad and have a couple pre-reqs left, as well as more upper division bios that I'd like to take to be better prepared for vet school.

I took most of my prereqs at UC Davis (as a non-resident at first) for about 250$/credit.

I looked at classes at Drexel and Temple and was ASTONISHED to learn that the cost of tuition for a non-matriculated, non-resident is 650-800$ per credit!!!!!!!!!!! Holy crap!!!! I currently live in New York as a non-resident and looked into taking classes at a four-year nearby and it would have cost me about $300/credit. Philly schools' tuitions seems ridiculous. Maybe I am just spoiled having lived and attended schools in CA!

I know there are people on this forum who took some additional classes at Philly schools - is this what you paid, if you don't mind sharing? Are there any other schools in the region that are more affordable (for someone counting pennies like myself)?

I know that Penn strongly disfavors community college courses, so I am trying not to go there, though I am tempted b/c I have taken several upper divisions and all other pre-reqs but physics at four-years (all A's). I am not sure how much I would be shooting myself in the foot by considering CC or even online. I have physics left, and then, like I said, some additional upper divisions I'd prefer to take before vet school (dev't bio, immunology and nutrition). But, I have a poor previous academic record (which includes a couple of science courses) and am using a calculus course I took at a CC from ten years ago to fulfill the prereq (which I'm sure schools won't love).

Suggestions as to how to make completing these courses affordable, yet not problematic for an acceptance?

 

[LMMS]

Hey there! Well, now everyone will know where I live, but what the heck...

When would you be moving?!?

Oh, and you should probably take this with a grain of salt because I did NOT apply to the 'all mighty' Penn. No offense to any Penn-wees reading this. Anyway...

The MOST affordable way to get your pre-reqs done if you don't get a job at one of the academic institutions is to get registered at CC of Philadelphia. Almost all of there science courses offer night and/or Saturday sections. And, if you live in Philadelphia proper, the tuition is dirt cheap compared to the rest of the city... Less than $200 a credit including all fees!!

Now, if you get a job at one of the universities, many offer tuition assistance. Some pay 100% of courses taken in-house and there are places that will pay as much as 85% or more of the tuition for courses taken outside. Most will ask for one full year of service after the course completion to 'pay them back'.

If you want more info (this includes anything you'd like to know about Philly - been here for a while now) just pop me a PM. I'll try to get back to you in a reasonable time frame.

 

[gracietiger]

Thanks, LMMS! I'm going to shoot you a PM, but will respond just in case someone reading this is in the same shoes.

I am not a Penn resident so Philly CC will cost me about 350$/credit... so much more than what I paid at a four-year, but at least more reasonable.

Still quite nervous about the whole CC thing though, especially b/c Penn does not favor it and b/c of my unimpressive background in the sciences. I graduated with a 3.5 undergrad, but with C's in intro bio and gen chem, and a few other non-prereq sciences, like ecology and geology. But I got A's in everything non-science. Looks great for a future vet applicant, huh? I did retake those courses, eight years later, and got A's in all of them - is the past easily forgiven? If it is going to haunt me through this process, I'd prefer non-CC since I feel like I need to fight to prove I can hack it. If getting A's in all the pre-reqs plus some additional upper divisions is enough to prove that my priorities weren't in the right place when I was an undergrad, then I would seriously prefer to take the physics at a CC.

 

[bunnity]

There are a lot of other universities around here: USP, DelVal, Arcadia... worth looking into. But be prepared, the cost of living here, as well as schooling here, is ridiculous.

 

[gracietiger]

So ridiculous!!!!!

Thanks for including those schools. DelVal is the most affordable, but also the furthest. But at least promising...

 

[LMMS]

So ridiculous!!!!!

Thanks for including those schools. DelVal is the most affordable, but also the furthest. But at least promising...

Forgive me, but DelVal affordable? I have a coworker finishing up her course work for her BS... It's $750 a credit! There is a summer 'break' though - it's a mere $450 a credit then.

 

[Walsh1122]

Gracietiger, I attended Del Val and graduated from there in 2008. I currently attend SGU in Grenada. If you have any questions about the programs at Del Val let me know. I would be happy to answer them. In addition they offer much of what you are looking for, the R5 SEPTA train also stops right on campus and you can ride it directly from Suburban Station, which would make your commute a bit easier. Feel free to PM me.

