Should I stay or should I go?

[Red Stapler]

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Hello! Thanks in advance for coming to my board; it will be sort of long. I'll summarize it at the end for everybody.

Alright, so I'm a NC resident in a private school and this is my freshman year. I'm not going to lie, my fall semester sucked(2.388 and a fat C in Orgo I), but my spring term is better. I should be able to raise it to a 3.

My parents are moving to Washington state. They've offered for me to go with them and to start at a local community college. This community college has an optional "redlining" policy, which means that they would not keep the credits preceding the red line in my transcript.

Residency for vet school isn't going to be an issue- my family in Massachusetts, Florida, Maine, and my sister in North Carolina have all offered to house me for grad school.

Should I redline my old credits and transfer to CC in WA(and how would that factor in VCAS?)? It'd get rid of some student loan debt, that's for sure. Would it be better for me to stay here?

Thanks again! I appreciate any and all input.

 

[orca2011]

Residency is still going to matter because you have to live there generally for at least a year before you matriculate, earn x amount of dollars and probably change things such as your drivers license or voter registration. Just a heads up in case you haven't looked into the policies of the schools you plan to apply too.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Hello! Thanks in advance for coming to my board; it will be sort of long. I'll summarize it at the end for everybody.

Alright, so I'm a NC resident in a private school and this is my freshman year. I'm not going to lie, my fall semester sucked(2.388 and a fat C in Orgo I), but my spring term is better. I should be able to raise it to a 3.

My parents are moving to Washington state. They've offered for me to go with them and to start at a local community college. This community college has an optional "redlining" policy, which means that they would not keep the credits preceding the red line in my transcript.

Residency for vet school isn't going to be an issue- my family in Massachusetts, Florida, Maine, and my sister in North Carolina have all offered to house me for grad school.

Should I redline my old credits and transfer to CC in WA(and how would that factor in VCAS?)? It'd get rid of some student loan debt, that's for sure. Would it be better for me to stay here?

Thanks again! I appreciate any and all input.

Redlining won't do anything for you since you still need to report your old grades and send transcripts from your current school. And unfortunately, just having family you can crash with does not establish state residency for you. You can only apply on the VMCAS as the resident of one state, and it differs from state to state what qualifies you as the resident.

 

[Red Stapler]

Redlining won't do anything for you since you still need to report your old grades and send transcripts from your current school. And unfortunately, just having family you can crash with does not establish state residency for you. You can only apply on the VMCAS as the resident of one state, and it differs from state to state what qualifies you as the resident.

First, thanks to the both of you for posting!

You both bring up a fair point, that I would still have to pay OOS tuition (which is something to keep a note on and I didn't really think of). However, it would still be worth considering so I wouldn't have to pay for room and board.

Thanks again for posting!

 

[livestockdream]

I would switch to a community college because of how much cheaper it would be. For me, my first two years are costing me 6,000 which has been covered with grants.

 

[Red Stapler]

I would switch to a community college because of how much cheaper it would be. For me, my first two years are costing me 6,000 which has been covered with grants.

Yeah, I've already taken 5k in Stafford loans.

Is there a stigma associated with taking pre-reqs there? I CLEP'd out of a lot of them, but I think I might take them again so I can do better in Or go.

 

[Frozenshades]

Yeah, I've already taken 5k in Stafford loans.

Is there a stigma associated with taking pre-reqs there? I CLEP'd out of a lot of them, but I think I might take them again so I can do better in Or go.

Nah, doesn't matter. I did a joint enrollment with a community college and a university so I wasn't full time there, but still took like 18 hours or so at that cc. Retake stuff if you need better grades, but I used all the AP credits I had to save time and money. As long as you get them done and have a solid GPA how and where you get the credit is less important (besides the fact that some vet schools require some classes only to be taken at an accredited 4 year institution; can't get around that one).

 

[Red Stapler]

Sweet! Thanks for that info. And good luck this cycle! 😀

 

[livestockdream]

(besides the fact that some vet schools require some classes only to be taken at an accredited 4 year institution; can't get around that one).

How do you know which schools will take what? I didn't know that was a factor.

 

[dvmdreamer]

How do you know which schools will take what? I didn't know that was a factor.

Email any school that you are interested in directly.

I had a problem this year (luckily before I actually applied, but unfortunately after I took the classes at a CC), due to miscommunication on this one. Oklahoma State requires "upper level courses" to be taken at a 4 year institution, but the caveat is that they consider some courses my university and community college consider to be sophmore level courses (OChem, Genetics) to be junior level courses.

 

[Frozenshades]

Email any school that you are interested in directly.

I had a problem this year (luckily before I actually applied, but unfortunately after I took the classes at a CC), due to miscommunication on this one. Oklahoma State requires "upper level courses" to be taken at a 4 year institution, but the caveat is that they consider some courses my university and community college consider to be sophmore level courses (OChem, Genetics) to be junior level courses.

Yeah Ok-State came to mind when I posted that because they are a little odd in that regard (and I applied there also).

How do you know which schools will take what? I didn't know that was a factor.

As dvmdreamer said, the school will specify. You can always call or e-mail, though such information will be listed on the website.

 

[livestockdream]

As dvmdreamer said, the school will specify. You can always call or e-mail, though such information will be listed on the website.

I am looking at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Minnesota. I haven't found anything on the sites yet. Should I call to be sure?

 

[Frozenshades]

I am looking at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Minnesota. I haven't found anything on the sites yet. Should I call to be sure?

If you're looking at the list of prerequisite coursework and it's not specified, it's probably not an issue.

Don't take my word for it though, it never hurts to contact the school if you want to be sure. Admissions isn't just there to judge your application, they're there to answer questions prospective students have about the process.

 

[orcagirl]

Hello! Thanks in advance for coming to my board; it will be sort of long. I'll summarize it at the end for everybody.

Alright, so I'm a NC resident in a private school and this is my freshman year. I'm not going to lie, my fall semester sucked(2.388 and a fat C in Orgo I), but my spring term is better. I should be able to raise it to a 3.

My parents are moving to Washington state. They've offered for me to go with them and to start at a local community college. This community college has an optional "redlining" policy, which means that they would not keep the credits preceding the red line in my transcript.

Residency for vet school isn't going to be an issue- my family in Massachusetts, Florida, Maine, and my sister in North Carolina have all offered to house me for grad school.

Should I redline my old credits and transfer to CC in WA(and how would that factor in VCAS?)? It'd get rid of some student loan debt, that's for sure. Would it be better for me to stay here?

Thanks again! I appreciate any and all input.

It also depends on where you are looking to go to school. Already having residency in NC means if you stay and you may be more likely to be considered in-state. However, moving to Washington, you may, if you work while going to school, be able to get residency there. It's also a matter of whether or not you'd want to stay really close (proximity) to your parents or not.

 

[bcr0214]

Where you take your courses DOES matter, but not a whole lot. For example: Stage 1 of University of Illinois Vet Med admissions considers your Cum GPA, Sci GPA, GRE, and Rigor of Academic Coursework. So if your pre-reqs are taken at a CC, you'd lose a few points on the Rigor evaluation. Most schools do this (I know for a fact both U of I and Tufts do), but as long as you're getting A's, it shouldn't matter. Good luck!