Stigma of doing premed pre-reqs at a Community College?

[crazyotter]

I'll keep things short:

27 year old male.

I graduated in 2015 with a degree in Political Science (arts). Got a 2.24 GPA.

Worked in IT for 3 years, then went back to get a second Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. Will graduate this year with an expected 3.78 GPA.

Post-Bac CAS puts my overall GPA at about 2.78.

After exceeding my personal expectations in a STEM degree, I've decided to pursue a long-time dream: becoming a doctor.

I've been eyeing taking my premed prereqs at a community college, but understand that 4-years are typically preferred. But financially, CC just works out a lot better on my wallet and finances.

My plan is to take premed prereqs, a few extra classes at CC to bump up my cGPA to a 2.9-3.0, ace the MCAT, get volunteering experience, and then try my luck with a DO program. If it doesn't go well, then maybe I'll do an SMP. But it looks like a lot of SMP's have GPA requirements for 3.0+.

I have two questions that I would love to get responses for:

1) Is it "OK" to take premed prereqs at a community college?

2) Do I have a serious shot or will my first GPA get me laughed out the door?

I have read Goro's guide for reinvention and am hanging onto every word of it, but a 2.24 GPA in a past degree just seems fatal. Happy to have found this forum and am looking forward to responses.

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[Rapsidy]

I’ll let ya know if it was fatal to me. I was in a similar situation financially I couldn’t pass doing the prerequisite courses at community college, even if my community college has a great reputation that is a big fear of mine as well.

But I did 9 courses for less than $4500 and when your over 26 and can’t be on parents health insurance and have no income since I had to quit my job to focus on the courses full time. I just couldn’t justify going thousands and thousands in credit card debt just to do them at a 4 year.

Since you’ve read Goro’s guide you know that you’ll have to kill the courses to prove the undergrad gpa isn’t the type of student you will be in med school, and hopefully you have a really compelling story to talk about as to why your undergrad GPA was so bad.

 

[crazyotter]

I’ll let ya know if it was fatal to me. I was in a similar situation financially I couldn’t pass doing the prerequisite courses at community college, even if my community college has a great reputation that is a big fear of mine as well.

But I did 9 courses for less than $4500 and when your over 26 and can’t be on parents health insurance and have no income since I had to quit my job to focus on the courses full time. I just couldn’t justify going thousands and thousands in credit card debt just to do them at a 4 year.

Since you’ve read Goro’s guide you know that you’ll have to kill the courses to prove the undergrad gpa isn’t the type of student you will be in med school, and hopefully you have a really compelling story to talk about as to why your undergrad GPA was so bad.

I'm hoping that my second GPA in Computer Science can be a good talking point in my application to show growth and how serious I am. It's much higher and is quantitative compared to my first arts degree. Still, my performance in my first degree is a damn shame and I'd do anything to change it.

Hope it goes well for you too, thanks for giving your two cents.

 

[GreenDuck12]

1. I did my first year of postbac work at a CC and it wasn’t a problem for me. Some schools have a stated policy that prereqs should be completed at a four year university, other programs will accept them on a case by case basis, others have no problems with them. Your best bet is to look up some schools you might want to apply to and see what they say. A copy of MSAR would also be a wise investment.

2. get your cGPA to a 3.0 and a strong mcat score and you’ve got a shot for DO and maybe your states public MD school (depending on state of residence). If you’re gunning for an MD, you’re going to need to do some additional work.

 

[crazyotter]

2. get your cGPA to a 3.0 and a strong mcat score and you’ve got a shot for DO and maybe your states public MD school (depending on state of residence). If you’re gunning for an MD, you’re going to need to do some additional work.

Thanks for your response. I'll go for ANY darn DO in the country that'll take me. I'm far from picky and know I have no right to be choosy.

A few follow-ups from your response:

1) Is it OK to take a bunch of unrelated arts classes at CC to offset my cGPA to a 3.0? Most of my poor grades from my first degree were in arts classes (ex. Intro to Hispanic Arts) so I suspect it might be OK to take a bunch of random classes and score A's in them.

2) I'm currently using post-bac CAS calculator to try to guesstimate my cumulative GPA from both of my degrees. Which GPA calculator tool do you recommend to get an accurate look at what med schools will actually calculate for me?

