Question about CC courses.

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ABoutyrski

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I am a senior in high school and will be attending a CC next year. I was hoping to complete most/all of the dental requirements at the CC until I read on here that some Dental schools look down on classes that are taken at CCs. What should I do?

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I am a senior in high school and will be attending a CC next year. I was hoping to complete most/all of the dental requirements at the CC until I read on here that some Dental schools look down on classes that are taken at CCs. What should I do?

You will never get in if you apply only with pre-reqs from a community college. I guess you missed the deadlines for admissions for a 4 year school? Here's what I recommend doing: Find a good 4-year school you would like to attend; Look up their core curriculum to see what non-science humanities courses or whatever they call them you have to take to graduate; take those at the CC and ace them, transfer them to the uni, and then start taking all the pre-reqs and upper level sciences there
 
Ace the courses at your CC and transfer. Try to take as many prereqs at a 4 year college as you can. If you can avoid taking the science courses at CC then hold out until you get to a 4 year college.
 
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Like others have said, your best bet is to transfer to a 4 year university and go from there.

There is no doubt that a lot of people get in with CC credit - but I can assure you that it is virtually impossible to get in JUST with CC credits.

Not to mentioned that a lot of schools have limitations on CC units. That's another thing you need to watch out for.

Good luck!
 
You will never get in if you apply only with pre-reqs from a community college. I guess you missed the deadlines for admissions for a 4 year school? Here's what I recommend doing: Find a good 4-year school you would like to attend; Look up their core curriculum to see what non-science humanities courses or whatever they call them you have to take to graduate; take those at the CC and ace them, transfer them to the uni, and then start taking all the pre-reqs and upper level sciences there

If I did this, how would i have time to finish the prereqs and upper level sciences by the end of my junior year?
 
If I did this, how would i have time to finish the prereqs and upper level sciences by the end of my junior year?

What they are saying is "just take a few GE classes at CC, and take most of the prerequisites at 4 year university."
 
What they are saying is "just take a few GE classes at CC, and take most of the prerequisites at 4 year university."

I understand that, but would I have enough time to take the necessary classes for my undergrad degree PLUS the prereqs before my senior year?
 
I understand that, but would I have enough time to take the necessary classes for my undergrad degree PLUS the prereqs before my senior year?

The problem is that many universities require most of prerequisites to be done before transfer.

If you are humanity major, you don't have to worry about taking many science classes at CC, but you may have to attend university for an additional semester or year.

If you are science major, you won't have problem in finishing both prerequisites and degree requirement in 4 years, but you will have to take most of prerequisites at CC. (general bio, g chem, o chem, etc.)

If you have no choice other than trasnferring from CC, I think you will have to take many upper division science classes when you transfer, and get A's in most of the courses to prove your ability.
 
The problem is that many universities require most of prerequisites to be done before transfer.

If you are humanity major, you don't have to worry about taking many science classes at CC, but you may have to attend university for an additional semester or year.

If you are science major, you won't have problem in finishing both prerequisites and degree requirement in 4 years, but you will have to take most of prerequisites at CC. (general bio, g chem, o chem, etc.)

If you have no choice other than trasnferring from CC, I think you will have to take many upper division science classes when you transfer, and get A's in most of the courses to prove your ability.

Oh okay, so would taking the prereqs at a CC and then proving myself in my upper division classes be the only way I would be able to finish in 4 years?
 
The only school I know of that takes absolutely NO prereqs from a CC is Tufts. Don't be scared off by all the stereotyping of CC's. The truth is, for the overwhelming majority of dental schools you can take many (or most/all) of your prereqs at a CC and still gain admittance. You shouldn't try to apply though until you have taken a full year of courses at a university to demonstrate your abilities. This doesn't affect anything anyways b/c you wouldn't likely be applying until after your junior year. If you could save some of the prereqs for your 4 year school, it would be better; but it's a very gray area as far as how many prereqs from a CC is OK. Much of it depends on your GPA (at both schools) and DAT scores. A good way to do it is to save Ochem and physics for the university. You can't easily transfer to any university as a bio major without having taken Gchem and all the lower division bio stuff (and similarly for other science majors). So take what prereqs you need to finish in order to: 1. Transfer to the 4 yr in your major of choice, and 2. Still graduate in 4yrs.
Do well at the university and your prereqs at the CC won't matter a bit. I'm speaking from personal experience.
 
