taking courses at local schools

[stat3113]

ok guys i posted this to adcom but he seems to be on vacation since a few days, so would appreciate your responses as well.

Here is my question: I am an out-of-state student at a top state school. I am from NYC, so this past summer, I took Gen Chem 2 at CUNY-Brooklyn College (a 4-year school). After coming back, I met with a bio prof who has some experience in pre-med advising and he looked at my transcript and (assuming that Brooklyn College was a community college), he said that would look really bad to adcoms. And my grade was a B, which he said was pretty much equivalent to an F at a real school like our own. He told me he didn't like it but this was the snobby nature of med school admissions. He said adcoms would assume that I went to BC because I couldn't handle the course at our own school (which I admit is partially true.) Btw, the GenChem2 transferred onto my transcript as a direct equivalent to my own school's GenChem2.

So, my issue is that since I am an out-of-state student, I don't get student aid to take courses at my own school in the summer. To do so would cost be $1k/credit, which I don't want to add on to my loans. Plus I like to spend my summers at home, which is why I'm considering taking Organic II at Brooklyn College next summer. Because it is near my home, and b/c its "only" $300/cred. Is this okay? Or will adcoms assume I'm an idiot--because I didn't take the course at my own (competitive) school?

So I guess my choices are: 1)take it at my own school-pay $1k/cred, 2)take it at NYU or Columbia as a non-degree student-pay $1k/cred (and probably get a crappy grade), 3) take it at say SUNY-Stony Brook (a school not as competitive as my own, but better than a CUNY), commute 2 hrs a day, or 4) take it at Brooklyn College and say screw you to all the snobby adcoms out there

Obviously I really want to do 4); its just that I think maybe the extra cost (for 1, 2) or commute (3) might be worth it to ensure adcoms respect my course and the hopefully good grade I get.

I think this in general is an issue for students who are enrolled at a top school who want to take a few courses (for whatever reason) at a school that is in a lower tier.

What do you think?

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[stat3113]

another unapologetic self-bump

 

[MedStudentWanna]

Why would he think Brooklyn College is a CC? Don't all CC's have CC or JC in their name? If that's shooting yourself in the foot, then I know plenty of the nontrads who won't have a chance because they've taken their sciences at a city/local college instead of a state university.

 

[rickthetwinkie]

If CUNY-Brooklyn College is a four-year college, it is not going to look bad to adcoms. If you took all of your pre-med requirements there, there might be a chance they might construe that to mean something, but since you aren't, they're more likely to construe it as "this kid is trying to get his requirements done". Even if you did take all your pre-med requirements at CUNY-Brooklyn, I doubt that that would be a problem since the courses at CUNY-Brooklyn probably teach nearly the same thing.

I wouldn't worry about it so much.

ok guys i posted this to adcom but he seems to be on vacation since a few days, so would appreciate your responses as well.

Here is my question: I am an out-of-state student at a top state school. I am from NYC, so this past summer, I took Gen Chem 2 at CUNY-Brooklyn College (a 4-year school). After coming back, I met with a bio prof who has some experience in pre-med advising and he looked at my transcript and (assuming that Brooklyn College was a community college), he said that would look really bad to adcoms. And my grade was a B, which he said was pretty much equivalent to an F at a real school like our own. He told me he didn't like it but this was the snobby nature of med school admissions. He said adcoms would assume that I went to BC because I couldn't handle the course at our own school (which I admit is partially true.) Btw, the GenChem2 transferred onto my transcript as a direct equivalent to my own school's GenChem2.

So, my issue is that since I am an out-of-state student, I don't get student aid to take courses at my own school in the summer. To do so would cost be $1k/credit, which I don't want to add on to my loans. Plus I like to spend my summers at home, which is why I'm considering taking Organic II at Brooklyn College next summer. Because it is near my home, and b/c its "only" $300/cred. Is this okay? Or will adcoms assume I'm an idiot--because I didn't take the course at my own (competitive) school?

So I guess my choices are: 1)take it at my own school-pay $1k/cred, 2)take it at NYU or Columbia as a non-degree student-pay $1k/cred (and probably get a crappy grade), 3) take it at say SUNY-Stony Brook (a school not as competitive as my own, but better than a CUNY), commute 2 hrs a day, or 4) take it at Brooklyn College and say screw you to all the snobby adcoms out there

Obviously I really want to do 4); its just that I think maybe the extra cost (for 1, 2) or commute (3) might be worth it to ensure adcoms respect my course and the hopefully good grade I get.

I think this in general is an issue for students who are enrolled at a top school who want to take a few courses (for whatever reason) at a school that is in a lower tier.

What do you think?