 

[GreenDuck12]

Thanks for your response. I'll go for ANY darn DO in the country that'll take me. I'm far from picky and know I have no right to be choosy.

A few follow-ups from your response:

1) Is it OK to take a bunch of unrelated arts classes at CC to offset my cGPA to a 3.0? Most of my poor grades from my first degree were in arts classes (ex. Intro to Hispanic Arts) so I suspect it might be OK to take a bunch of random classes and score A's in them.

2) I'm currently using post-bac CAS calculator to try to guesstimate my cumulative GPA from both of my degrees. Which GPA calculator tool do you recommend to get an accurate look at what med schools will actually calculate for me?

1. I would take classes that still look somewhat serious based on the course name. Subjects such as: philosophy, history, humanities, art history, sociology, psychology, etc. you can definitely add some art classes to the mix.

2. Use the AMCAS grade calculation guidelines. There is a long document that outlines how grades are calculated and how courses are classified. There are some excel calculators around here and on reddit that you could use.

 

[crazyotter]

1. I would take classes that still look somewhat serious based on the course name. Subjects such as: philosophy, history, humanities, art history, sociology, psychology, etc. you can definitely add some art classes to the mix.

2. Use the AMCAS grade calculation guidelines. There is a long document that outlines how grades are calculated and how courses are classified. There are some excel calculators around here and on reddit that you could use.

Thank you so much for your help

 

[IsleyOfTheNorth]

Some schools won't take CC credits for the prerequisite courses, but some (many?) will. However, given your history, it may look like you're taking them at a CC because you can't do well in them at a university. For DO though, I think it would probably be ok. @Goro would be able to say for sure.

 

[crazyotter]

However, given your history, it may look like you're taking them at a CC because you can't do well in them at a university.

Will it really look like that? My recent computer science degree (calculus, programming, algorithms) was taken at a 4-year and they're pretty much all A's. Holistically, I think I can prove a strong upward trend or at least a more serious attitude towards my studies.

The first degree was completed 5 years ago, but it seems from what you're saying that it'll still be judged harshly on my profile.

Do you know if DO schools in general take credits from CC? Can you name some that don't?

Thank you for your reply.

 

[Goro]

Some schools won't take CC credits for the prerequisite courses, but some (many?) will. However, given your history, it may look like you're taking them at a CC because you can't do well in them at a university. For DO though, I think it would probably be ok. @Goro would be able to say for sure.

It will be OK for DO and some, but not all MD. Invest in MSAR to find our which ones

 

[jhmmd]

1) Is it "OK" to take premed prereqs at a community college?

2) Do I have a serious shot or will my first GPA get me laughed out the door?

1. Agree w/what was said above; also the conventional wisdom is to take as many pre-reqs at a university as possible. Like Goro said, invest in the MSAR to see which schools accept cc pre-reqs and which schools don't, but wouldn't it just be easier to take them at a university and avoid cc discrimination? Short answer: yes, it is, but it may be frowned upon. You want to give yourself every possible change of getting an acceptance, so why risk it?

2. Get your GPA up ABOVE 3.0 and you have a chance. A lot of med schools use a computer alogrithm to screen out applicants--you don't want to be one of the people who gets screened out bc your GPA is below 3.0. It's a pretty standard metric so just be aware of this.

1) Is it OK to take a bunch of unrelated arts classes at CC to offset my cGPA to a 3.0? Most of my poor grades from my first degree were in arts classes (ex. Intro to Hispanic Arts) so I suspect it might be OK to take a bunch of random classes and score A's in them.

2) I'm currently using post-bac CAS calculator to try to guesstimate my cumulative GPA from both of my degrees. Which GPA calculator tool do you recommend to get an accurate look at what med schools will actually calculate for me?

1. It's alright, but may not look as good as taking science classes. Maybe sprinkle in some humanities courses instead?
2. Do it manually. That's what I did. Just figure 4.0 for A+, 3.7 for A-, 3.3 for B+, 3.0 for B, 2.7 for C+, 2.0 for C, 1.7 for D+, and so on. To get the total number of "points," multiply the number of credits per class x 4.0, then divide your total point count by the total number of possible points. I used Google Sheets.

Good luck!

