post bac at community college

[topolm]

Hi,

I have a BS degree in chemical engineering and want to apply to med school. have a 3.15 gpa overall, 2.9 science gpa. I have taken none of the required bio classes, statistics etc. In short, I need to take between 6-9 classes to complete my premed requirement. Would medical schools care if a prospective took these courses at a community college? I am looking at Northern virginia community college. Besides, my che grades were not stellar, and these bio grades could pull up my science gpa right? Chemistry/math is all taken care of. Did well in them.

Thankyou in advance

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[jxu66]

topolm:

Glad to see another engineering students apply medical school.

Anyway, I think that it is ok to take premedical in Community college, at least in Texas. Since we have common courses matching, CC college courses match exact with university course numbers.

Your GPA is a little bit low, probably because you graduate from an engineering school. Need to pull that baby up to 3.6 to be competitive with MD schools, 3.4 to be competitive with DO schools.

Just a commentary here. It is really suck to graduate from an engineering school (i.e. bad GPA) for Medical school purpose since engineering school doesn't have grade inflation. I went to a top five engineering school as undergraduate. I finished top TEN (graduate with high honor) in my class of 200 students, yet I only made 3.54 GPA. Had I majored in Science, I probably has much higher GPA. Oh well, let's pray I score well on April MCAT. It is only a month away.

 

[C. Ronaldo]

ive asked this question on here before and the majority of people think its a bad idea taking them at a CC because med schools weight CC classes as being weaker than unviersity level courses regardless of whether this is true or not.

 

[topolm]

Hey, well, I'll pray for you if you pray for me LOL!

Anyways, thanks for the info. I've been working at the US Patent and Trademark Office for three years now and have decided it aint right for me. I think CC classes are ok as well, but its imperative to get A's in them. Anything less is no good. Also looking at pharmacy school.

topolm:

Glad to see another engineering students apply medical school.

Anyway, I think that it is ok to take premedical in Community college, at least in Texas. Since we have common courses matching, CC college courses match exact with university course numbers.

Your GPA is a little bit low, probably because you graduate from an engineering school. Need to pull that baby up to 3.6 to be competitive with MD schools, 3.4 to be competitive with DO schools.

Just a commentary here. It is really suck to graduate from an engineering school (i.e. bad GPA) for Medical school purpose since engineering school doesn't have grade inflation. I went to a top five engineering school as undergraduate. I finished top TEN (graduate with high honor) in my class of 200 students, yet I only made 3.54 GPA. Had I majored in Science, I probably has much higher GPA. Oh well, let's pray I score well on April MCAT. It is only a month away.

 

[jxu66]

Ideally, I love to take my courses at an university. However, in Dallas, it costs ten times for a course in University as in CC. I wasn't willing to pay that much since I already have a master degree. For some strange reasons, CC in Dallas is pretty respected since three Medical schools (UT-Southwestern, UNT DO and Texas A&M Medical school) came my CC for recruiting. And I know quite a few students made to Dental schools and Medical schools from this CC college. I was surprised since I was one of those not "Ivy league" not good schools person when I was young. Maybe that's just Texas local situation. Oh well. I probaly only apply Texas + a couple of easy Medical schools anyway.

 

[AlphaKi]

I've heard reports that taking classes at CC is generally seen as less prestigious and is seen as taking the easy way out even though I've taken a couple of CC classes and to me they are just as tough and cover just as much as regular university classes.

But, I was wrong about the Orgo II thing so who knows?

 

[DrTex?]

I haven't started taking classes yet, but I have begun my research. I am planning on taking my classes at either UTD or UTA.
jxu66, where did you pick up your credits?
By the way, in my research I found some horrifying information yesterday. Nationally, most med schools require two semesters of biology. Texas schools require four. Do you know why? Are they just trying to make it difficult for non-science major post-bacc's?
Also, UTD didn't seem to expensive... especially compared to med school. How much is your CC?

 

[jxu66]

Yes, I agree. My CC college in Dallas use same book and same lab manuals for organic chemistry as other local universities like UTD and SMU. In my CC college, a lot of nontraditional students who want to pursue Dental/nursing/Medical schools since job market in Dallas is not very good (due to telecommunication blowup). They are pretty determined people since they all got multiple mouths to feed.

Again, maybe that's Texas situation since those same organic chemistry course can transfer to any public university in Texas, even UT-Austin.

I am not arguing doing PostDoc in CC. It is not ideal. If you got money, go for Postdoc at university.

 

[jxu66]

It is very cheap at CC in Dallas. $120 a course. Go for Richland college. So far I took BIOL 1406, 1407, CHEM 2423, 2425. One Genetic and one A&P. That's pretty much only courses that's valid for Medical school. Don't take Microbiology (that's won't count) or A&P II (since some schools only allow you take one A&P course). You can transfer all those courses to any public school in Texas.

I have limited resources. So I spent all my money on MCAT prep books instead on postdoc programs. I bought all MCAT prep books you can think of, BK, PR, Kaplan, AAMC 1-7, Columbia Review. You named it. I got it. That's my strategy.

 

[medworm]

I think the CC topic depends on your state. If you are in CA, a CC shouldn't be a problem because that's the way of life here, classes are impacted and therefore post-baccs don't really have a choice at this time.