 

[bunnity]

Gracietiger, I attended Del Val and graduated from there in 2008. I currently attend SGU in Grenada. If you have any questions about the programs at Del Val let me know. I would be happy to answer them. In addition they offer much of what you are looking for, the R5 SEPTA train also stops right on campus and you can ride it directly from Suburban Station, which would make your commute a bit easier. Feel free to PM me.

they changed the names of the R trains and they don't have the R in them anymore... can you believe it?!

/philly hijack

 

[turnbackhelly]

I absolutely have to put in a plug for West Chester University, which is where I did 100% of my prereqs as a non-trad. Granted I was a resident, although I am from ny - I had been living in philly as a penn grad student for a year prior to starting at WCU. I took 18-20 credits a semester for about $2500 total (per semester), and I honestly think I got a fantastic education there. I was accepted to 5 vet schools (including penn) so I don't think any schools had any doubts about the quality of my prereq education, despite WCU being a smaller, lesser known state school. I actually met with Mac Keiter at PennVet when I was preparing to leave grad school and start my prereqs, and he was the one who encouraged me to complete my prereqs at WCU rather than Penn's own post-bac program to save money. One of the best things about WCU is that you can apply to their pre-med post-bac program, which is non-degree (so you can pretty much do whatever you want), fairly easy to get into, and best of all gives you priority scheduling wich is often the hardest part of being non-trad (getting shut out of classes you need and screwing up your flow of completing prereqs). Once you've been in PA for one year, WCU considers you a resident (even in the absence of a PA drivers license, etc). I'm honestly not sure what WCU costs for a non-resident (although I'm sure it's cheaper than many other schools that have been mentioned since it's a state school) but it might be a good option once you've been in PA for a year, especially for upper level classes (in the year that I applied to school, I took histo, anatomy, parasitology, developmental bio, physiology, and immunology, all of which have been a huge help so far in vet school). They also have evening classes, and even some online classes (statistics comes to mind). There are a lot of adult/continuing ed/commuter students at WCU in general, so I think it's much more non-trad friendly (in terms of cost, scheduling, and flexibility) than a school like DelVal, where most students are full-time traditional undergrads who live on/near campus (no offense intended to DelVal, it's a great school and i'm just using it as a point of comparison).

I honestly can't say enough about WCU. You should definitely look into it (www.wcupa.edu). I got my BA from a well known private liberal liberal arts college, did a year of grad work at Penn, and am now in vet school at cornell and can honestly say that that quality of the education I got at WCU was often better than what I got/am getting at these other insanely expensive/overrated schools. If you have any questions about anything definitely PM me, I'd be happy to help!

 

[gracietiger]

Thanks so much, turnbackhelly. I looked into West Chester after your rave review, and unfortunately, it would still cost me about 2500$ per four credit class! I could take three courses for that price at UC-Davis. It is still just amazing to me how expensive schooling is in Philly (or anywhere not in CA?).

It sounds like a really wonderful school and I am so appreciative to have your insight. It's possible I will have to gain residency before taking courses in Philly, which will only put off vet school another year (I'm almost 30 and should be applying this fall). Or, I will have to wish my husband good-luck in Philly and return to CA before I lose residency. Such a difficult choice!!!

It is very important for me to take additional science courses prior to vet school so that I'm not miserably struggling, especially since my background is not in science. It is so helpful to know that you felt very prepared for vet school from your classes at WCU.

 

[nyanko]

Thanks so much, turnbackhelly. I looked into West Chester after your rave review, and unfortunately, it would still cost me about 2500$ per four credit class! I could take three courses for that price at UC-Davis. It is still just amazing to me how expensive schooling is in Philly (or anywhere not in CA?).

It's all relative - where I did my undergrad in FL it was like, $100 per credit for instate. $1500 per semester was so insanely cheap! So I feel like CA is kind of expensive (of course it doesn't help that our vet school tuition is one of the highest for in-state residents...).

 

[bunnity]

Check out regional Penn State campuses. There are also many more universities in SE PA if you do some googling. Don't give up! 🙂