 

[DrOngoGablogian]

For another thread a short time ago I looked up every school that did not accept CC pre-reqs on msar and it is way lower than you think. It’s only a handful, the rest are perfectly fine with CC and in fact far fewer schools are hesitant to accept online classes than you would think too. You can probably find the post in my history. But bottom line is don’t sweat it. Just don’t apply to the handful of schools that say CC is less than ideal. I personally had 3 CC prereqs and 1 online prereq and it wasn’t an issue anywhere (I applied without having 2 prereqs done and that wasn’t an issue either).

 

[crazyotter]

For another thread a short time ago I looked up every school that did not accept CC pre-reqs on msar and it is way lower than you think. It’s only a handful, the rest are perfectly fine with CC and in fact far fewer schools are hesitant to accept online classes than you would think too. You can probably find the post in my history. But bottom line is don’t sweat it. Just don’t apply to the handful of schools that say CC is less than ideal. I personally had 3 CC prereqs and 1 online prereq and it wasn’t an issue anywhere (I applied without having 2 prereqs done and that wasn’t an issue either).

Thanks for the really helpful reply Really appreciate it, man.

 

[Splenda88]

My bio 1/2 and physics 1/2 were taken at a CC and I am a doctor now...

 

[crazyotter]

My bio 1/2 and physics 1/2 were taken at a CC and I am a doctor now...

You weren't grilled for this during any of your med school interviews? Congratulations, I'm jealous!

 

[deleted1005514]

I took 1.5 years of my bachelors at a CC, then switched over to a 4-year once I ran out of classes that weren’t biology, chemistry, etc. I did have to retake A&P at the university because the credits didn’t transfer, but I was never asked about using a CC for classes during interview season.

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

You weren't grilled for this during any of your med school interviews? Congratulations, I'm jealous!

If a med school accepts these courses to qualify their reqs, they won't bring it up in interviews.

As the great and powerful Oz Goro stated, invest in MSAR and do some research. I don't know if AACOMAS has something similar for DO schools, but you should look into that too, if not for the need to filter by which accept CC pre-reqs, then at least to determine which ones you'll be competitive for. A 3.78 CompSci GPA is good. Make sure you do well on the MCAT to give yourself a shot.

As far as schools you intend to target, you should only apply to your state MD schools (depending on state of residence), as well as schools that have explicit policies for grade forgiveness (i.e.: LSU, etc.), as well as DO schools.

 

[Splenda88]

You weren't grilled for this during any of your med school interviews? Congratulations, I'm jealous!

Not one person brought that up...

 

[hamiltonnyc]

Not one person brought that up...

Yes, but you don't know how many schools did not give you an interview in part because of CCs right?

 

[Splenda88]

Yes, but you don't know how many schools did not give you an interview in part because of CCs right?

There might have been, but none of us know... I needed only one acceptance. I got 2 and cancelled remaining invites.

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

Yes, but you don't know how many schools did not give you an interview in part because of CCs right?

You don’t know either.

UG School caliber is only a small consideration when deciding between two applicants, and further still is where an applicant happened to take some basic, lower division sciences. Some med schools won’t accept them, but most do, and the ones that do aren’t going to hold them against an applicant.

 

[DrOngoGablogian]

The only thing sillier than thinking a committee that decides who to gives interviews to would narrow in on a couple CC classes in an otherwise good app—is thinking an interviewer would do so. What a waste of valuable time in a 30 min interview.

People can speculate any number of things. I applied with a couple CC prereqs, and a couple MISSING prereqs. If that held me back, I’ll never know—cause the interviews I got definitely don’t back up that assessment. Be careful who you listen to for advice. A lot of it on this site is from people who haven’t even gone through the process yet.

 

[LFA20]

The bigger issue to think about is:

You really want to go back to school for at least another 7-8 years? How are you paying for med school?

Honestly with a BS from compsci I’d rather try to find work in that area and enjoy life.

 

[hamiltonnyc]

Be careful who you listen to for advice. A lot of it on this site is from people who haven’t even gone through the process yet.

In the same vein, applicants should be careful about listening to people who've gone through the process and think that just because they had success, anyone else will with one component of their application.