The only school I know of that takes absolutely NO prereqs from a CC is Tufts. Don't be scared off by all the stereotyping of CC's. The truth is, for the overwhelming majority of dental schools you can take many (or most/all) of your prereqs at a CC and still gain admittance. You shouldn't try to apply though until you have taken a full year of courses at a university to demonstrate your abilities. This doesn't affect anything anyways b/c you wouldn't likely be applying until after your junior year. If you could save some of the prereqs for your 4 year school, it would be better; but it's a very gray area as far as how many prereqs from a CC is OK. Much of it depends on your GPA (at both schools) and DAT scores. A good way to do it is to save Ochem and physics for the university. You can't easily transfer to any university as a bio major without having taken Gchem and all the lower division bio stuff (and similarly for other science majors). So take what prereqs you need to finish in order to: 1. Transfer to the 4 yr in your major of choice, and 2. Still graduate in 4yrs.
Do well at the university and your prereqs at the CC won't matter a bit. I'm speaking from personal experience.

Thank you for your response, it was very helpful. I have one more question for you, what major (other than Bio) would you suggest taking?
 
Thank you for your response, it was very helpful. I have one more question for you, what major (other than Bio) would you suggest taking?
Do a search for that question, there's countless posts on it. Personally, I would choose a science major that overlaps best with the prereq and recommended courses you need to take. That basically means, major in bio. Choose one of the concentrations (biochem, molecular, neuro, etc) if you want to differentiate yourself.
Regarding the above post by Doctoothache, I may have misunderstood the info but it looks like it reads that NYU doesn't accept CC prereqs. I took most of my prereqs at a CC and was still accepted.
 
I took many of my prereqs at a CC and got in first round to the three schools where I applied.

I think the main thing is that if you are going to take them at a CC you need to back that up with good grades at the university you eventually attend. If you have a 4.0 at the CC and then a 3.0 at the university they won't respect it as much as they would a 3.9 at both places and good DAT scores.
 
I took many of my prereqs at a CC and got in first round to the three schools where I applied.

I think the main thing is that if you are going to take them at a CC you need to back that up with good grades at the university you eventually attend. If you have a 4.0 at the CC and then a 3.0 at the university they won't respect it as much as they would a 3.9 at both places and good DAT scores.

oh ok, which prereqs should I take at my CC and which should i leave for the university?
 
I suggest taking some at the CC and some at the 4 year - that way when you ace classes at both types of schools you can show that you regardless of where you go you can pull off the grade. I think the only time CC classes might look bad is if you get As at the CC then get Cs at a 4 year which might make it look like the competition was harder at the 4 year...eventhough IMO it's the same competition and class regardless of the kind of school.

As far as choosing which classes to take where - it doesn't really matter. However, sometimes its easier to take the sequence at one school (ie: OChem1 and OChem2) rather than splitting it up because they often are planned around each other and use the same book.

Also - I took Bio1 at a CC and then found out that the class was the equivalent to Bio2 at a 4 year. No biggie - I just took the Bio1 class at the 4-year to fulfill the requirement...but watch out for things like that.

Good luck!
 
I suggest taking some at the CC and some at the 4 year - that way when you ace classes at both types of schools you can show that you regardless of where you go you can pull off the grade. I think the only time CC classes might look bad is if you get As at the CC then get Cs at a 4 year which might make it look like the competition was harder at the 4 year...eventhough IMO it's the same competition and class regardless of the kind of school.

As far as choosing which classes to take where - it doesn't really matter. However, sometimes its easier to take the sequence at one school (ie: OChem1 and OChem2) rather than splitting it up because they often are planned around each other and use the same book.

Also - I took Bio1 at a CC and then found out that the class was the equivalent to Bio2 at a 4 year. No biggie - I just took the Bio1 class at the 4-year to fulfill the requirement...but watch out for things like that.

Good luck!

Oh okay, thank you. Im just worried about taking too many of the prereqs because as a bio major i need to take alot of those classes to transfer to a 4 year
 
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