Medical schools pretty consistently say that they expect you to take pre-requisites at a 4-year accredited college or university. So it is not preferable. Often, the bare minimum to be accepted is that a course is taken at an accredited institution (such as a community college).
Then again, the bare minimum for MD schools is a 3.0 GPA and 25 MCAT, but just because you meet the minimum doesn't mean I'm savvy about your chances of getting into Hopkins.
Generally, when a medical school recommends you do something, it is in your best interest to do it unless you absolutely can't. I wouldn't consider being intimidated by a class at a 4-year institution a valid reason, and it's likely that it will look like "cowardice" if someone makes a note of it. For every applicant with your stats, it's likely that there's 3 more who followed all of the "recommendations" set forth.