Medical School's view on Community College? Some of that is out of date. But it's clear there that there is a stigma from medical schools. That in itself is not enough to derail an otherwise strong application. However, it will not help it. Of course many have gotten in after taking a lot of CC classes. There are a lot of people who match to residencies from the Caribbean as well. I'm not necessarily saying you shouldn't do either of those things, just know the risks based on the rest of your app and school list.

 

[Splenda88]

In the same vein, applicants should be careful about listening to people who've gone through the process and think that just because they had success, anyone else will with one component of their application.

Medical School's view on Community College? Some of that is out of date. But it's clear there that there is a stigma from medical schools. That in itself is not enough to derail an otherwise strong application. However, it will not help it. Of course many have gotten in after taking a lot of CC classes. There are a lot of people who match to residencies from the Caribbean as well. I'm not necessarily saying you shouldn't do either of those things, just know the risks based on the rest of your app and school list.

That is a strange comparison...

 

[hamiltonnyc]

That is a strange comparison...

I'm not saying they're the same, have the same connotations or practices, nor am I prescribing any advice. I'm just commenting on the general sentiment that "just because I did it and I had success by my own definition" should not be generalized. In this respect, the analogy is apt.

 

[DrOngoGablogian]

That is a strange comparison...

Don’t bother it’s not worth the effort. You’ll never be able to stop all the nonsense spreading. If people wanna jump through hoops and add nothing to their app in the process, so be it.

 

[hamiltonnyc]

Don’t bother it’s not worth the effort. You’ll never be able to stop all the nonsense spreading. If people wanna jump through hoops and add nothing to their app in the process, so be it.

I'm sorry you're offended, but no need to dismiss my valid arguments just because you're personally offended.

 

[crazyotter]

The bigger issue to think about is:

You really want to go back to school for at least another 7-8 years? How are you paying for med school?

Honestly with a BS from compsci I’d rather try to find work in that area and enjoy life.

It's definitely an option and was my original plan. I figure my application isn't ideal and med schools will decide for me anyways if I get in or not.

I plan on using as much loans as possible (federal?) to try to pay for med school 100%. You think that's feasible?

 

[LFA20]

It's definitely an option and was my original plan. I figure my application isn't ideal and med schools will decide for me anyways if I get in or not.

I plan on using as much loans as possible (federal?) to try to pay for med school 100%. You think that's feasible?

Financially speaking it probably is but I wouldn't do it if I were you. Being in school sucks REALLY bad and having to take out loans for it is even worse. I really don't think the delayed gratification is worth in your situation. Do you have student loans from your CS/IT school?

Heck if I was smart enough I'd go back and do CS and try to land a job in AMZN, APPL, or TSLA....

Let me guess, you're doing this for the prestige? and you want to be called a doctor?

No one gives a **** if you are a doctor when you are broke as ****

 

[Splenda88]

Financially speaking it probably is but I wouldn't do it if I were you. Being in school sucks REALLY bad and having to take out loans for it is even worse. I really don't think the delayed gratification is worth in your situation. Do you have student loans from your CS/IT school?

Heck if I was smart enough I'd go back and do CS and try to land a job in AMZN, APPL, or TSLA....

Let me guess, you're doing this for the prestige? and you want to be called a doctor?

No one gives a **** if you are a doctor when you are broke as ****

It's probably not easy to land a job in these companies... and job security in the computer industry is not as good as the health industry...

 

[DrOngoGablogian]

I'm sorry you're offended, but no need to dismiss my valid arguments just because you're personally offended.

Trust me zero offense here. Part of your argument was plenty of “people match into residency from the Caribbean too”. Someone who sees a legitimate comparison between a highly significant piece of objective, measurable data, and subjective, word-of-mouth nonsense regarding something extremely minuscule is not worthy of any offense.

 

[crazyotter]

Financially speaking it probably is but I wouldn't do it if I were you. Being in school sucks REALLY bad and having to take out loans for it is even worse. I really don't think the delayed gratification is worth in your situation. Do you have student loans from your CS/IT school?

Heck if I was smart enough I'd go back and do CS and try to land a job in AMZN, APPL, or TSLA....

Let me guess, you're doing this for the prestige? and you want to be called a doctor?

No one gives a **** if you are a doctor when you are broke as ****

Prestige is definitely a part of it, money less so (SWE can make similar amounts).

The job security is probably the number 1 consideration (practice medicine until you're really, really old). Not a fan of how tech subtly pushes people out after they hit the old, barren age of 40.

