Should I take physics at a community college?

[pistolpete333]

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Hi everyone, I have lurking for some time but this is my first post. I am wondering how it would look if I took physics at a local community college rather than my undergrad. Now I am not trying to take the easy way out, the reason for me doing this is because the introductory physics instructors at my school are notoriously bad. I have never heard a good word spoken about them, and combined with the tough nature of physics, the average test scores come out to be around 30%.

Anyway, I am just wondering if this would look like I took the easy street on my application, or could I use this explanation as a reason to taking physics at a CC?

Thanks eveyone

 

[sliceofbread136]

it will look bad

 

[Owlie]

Not unless you absolutely have to.

 

[darkjedi]

Take it at a state school if you can, but even then it looks strange when you don't take your pre-reqs at your home institution.

 

[MilMD01]

I took physics 1 & 2 at a CC. I got accepted. I don't really think it's a big deal.

 

[theseeker4]

Hi everyone, I have lurking for some time but this is my first post. I am wondering how it would look if I took physics at a local community college rather than my undergrad. Now I am not trying to take the easy way out, the reason for me doing this is because the introductory physics instructors at my school are notoriously bad. I have never heard a good word spoken about them, and combined with the tough nature of physics, the average test scores come out to be around 30%.

Anyway, I am just wondering if this would look like I took the easy street on my application, or could I use this explanation as a reason to taking physics at a CC?

Thanks eveyone

If you take just physics and nothing else at a CC, it likely won't hurt you except at schools that require all pre-reqs at a university. This is especially true if you are taking upper level science courses at the university in addition to the rest of the pre reqs.

Taking physics at the CC and acing it will almost certainly hurt you less than taking it for a poor grade at your university. Just make sure you don't make a habit of taking the tough pre-reqs at easier schools, or what you are doing will be obvious.

 

[MrChance2]

I could be wrong but I feel most of these questions can be answered pretty simply. If you were an ADCOM what would you think? If someone has a C in physics 1 at an Ivy league then a A in physics 2 at community college did they all of the sudden learn to master physics? Is that necessarily damning to their application if the rest is strong?

If someone has a 3.9 at a good school and a 32 MCAT and took physics over the summer in their hometown at cc are they still smart enough for medical school?

I think the only time it might matter is if you are right on the cusp of being preliminary computer eliminated but I have no idea how med schools set their sorting algorithms and how much weight they give to school.

 

[SeekerOfTheTree]

Most of the committee guys don't sit their and look to see where you took each and every course. They look for cum GPA, trends, and failures. It's not that big of a deal and your premed advisors are idiots because your university pays them to tell you guys taking any course other than at their godly institution will mean you are an under achieving *****. I have taken many courses at CC. Never was asked once about this. Was asked about an F on my transcript. They care about your cumulative because they get thousands of apps and don't have enough time to sit their and be like oooh I wonder why Jeff took this course at the school for idiots (you guys make CC sound like that).

 

[Mehd School]

It's common thing here at SDN to discount community college courses. Until someone can post a link with some good evidence of that, I refuse to jump on the bandwagon.

Take it and get an A. If asked in your interview why you took it at a community college, simply state that it was the most feasible financial decision. What are they going to say? The A doesn't look good? Bullcrap.

 

[Praefectus]

No. Take it at a 4 year institution.

 

[acslater99]

It's common thing here at SDN to discount community college courses. Until someone can post a link with some good evidence of that, I refuse to jump on the bandwagon.

Take it and get an A. If asked in your interview why you took it at a community college, simply state that it was the most feasible financial decision. What are they going to say? The A doesn't look good? Bullcrap.

I agree completely, I've talked to 3 medical schools in Florida stating that "Its alright to take prereq's at a CC"

But don't forget to take the harder science classes Biochem,genetics,etc.

 

[angemon89]

Unless you start off at community college, no. It becomes obvious that you're trying to take the "easy way out." I took Physics at CC, but only because that's where I started school.

And to address easy vs hard, from my experience, these were the trends at CC:
Physics = easier
Chem = same (although, the profs are more supportive)
Bio = same (again, profs more supportive)
Ochem = harder, especially the labs, and no curve!

 

[athadam]

I took it at CC, got A, nobody cared during interviews. But if you are worried, take it during summer and say it is cheaper to do so, I don't think anyone would look down on you for that.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Another factor, my friend took physics at CC and it was harder AND more poorly taught than my uni physics. You're uni may have bad physics professors (actually seems pretty common), but keep in mind the cc could be even worse.