Question about DIY Postbac

[1337leet1337]

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Because finances are tight, I am currently taking post-bac classes at the local community college (only 1 pre req), and everything else is upper level math and science. More specifically, I was planning on taking Calc II, Calc III, diff eq, linear algebra, and any upper level science classes I can get my hands on to increase my sgpa. Since these are not pre-reqs, will this be looked down upon? The material is not easy by any means, but it is interesting and I am doing well. My main concern is that I do not want to jeopardize the validity of my upward trend by taking cc classes. To add some validity to my upward trend (that has started from about 2 years ago), would dual enrollment at a 4-year university and a community college (taking 1-2 renowned rigorous courses at the 4 year per semester, like quantum mechanics, p-chem, a-chem, etc; and then take all the math I want at the cc) reinforce my continuous trend? In this way I can still minimize costs as much as possible, but I can potentially prevent the misconception that I'm taking cc courses to simply avoid class difficulty. Opinions? @Goro @gyngyn @LizzyM

Thank you everyone

 

[theonlytycrane]

what's the range of your trend? You're wasting moneys on classes that you don't need. Finish pre-reqs and crush the MCAT. Be a good person and you'll have a shot.

 

[LizzyM]

I've got no opinion on this as my experience is very, very limited with regard to applicants with strong upward trends. No doubt there are people here with personal experiences similar to yours who can tell you how it worked out for them.

 

[1337leet1337]

what's the range of your trend? You're wasting moneys on classes that you don't need. Finish pre-reqs and crush the MCAT. Be a good person and you'll have a shot.

I know that trends can be a huge determinate (especially for some schools), but in an absolute sense I still need to have a certain threshold of a cgpa/sgpa - this is something I do not have and am working on. I'm also doing research during this gap year, so it has been an extremely productive gap year so far! I just wanted to get to about a 3.5ish and take the MCAT.

 

[1337leet1337]

I've got no opinion on this as my experience is very, very limited with regard to applicants with strong upward trends. No doubt there are people here with personal experiences similar to yours who can tell you how it worked out for them.

No worries!

 

[Goro]

I think that you'll be fine.

Because finances are tight, I am currently taking post-bac classes at the local community college (only 1 pre req), and everything else is upper level math and science. More specifically, I was planning on taking Calc II, Calc III, diff eq, linear algebra, and any upper level science classes I can get my hands on to increase my sgpa. Since these are not pre-reqs, will this be looked down upon? The material is not easy by any means, but it is interesting and I am doing well. My main concern is that I do not want to jeopardize the validity of my upward trend by taking cc classes. To add some validity to my upward trend (that has started from about 2 years ago), would dual enrollment at a 4-year university and a community college (taking 1-2 renowned rigorous courses at the 4 year per semester, like quantum mechanics, p-chem, a-chem, etc; and then take all the math I want at the cc) reinforce my continuous trend? In this way I can still minimize costs as much as possible, but I can potentially prevent the misconception that I'm taking cc courses to simply avoid class difficulty. Opinions? @Goro @gyngyn @LizzyM

Thank you everyone

 

[1337leet1337]

I think that you'll be fine.

Ok thank you! @Goro, I have one more question for you since you seem familiar with UW Madison (or at least Wisconsin in general) from other posts I've seen you comment on. On MSAR, it shows they don't accept mathematics from a cc? Do you know how that translates to UW, for example, and other schools that have this contingency on nonprereqs? Obviously, they will get my transcript from this cc, but will these courses not count towards my BCPM gpa or gpa at all?

 

[Sunshizzle]

I am all about the DIY post bacc (but I am bias). Are you working full time to pay for it? If so, go cheap on 1-2 pre reqs at cc, then all others at cheap 4 year state school (can literally be any public 4 year). Don't apply until you have the best application possible. People hate on the pre reqs at CC, but as long as you do well enough on the MCAT (like 30-31 equivalent), it's water under the bridge.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Because finances are tight, I am currently taking post-bac classes at the local community college (only 1 pre req), and everything else is upper level math and science. More specifically, I was planning on taking Calc II, Calc III, diff eq, linear algebra, and any upper level science classes I can get my hands on to increase my sgpa. Since these are not pre-reqs, will this be looked down upon? The material is not easy by any means, but it is interesting and I am doing well. My main concern is that I do not want to jeopardize the validity of my upward trend by taking cc classes. To add some validity to my upward trend (that has started from about 2 years ago), would dual enrollment at a 4-year university and a community college (taking 1-2 renowned rigorous courses at the 4 year per semester, like quantum mechanics, p-chem, a-chem, etc; and then take all the math I want at the cc) reinforce my continuous trend? In this way I can still minimize costs as much as possible, but I can potentially prevent the misconception that I'm taking cc courses to simply avoid class difficulty. Opinions? @Goro @gyngyn @LizzyM

Thank you everyone

How's your math skillz? Lots of people have no problem with calc 1 and then trip up during calc 2. Don't want to jeopardize your GPA over some math courses (much as I loved them all).

 

[1337leet1337]

How's your math skillz? Lots of people have no problem with calc 1 and then trip up during calc 2. Don't want to jeopardize your GPA over some math courses (much as I loved them all).

Honestly, I'm loving calc II and doing extremely well! Yeah it's tedious integrating everything you never wanted to and more lol, but its nice to be able to understand where concepts come from/why you do certain things in math. So yeah, not too worried about it 🙂

 

[1337leet1337]

I am all about the DIY post bacc (but I am bias). Are you working full time to pay for it? If so, go cheap on 1-2 pre reqs at cc, then all others at cheap 4 year state school (can literally be any public 4 year). Don't apply until you have the best application possible. People hate on the pre reqs at CC, but as long as you do well enough on the MCAT (like 30-31 equivalent), it's water under the bridge.

I am trying to get a full time job atm! Currently, I am able to afford to pay for all the classes I'm in right now. So, unfortunately there isn't a "close" state school near me (it's roughly an hour away), which is also why the cc has become the most realistic option for me. But I applied to a position at a 4-year that is closer than my state school and will hopefully be able to take advantage of tuition reimbursement benefits so I can just take upper level classes there! Good to know for the MCAT, I figured there had to be some confirmation on the ability to handle rigor and a high MCAT score.