Or how the underlying technologies radically shift every 5 years or so. Imagine finally becoming an expert at something and then having it not matter and you're equated to some 21 year old fresh grad who's up-to-date and willing to work for half your salary. Very concerning.

 

[DrOngoGablogian]

I don't know, sounds like you're offended haha.

Getting upset over an online forum, especially about something that has nothing to do with you, is dumb. I only get on here to try to help people where I can, which is pretty limited cause anyone offering advice beyond their scope of knowledge is very silly. This site is unfortunately rife with it which is why people need to be very careful about which advice they take into consideration.

Looking at your post history, you’ve been advising folks and answering questions for about 2 years, and just now appear to be applying this cycle. Case in point of what I said, people should be very careful before taking advice on this site into consideration.

 

[hamiltonnyc]

Getting upset over an online forum, especially about something that has nothing to do with you, is dumb. I only get on here to try to help people where I can, which is pretty limited cause anyone offering advice beyond their scope of knowledge is very silly. This site is unfortunately rife with it which is why people need to be very careful about which advice they take into consideration.

Looking at your post history, you’ve been advising folks and answering questions for about 2 years, and just now appear to be applying this cycle. Case in point of what I said, people should be very careful before taking advice on this site into consideration.

This is the exact thing I'm talking about. If you read correctly, I did not compare the Caribbean schools to CCs, I compared your argument of 'I took CC classes and got into a med school' to the same case where some people match to residences from Caribbean schools. Similar to 'Can I get in with a 505?' Of course you can, people have done it. But that doesn't mean that if you had a choice between a 505 and a 510, and you know a 505 is seen as less 'rigorous' you should go with that. I just laid out what schools view of CC courses, and some don't care, and some do, but generally, all see them as less rigorous.

If you notice, I never gave anyone advice on whether they should take classes at a CC. I know each person has their own constraints and goals. I just listed the general view.

To your other point, just because you got in does not make you more qualified on admissions than me. This is a very common misconception. Just because something is successful for one person does not mean it is for others.

 

[emergencydancing]

To your other point, just because you got in does not make you more qualified on admissions than me. This is a very common misconception. Just because something is successful for one person does not mean it is for others.

I agree. Now I'm biased cause I haven't applied either. But this is the first time that I've heard someone wave their acceptance as a degree for expertise on admissions.Like, you all of a sudden gain expertise from when you submit your app to when you get that A, doesn't matter that most of the research is done before submitting the app, and all you know about from the submitting to acceptance is interviewing and waiting. Expert.

 

[hamiltonnyc]

Exactly. I'm gonna hammer this point again because I think it's important for the community. And it's ironic that someone would brag about their acceptance as credibility when they then go on to say yes it worked for me, you should be fine. Then go out of their way to look at my post history which I have limited viewing to discredit me because I have not applied, even though I did not give any advice except for answering the question of how is it viewed. I did not go as far as to say don't go to CC or go as far as my friend to say "don't sweat it".

This reminds me of a video I watched a while ago when I was doing my research



Yes, my friend is correct in that you should not trust everyone, but they are wrong in that they should especially not trust someone who says "it worked for me, it'll work for you."

The answer is almost always, it depends.

 

[DrOngoGablogian]

This is the exact thing I'm talking about. If you read correctly, I did not compare the Caribbean schools to CCs, I compared your argument of 'I took CC classes and got into a med school' to the same case where some people match to residences from Caribbean schools. Similar to 'Can I get in with a 505?' Of course you can, people have done it. But that doesn't mean that if you had a choice between a 505 and a 510, and you know a 505 is seen as less 'rigorous' you should go with that. I just laid out what schools view of CC courses, and some don't care, and some do, but generally, all see them as less rigorous.

If you notice, I never gave anyone advice on whether they should take classes at a CC. I know each person has their own constraints and goals. I just listed the general view.

To your other point, just because you got in does not make you more qualified on admissions than me. This is a very common misconception. Just because something is successful for one person does not mean it is for others.

