Question about Biology Scheduling

[xcrunner18]

I'm currently a Freshmen, I was originally planning on attending USC but a family issue caused me to remain closer to home for a semester.

Thus, I attended St. Louis University this semester. I'm set to transfer to USC for the spring.

One issue is that 1st semester biology that I took at St. Louis University articulates as 2nd semester biology at USC. And USC does not offer 1st semester biology in the second semester or in the summer, thus I would have to wait till sophomore year and delay the next biology course until junior year.

Would it be acceptable in the long run to take the biology course during the summer at a local community college (the class articulates to 1st semester biology at USC)?

Thus, am I lessening my chances at medical school?

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[bobsagat]

I'm currently a Freshmen, I was originally planning on attending USC but a family issue caused me to remain closer to home for a semester.

Thus, I attended St. Louis University this semester. I'm set to transfer to USC for the spring.

One issue is that 1st semester biology that I took at St. Louis University articulates as 2nd semester biology at USC. And USC does not offer 1st semester biology in the second semester or in the summer, thus I would have to wait till sophomore year and delay the next biology course until junior year.

Would it be acceptable in the long run to take the biology course during the summer at a local community college (the class articulates to 1st semester biology at USC)?

Thus, am I lessening my chances at medical school?

You don't want to take medical prereqs at a community college. It will look very suspect. Unless you plan to major in bio I would wait until next fall. Even if you do plan to major in biology, I would still try to get it done somewhere else if at all possible. Could you do it at StLU over the summer?

 

[xcrunner18]

My family will be moving to Chicago sometime this Spring. Could anyone suggest institutions in Chicago that would not appear suspect to medical schools?

I looked at University of Illinois at Chicago, I'm going to see if the biology course at UIC articulates at USC.

 

[erskine]

usc as in cali? i'm currently there now. what's your major?

I would just wait to take it Fall 2009. Depending on if you want to graduate in 3 or 4 years, and if you're going for a BA or BS, you might have to double up on BISC upper division electives later on, but it's not very difficult. In fact, the intro classes for all the sciences are usually harder since they're the weedout classes and they all have labs.

You could get started on PHYS 135a at usc in the spring, though and combine that with CHEM 105a. Then in the preceding fall, you could finish up PHYS 135b, CHEM 105b, and then take BISC 120. Then once you finish the bio introductory classes you can start on genetics, mo bio, biochem, ochem and all the electives.

 

[xcrunner18]

Yep, USC as in U of Southern California. I'm a biochemistry major right now, but I'm probably going to switch to neuroscience.

Well, next semester I'll be taking:
PHYS 135a, CHEM 105b (I took the equivalent of 105a at SLU), BISC 230 (cat 4 ge), HIST 245 (cat 6 ge, I took writ 140 at SLU)

So, is there no issue with postponing BISC 120 until Fall 2009, and BISC 320 until Fall 2010?

I was researching summer sessions at Chicago schools and Loyola University's biology program articulates with USC, thus I could take BISC 120 this summer at Loyola. Would that be ok? Loyola seems to be a huge upgrade from a community college.

 

[pharm B]

Is one semester at community college really so suspect that you should avoid it? I thought you just got flagged if you "shopped around" and took some courses at CC while taking others at University simultaneously.

(i.e. taking Physics at CC but Chemistry at University in the same semester)