So I read a couple threads about this, but still didn't find a good answer. I have one last prereq left and will be graduating this semester from a university. Will it be ok if I take a physics lab at a community college while enrolled at the university? How will admissions look at this? I will be enrolled in about 15 credits at the university and plan to take a physics lab and a three credit gen ed course at the community college. Thanks for any help.
Taking a prereq course at community college
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Just my two cents worth, I would take the lab at the four year univ where you are enrolled. I think when you are already in school at a four year institution it looks odd that you are taking your lab at CC, as if you are trying to take the course where it is easier.
Now, before anyone flames me, I took most of my pre-reqs at CC because I was no longer a full time student when I decided to do the pre-med thing and I needed evening classes and CC was what I could afford. I am a little worried about this now since I have seen some posts on SDN about how this might not be viewed positively by adcoms. Also, at least one school that I know of (Case Western) says right on their web site they don't accept pre-reqs from CCs. I hear this is becoming more common. I DON'T think there was anything wrong with what I learned at CC and organic chem was just as hard (many of the students in my CC organic chem class had failed it at the local four year univ and were in my CC class because they thought it would be easier - they all agreed it wasn't!).
Given your situation, i.e., already a student at the univ, I'd just take the lab there to avoid any problems down the road. If you want, taking the gen ed requirement at CC would be okay. Med schools don't seem to look very closely at those classes.
Now, before anyone flames me, I took most of my pre-reqs at CC because I was no longer a full time student when I decided to do the pre-med thing and I needed evening classes and CC was what I could afford. I am a little worried about this now since I have seen some posts on SDN about how this might not be viewed positively by adcoms. Also, at least one school that I know of (Case Western) says right on their web site they don't accept pre-reqs from CCs. I hear this is becoming more common. I DON'T think there was anything wrong with what I learned at CC and organic chem was just as hard (many of the students in my CC organic chem class had failed it at the local four year univ and were in my CC class because they thought it would be easier - they all agreed it wasn't!).
Given your situation, i.e., already a student at the univ, I'd just take the lab there to avoid any problems down the road. If you want, taking the gen ed requirement at CC would be okay. Med schools don't seem to look very closely at those classes.
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Have you made As in the other pre-reqs at your 4 year? If yes, nobody will give it a second thought, but...
Do you plan to take these uni and CC classes simultaneously? That would seem odd to me...makes more sense if you do the CC after you graduate...
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Are you referring to this passage from the Case website:
If these pre-requisites were not fulfilled at an accredited, four-year, degree-granting American or Canadian college or university, you should be prepared to take at least 1 year of challenging, upper level sciences at one of these institutions prior to application.
I think you are reading too much into this. I think this is directed at applicants who did not attend a US or Canadian college (foreign college grads), and I don't think you should conclude from this that it is a wholesale rejection of pre-reqs from CCs.
Probably should call and ask for clarification...
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go ahead. it's only 1 lab. i bet it's only worth 1 credit, too. not a big deal at all.
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Yep, that's what I was referring to. I dunno, it specifically says "four-year" in that statement above which would appear to me to be referring to CCs, as well.
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Call them - don't assume this is the case (no pun intended).
This sort of verbiage appears on many med school websites where the context is directed at foreign college grads...
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I'm taking one of my pre-reqs this summer at a CC.
actually it isn't even a pre-req, just biochemistry as I intend to take a whole year of organic at my 4 year university.
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that may turn out to help you more than you realize. A handful of school do require biochemistry, and more and more are making it a requirement every year.
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FuturePittMed, I took all my pre-reqs except O-chem at a cc and was accepted to Case.
That being said, I think it's a good idea to check with any school explicitly stating they don't like cc credits before you apply. For Case, I sent them a letter of explanation and talked to the admissions office before submitting my secondary.
For the record, this is the LAST time I am posting about community college credits!
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I found this on another part of the Case site in the faqs:
Are premedical requirements taken at community colleges accepted?Not usually. We discourage students from taking all of their science pre-requisites from a community college.
I went to cc to save money but now I am thinking I should have just paid the money for the university. There are enough obstacles for me being a nontrad and I hate to think where I took my science classes will be one more obstacle.
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If you plan on taking the course after you graduate and assuming your GPA from your 4 year school are fine than there is nothing to worry about. Go ahead and take it at the CC, it'll be much cheaper! But before you do that check with the CC because the ones in my area generally don't seperate physics lecture from lab. In my area its a 4 credit course that combines lecture and laboratory for one total overall grade. So unless you don't mind taking the lecture part again, I would double check to make sure that the lab is a seperate course at your CC.
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I found this on another part of the Case site in the faqs:
Not usually. We discourage students from taking all of their science pre-requisites from a community college.
I went to cc to save money but now I am thinking I should have just paid the money for the university. There are enough obstacles for me being a nontrad and I hate to think where I took my science classes will be one more obstacle.
While it might be true that a good portion of the prereqs taken at a CC might not be looked upon favorably, I doubt that taking one laboratory course, as in the OP's case, would raise any sort of flags.
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Wait you're taking Biochemistry before you take Organic? How is that possible? And you're taking it at a CC? I thought CC's only had freshman and sophomore level classes. Isn't Biochemistry an upper level class?
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Yeah I wasn't aware of any CC that had a biochem course. I was thinking I'd have to do ochem at CC then go piss away the money to do biochem at a university. I figure I'll already have graduated from a 4-year with a high GPA so I have no reservations about taking the courses from a CC....better instruction at a much cheaper cost anyway.
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It looks bad don't do it. Take it at your school. Taking CC courses aren't frown down upon unless you're already enrolled in a University(which you are).
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I found this on another part of the Case site in the faqs:
Not usually. We discourage students from taking all of their science pre-requisites from a community college.
I went to cc to save money but now I am thinking I should have just paid the money for the university. There are enough obstacles for me being a nontrad and I hate to think where I took my science classes will be one more obstacle.
Again, a key word in this sentence: ALL.
Clearly it is not ideal for any applicant to take ALL of the pre-reqs at a CC. Nobody recommends it, but for non-trads who are also juggling a job and other responsibilities, sometimes the CC is the only practical solution.
There are 2 types of CC students: people who start their academic careers at a CC, and people who attend a CC to take additional course work after finishing a degree. It is inadvisable (not to mention a fairly hard thing to do) to take ALL of the pre-reqs at a CC before heading to a Uni to finish a degree. The exception is the non-trad who returns to college to take the pre-reqs in a post bacc...not everyone lives within a realistic commuting distance of a 4 year college, and there is of course the cost issue...
I think the bigger red flag is the Uni student who takes pre-reqs at a CC councurrent with their Uni enrollment...
So the conclusion I got from all the posts is to: Take the one credit physics lab I have remaining at the university. And it will not matter if I take a gen ed at a community college while enrolled at a university. Thank for your time and help.