You are now arguing simply that anyone is qualified to give advice about anything no matter how limited their knowledge. This is a waste of my time. I’ve yet to invoke any authority, I’ve just pointed out that what you are saying makes little sense in the grand scheme of the process. You see that on interviews from talking to the other interviewees, you see that in the sorts of things interviewers talk about. There are plenty of things that you could give advice on that would be based on available objective data. This on the other hand is something you have no frame of reference to.

If you read my response regarding your Caribbean post correctly, the issue wasn’t your logic, it was your failure to accurately attribute a magnitude to each side. Caribbean has a dramatic, measurable effect on residency success—available, objective data. A few CC prereqs’ effect on med school success is not measurable, and based on any anecdotal references is negligible at most. Not that I would hold it against you that it isn’t clear to you yet—cause how would it be. Again, people should be careful what advice they consider here—ALL advice.

I would agree, that anything based on a personal experience has limited reliability, and I would hesitate to listen to any claim based as such. Claims based on the collected experience of many accounts, on the other hand, gains reliability. And I would definitely consider that collective validity over the opinion of someone with no frame of reference, and who appears to be taking a large number of credits through an online distance-learning source yet proclaims CC classes could have a discernible negative effect on someone’s app. If anything has anecdotal clarity, it is that CC classes are accepted more widely than online. But even there, as I mentioned above, you’re A ok most anywhere with either. Good luck with your app though and I wish you the best.

 

[hamiltonnyc]

You are now arguing simply that anyone is qualified to give advice about anything no matter how limited their knowledge.

No, I said because you got an acceptance does not make you a knowledgeable, and just because you have not gone through the process does not mean you are not knowledgeable. It does not follow that that implies that anyone is qualified.

If you read my response regarding your Caribbean post correctly, the issue wasn’t your logic, it was your failure to accurately attribute a magnitude to each side. Caribbean has a dramatic, measurable effect on residency success—available, objective data. A few CC prereqs’ effect on med school success is not measurable, and based on any anecdotal references is negligible at most. Not that I would hold it against you that it isn’t clear to you yet—cause how would it be. Again, people should be careful what advice they consider here—ALL advice.

That would be entirely true if I said "going to CC is like going to the Carbbean in terms of medical school acceptance and resident match, respectively." Now let's see what I actually said.

"However, it will not help it. Of course many have gotten in after taking a lot of CC classes. There are a lot of people who match to residencies from the Caribbean as well. I'm not necessarily saying you shouldn't do either of those things, just know the risks based on the rest of your app and school list."

I brought up the Caribbean to illustrate an unlikely chance that happens, not to say the chances are the same. Perhaps I should not have chosen the 'taboo' topic of the Caribbean, then. People get really tense here from that. I brought that up in response to your comment of it worked for me it can work for you.

I would agree, that anything based on a personal experience has limited reliability, and I would hesitate to listen to any claim based as such. Claims based on the collected experience of many accounts, on the other hand, gains reliability.

Yet your main point is your own case, and you provide no trends while I linked to a post on aggregated views from schools that accept CCs but view them differently.

And I would definitely consider that collective validity over the opinion of someone with no frame of reference, and who appears to be taking a large number of credits through an online distance-learning source yet proclaims CC classes could have a discernible negative effect on someone’s app. If anything has anecdotal clarity, it is that CC classes are accepted more widely than online. But even there, as I mentioned above, you’re A ok most anywhere with either. Good luck with your app though and I wish you the best.

Is this another personal jab at me? Haha I did not take any premed class at a CC or online. Seriously, for someone who says they're not personally offended, you sure are going out of your way to dig up information on me to put me down.
And you say schools accept CCs, but don't mention that Harvard also accepts any MCAT score to apply.

If anything has anecdotal clarity, it is that CC classes are accepted more widely than online. But even there, as I mentioned above, you’re A ok most anywhere with either. Good luck with your app though and I wish you the best.

Again with the rough generalizations when everyone's situation is different. And I'd thank you for your well wishes, but after all the personal jabs I can't help but think it's insincere.

 

[DrOngoGablogian]

No, I said because you got an acceptance does not make you a knowledgeable, and just because you have not gone through the process does not mean you are not knowledgeable. It does not follow that that implies that anyone is qualified.



That would be entirely true if I said "going to CC is like going to the Carbbean in terms of medical school acceptance and resident match, respectively." Now let's see what I actually said.

