Prereqs at a community college?

[k2rhodes]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi everyone,

Forgive me if this has been answered somewhere (specifically about podiatry)- but I searched and couldn't find anything, so here goes:

My boyfriend is considering a career change (he has a business degree and has been working at a family business for several years), and he's become interested in podiatry. I'm currently in my second year of an M.D. program. He's shadowed a podiatrist and enjoyed that experience. He's now thinking of going forward and taking prereqs while working part-time, but here in California, it's difficult to go back to his university (a Cal State) to take classes after you graduate with your degree. Taking the science prereqs at a CC would be good for him, but would this be frowned-down upon? He tried to contact the California School of Podiatry to ask, but they just directed him to their website, which had no answers.

What do you guys think? Thanks in advance!

 

[allenmarchallo]

I have 70+ community college credits (all pre-reqs minus the physics) & 30+ university upper-level credits....I had no problems securing interviews or gaining acceptances to pod. school.....Dunno about CSPM...Only applied to AzPod, DMU, Barry, & OCPM but I'm sure it's basically the same...Had interviews to all of them...

I had no questions brought up during interview about why I went to community college, etc.....

I'm well rounded though...3.5 GPA, above average DAT score, military, extracurriculars, strong LOR's (from CC. professors), etc.....Look @ my predents ID....


I'm not endorsing CC vs. Univ. but this is my own personal experience...

 

[geoff325]

even though I have railed against CC courses in the past, almar seems to have done fine with them. With that in mind, I was in a similar situation. I had two business degrees and worked for a number of years before coming back. I had to take all the science prereqs, but it was easy for me to do it at a major university. I took 2 or 3 classes a semester and one two summer sessions and it took me a few years, plus this current year of no classes while waiting for school to start. My advice would be that if you had a successful business career and good previous gpa ( that you can put on paper) and do fine on your mcats (mid to upper 20's at least to make things easier) then it wouldnt matter where you do your prereqs. I think this would be easier in cali if you apply to that school and they are familiar with state university regulations. other schools might question it possibly. Also, any noticable upward trend would make things easier. I only had a 2.85 overall gpa when i came back. I got a 3.5 science prereq gpa and 28 mcat and nobody said a thing and I got in to DMU, AZpod and Scholl. I think being older and having more experience was an absolute benefit for me personally, as well as being in interviews. Look at your career change as a positive and things will work out. I know this is getting long, but I would also recommend getting some medical experience in a number of different fields so that you can pre-empt any questions they have about your sincerity to do this. I would be happy to offer any advice, since I too was in this situation two years ago

 

[k2rhodes]

Thanks a lot for the advice, allen and geoff. It's good to hear others' stories.

As a side note, I know a girl in my class (M.D. program) who did all of her prereqs at a community college. She didn't seem to have problems getting interviews and getting accepted. Some of the people who post on the pre-allopathic board on this site would never believe this story, though. 🙂

 

[j0ez0r]

i was able to get into all pods i applied to and an allopathic with quite a few community college pre-reqs that i did over summers during undergrad. nothing like chem 101/102 in 8 weeks..and physics1/2...

 

[allenmarchallo]

i was able to get into all pods i applied to and an allopathic with quite a few community college pre-reqs that i did over summers during undergrad. nothing like chem 101/102 in 8 weeks..and physics1/2...

....I know how that is !!
I took accelerated OChem II @ my CC...4 weeks of live, breath, sleep, eat, & poop OChem...Managed only a {B} but I guess I made up 4 it when I made a 23 on the OChem section on the DAT....

 

[NAVYLABTECH08]

In regards to CC vs university, the stereotype only exists in the medical/dental/pharmacy community to my knowledge. I took 50% pre-req at CC & 50% at uni. Some CC classes were harder and they di dnot round. Their excuse is that there is somethign called a baret scale.

Example: Pre-pod A goes to Pike State university and got a B- in physics. Pre-pod B goes to MIT and at a C+ in physics. Since MIT's program is "harder" than the state school in math and physics, the MIT student would actually be chosen over pre-pod A

In summary: This is BS, but still exists in some admission communities. I had an interviewer tell me at Emory that students with As in CC classes retook them at Ga tech or something. Well, good for them. Tell your hubby to take the class wherever he can and have a valid explanation (ie. finances) for taking the class at a CC. Cheers!

 

[GymMan]

Take them at a CC. In many cases admissions won't look that close to see what school that EVERY course was taken. I'm sure a few pod schools will have no problem aceepting you, as long as you do well on the MCAT. In the 20s and a good solid science gpa will do fine.