"However, it will not help it. Of course many have gotten in after taking a lot of CC classes. There are a lot of people who match to residencies from the Caribbean as well. I'm not necessarily saying you shouldn't do either of those things, just know the risks based on the rest of your app and school list."

I brought up the Caribbean to illustrate an unlikely chance that happens, not to say the chances are the same. Perhaps I should not have chosen the 'taboo' topic of the Caribbean, then. People get really tense here from that. I brought that up in response to your comment of it worked for me it can work for you.


Yet your main point is your own case, and you provide no trends while I linked to a post on aggregated views from schools that accept CCs but view them differently.


Is this another personal jab at me? Haha I did not take any premed class at a CC or online. Seriously, for someone who says they're not personally offended, you sure are going out of your way to dig up information on me to put me down.
And you say schools accept CCs, but don't mention that Harvard also accepts any MCAT score to apply.



Again with the rough generalizations when everyone's situation is the best. And I'd thank you for your well wishes, but after all the personal jabs I can't help but think it's insincere.

Way too much to respond to, but extension classes are online classes. I don’t know what you consider personal jabs, but I apologize cause nothing was meant to be personal. I looked at your post history only to see where you were coming from, as being so adamantly against taking CC classes is a rather unusual position. You can find hundreds of accounts on this site regarding success with some CC credits—similar to the couple in this thread. That is the source of validity. A data point speaks for nothing, as I have agreed to several times.

Just to add: zero insincerity either. Being “right” on an online forum is trite and meaningless, my posts are only meant to help, not to be “right”. The worst posts on this site are folks who have invested vast quantities of time and money into this process and come out unsuccessful. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

 

[hamiltonnyc]

Way too much to respond to, but extension classes are online classes. I don’t know what you consider personal jabs, but I apologize cause nothing was meant to be personal. I looked at your post history only to see where you were coming from, as being so adamantly against taking CC classes is a rather unusual position. You can find hundreds of accounts on this site regarding success with some CC credits—similar to the couple in this thread. That is the source of validity. A data point speaks for nothing, as I have agreed to several times.

No, extension classes are not online. Can someone please correct this man? You obviously are not knowledgeable on the process, this is embarrassing. And I was not "against" CC classes. I never told OP to not take them. I even said there was a lot of success. All I said is that they are seen as less rigorous and there's still a stigma at some places. Does anyone not agree with that? I think you are misinterpreting my Caribbean reference.

 

[Splenda88]

OP ask questions about CC class; therefore, OP already understands taking classes at a CC is less than ideal. However, Implying that taking CC classes is akin to going to the Caribbean to attend med school was not the best indirect or direct comparison...

 

[abw07]

Prestige is definitely a part of it, money less so (SWE can make similar amounts).

The job security is probably the number 1 consideration (practice medicine until you're really, really old). Not a fan of how tech subtly pushes people out after they hit the old, barren age of 40.

Or how the underlying technologies radically shift every 5 years or so. Imagine finally becoming an expert at something and then having it not matter and you're equated to some 21 year old fresh grad who's up-to-date and willing to work for half your salary. Very concerning.

I think you should do medicine if you love medicine and can’t see yourself in any other career. You said earlier it was your dream job, but is it your dream for the prestige or to care for people? My partner is a comp sci graduate, with only a B.S. and is very content. He doesn’t work for a huge corporation like the above mentioned, but rather a small company. He’s only 27 and has a very valuable skill and puts care and time into his code, making him a truly impressive software engineer. Since he graduated college 6 years ago, he’s received many promotions and raises and bonuses, and has a seriously excellent salary (as much or more than some physicians make). Being a doctor is not the only way to achieve prestige, nor is it the most secure job (as we saw when COVID hit). Don’t be dissuaded if becoming a physician is your dream, but yeah if you could do something else and still be happy, then jumping through all the hoops might be a huge investment that’s not really worth it. I often envy my partner for being young and done with school and having a reliable income and a skill that’s in high demand in an world that’s continuously technologically advancing, but I also know for me, there’s no substitute for a career where I am caring for sick people.

 

[crazyotter]

I think you should do medicine if you love medicine and can’t see yourself in any other career. You said earlier it was your dream job, but is it your dream for the prestige or to care for people? My partner is a comp sci graduate, with only a B.S. and is very content. He doesn’t work for a huge corporation like the above mentioned, but rather a small company. He’s only 27 and has a very valuable skill and puts care and time into his code, making him a truly impressive software engineer. Since he graduated college 6 years ago, he’s received many promotions and raises and bonuses, and has a seriously excellent salary (as much or more than some physicians make). Being a doctor is not the only way to achieve prestige, nor is it the most secure job (as we saw when COVID hit). Don’t be dissuaded if becoming a physician is your dream, but yeah if you could do something else and still be happy, then jumping through all the hoops might be a huge investment that’s not really worth it. I often envy my partner for being young and done with school and having a reliable income and a skill that’s in high demand in an world that’s continuously technologically advancing, but I also know for me, there’s no substitute for a career where I am caring for sick people.

Thanks for bringing up this point. After quarantine lifts, I'll try to shadow and volunteer as much as possible and introspect on how I feel. I'll have to get some good volunteering experience anyways, so it's a good use of my time.

I'm fine with a career in software engineering, but I just don't feel any passion for it and never will.

Edit: I'll be even more explicit and say I find any standard corporate job to be absolutely devoid of anything remotely meaningful to the human existence and condition. It's absolute waste of my time on earth as a breathing, human being. If a doctor can provide even 10% of my perception of it as a career, I'll happily take it over anything else available. Insurance paperwork, exam stress, and sleep deprivation don't even register to me as 'cons'. Working a 9-5 pushing spreadsheets and papers while providing nothing of value to any human on earth is a more personal and damning hell than anything I've read here on SDN.

I work jobs because I have to. Anything above that threshold, like caring for the sick and maybe even actually saving a life, is an absolute privilege that I imagine would fulfill me over any amount of stock options, bonuses, promotions, or company-sponsored vacations. I'm not against working in the business world. I'm just utterly bored and apathetic towards it. I'll sleepwalk through the rest of my life.

 

[abw07]

Thanks for bringing up this point. After quarantine lifts, I'll try to shadow and volunteer as much as possible and introspect on how I feel. I'll have to get some good volunteering experience anyways, so it's a good use of my time.

I'm fine with a career in software engineering, but I just don't feel any passion for it and never will.

Then DEFF go for it. Just wanted to put this out there because there was one comment that was too negative. At the end of the day, an investment is definitely worth it if it's for something you love and you know you'll love it for the rest of your life

 

[medaspire1]

I am starting out and in a similar boat and much older non-trad. Started with my first pre-reqs at a CC mainly due to timing and convenience to manage Imy tech job and classes .

MSAR is a good investment and also good is google+SDN . Site specific "site:forums.studentdoctor.net <any search term> ". there is everything and more over here .

Attached is one of the gems I found recently which might help you see which colleges do and dont have CC criteria. From what I see it is YMMV.
Not sure if people who say they did not have some prereqs or did courses in CC did other advanced non pre-req courses, ( anatomy physiology ) etc and aced them that the adcom felt they dont need the pre-req. Not sure . need to find out

 

[crazyotter]

2. get your cGPA to a 3.0 and a strong mcat score and you’ve got a shot for DO and maybe your states public MD school (depending on state of residence). If you’re gunning for an MD, you’re going to need to do some additional work.

Are there any concrete benefits to obtaining the MD over the DO? From what I've read online, there are insignificant differences career-wise and money-wise.

 

[GreenDuck12]

Are there any concrete benefits to obtaining the MD over the DO? From what I've read online, there are insignificant differences career-wise and money-wise.

There are differences in terms of the opportunities one has in medical school and how challenging it is to match into competitive specialties.

 

[Rapsidy]

So update to a post that I made previously about letting you know if DIY post back at CC’s would be lethal to an application. I received an interview invite at UICOM, a MD school earlier this week, and I was floored humbled and stunned. I applied MD thinking that if I got an interview at all it would be late in the cycle after they went through their much stronger applicants. And I didn’t just take 1 or 2 courses in CC, I took gen chem 1 and 2, biology, anatomy, physics 1 and 2, Orgo 1 and 2 and biochemistry, so 9 courses total.

Obviously an interview invite is not an acceptance and it’s a long road ahead, but at least for n=1, it certainly wasn’t lethal for me.

 

[medaspire1]

@rapisdy did you take other advanced courses at 4 year college ?