Taking Physics at a Community College

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Dr. Josh

Ok I know everyone perceives CCs to ber easy and everyone better get an easy A. So here's the situation: I'm really struggling in physics, my professor is a psycho job. Here's people's ratings about him:

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=425397

I know I won't get an A; do I stick with it and hope for a B or do I drop it and somehow manage to squeeze it into my already full schedule. I'm going into my senior year at a state school.

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Getting a B or C in physics at a CC would be pretty bad. When are you applying to school, this round?
 
kevster2001 said:
Getting a B or C in physics at a CC would be pretty bad. When are you applying to school, this round?
Hey most people get Ds and Fs from this professor, please read his ratings.

So should I drop the course?

I think I'm taking a year off after I graduate and plan to take the August 07 MCAT and will apply in 07.
 
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I feel u bro, If i were u i'd drop it and get a "W," retake it again with a good teacher. I took non calc based physics at a community college with 23 units with an easy teacher and got all As (in cluding physics) except one B in math. so make sure u find a good teacher.
 
MDavoodi_Co said:
I feel u bro, If i were u i'd drop it and get a "W," retake it again with a good teacher. I took non calc based physics at a community college with 23 units with an easy teacher and got all As (in cluding physics) except one B in math. so make sure u find a good teacher.
I think I still have a week before a W shows on my transcript. If I drop it I have to take it nextr semester (if offered) at my state college along with Orgo and a bunch of other upper level courses. Anyway I do it I'm screwed.

So is everyone saying if I don't get an A I should drop it? I'm also taking chemistry this semester. I have 9 hr of class a day and then I'm up to 4 in the morning doing homework and studying. :(
 
I swear i feel u bro.
Ok if u hav no choice, then stick with it if u know u can get a B. Just do good on the MCATS. If u hava B and have good MCAT scores, u shudn't worry.
 
Can you do it postbacc?

It's going to be hard explaining a bad physics grade from a CC since they're not as well known. And when u try to explain it in your secondary, it'll just make you sound like a whiner.
 
Oh and also, go talk to yer professor, tell him ur situation, ask for extra credit, extra help, etc.
 
MDavoodi_Co said:
Oh and also, go talk to yer professor, tell him ur situation, ask for extra credit, extra help, etc.
:laugh: :laugh:

did you read the comments?

"possibly the worst teacher i've ever had. will not help students,"

"and don't even try asking questions cuz either he runs thru the answer without helping or he will blow u off. awful. "

"Clearly psychosocially disturbed. Be prepared to teach all of the course to yourself "

"His personality is CONDESCENDING and DEGRADING. He slams and throws things, yells if things don't go his way."

"Angry man, almost psychotic. Takes it out on students. Gives us no motivation for learning physics. Has no idea what physics is. "
 
kevster2001 said:
Can you do it postbacc?

It's going to be hard explaining a bad physics grade from a CC since they're not as well known. And when u try to explain it in your secondary, it'll just make you sound like a whiner.
I don't really have the money to do post bac well maybe one course if that's what you're suggesting. But I'd probably end up doing it in CC anyway because I can't afford anything else.
 
MDavoodi_Co said:
I swear i feel u bro.
Ok if u hav no choice, then stick with it if u know u can get a B. Just do good on the MCATS. If u hava B and have good MCAT scores, u shudn't worry.
Thanks.

I don't want everything hinging on the MCAT; what if I bomb it? I'm expecting a rather average score I guess. I plan on studying next summer for it; hence i do not want to be stuck doing a post bac physics course.

I'm really confused what to do. I'm also afraid i'll be totally burnt out if I continue with this course.
 
Regardless of how bad this guy is, a B or C (or worse!) at a CC is not going to go over well. Other poster was right, bad mouthing the prof in an app is going to be horrible for you. Plus, despite how hard the course was, CC courses will always have a stigma.

We've all had bad teachers. Can you learn it from the book and get an A? If not, I would drop and find a way to do it with another teacher - preferrably at a 4 year school since its a prereq. Swap some classes around and see if you can make it work. W's are NOT the end of the world and are a hell of a lot better than a C if you are capable of an A. Frankly, I think the W stigma is a SDN thing. Unless you have a ton of them, par for the course. Explaining a W (in the unlikely event you were asked) is a lot easier than explaining a C at a CC.
 
hermit said:
Regardless of how bad this guy is, a B or C (or worse!) at a CC is not going to go over well. Other poster was right, bad mouthing the prof in an app is going to be horrible for you. Plus, despite how hard the course was, CC courses will always have a stigma.

We've all had bad teachers. Can you learn it from the book and get an A? If not, I would drop and find a way to do it with another teacher - preferrably at a 4 year school since its a prereq. Swap some classes around and see if you can make it work. W's are NOT the end of the world and are a hell of a lot better than a C if you are capable of an A. Frankly, I think the W stigma is a SDN thing. Unless you have a ton of them, par for the course. Explaining a W (in the unlikely event you were asked) is a lot easier than explaining a C at a CC.
ok, thanks. I'm pretty sure if I drop by next Tuesday i won't even get a W.
 
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i was taking a physics course at a CC but i ended up dropping it because i didnt feel like i was learning anything and i probably wouldnt have ended up with an A B or C...so now i have a W and that really sucks. just as long as you dont have a trend of W's on your transcript..you should be fine. my physics teacher was horrible. he didnt teach anything at all during class and all we didnt was watch movies and go through the end of the chapter problems and he did it so fast that you couldnt even understand. really bad teacher and his tests were really really long. 75 questions. most were calculations. and gave 2 hrs for them. is that what people usually have on their physics tests? but anyways, it wasnt worth my time spent in the class.
 
A B at a CC isn't going to kill you. If you can stick it out and get a B, you'll be fine.
 
Just try to figure out what it is that you don't understand before dropping it. If you just drop and take it over at the university w/o figuring that out, then you are going to have the same problems you are having now. I learned from my own experience and I regret not getting to the root of the problem before trying to tackle the task again. I took 3 science classes at CC and received grades in the A/B range but I still had to work my butt off to earn it. I have received advice from several Med Schools and they said it didn't matter where I took the classes as long as I met the cut-off point for the grades. So just use a little caution before you do what ever you choose. :thumbup:
 
sistahnik said:
Just try to figure out what it is that you don't understand before dropping it. If you just drop and take it over at the university w/o figuring that out, then you are going to have the same problems you are having now. I learned from my own experience and I regret not getting to the root of the problem before trying to tackle the task again. I took 3 science classes at CC and received grades in the A/B range but I still had to work my butt off to earn it. I have received advice from several Med Schools and they said it didn't matter where I took the classes as long as I met the cut-off point for the grades. So just use a little caution before you do what ever you choose. :thumbup:
Yea, why does everyone think taking sciences at a CC is an easy A; I'm killing myself and not getting easy A's, maybe a very difficult B and A. No one in either course is getting an easy A; why all the misconception? I decided not to withdraw but I'm hating every second of my life this summer. :(
 
1. Are you hating it because of teacher?
2. Are you hating the workload?
3. Are you sure you want Medical School?

Listen - it is grades and MCAT. Get the best at both. It is that simple.
However, the following are items I would ask you at an interview:
1. Why did you take Physics and Chemistry in the summer?
2. Why at Community College?
on the other hand....
If you withdraw, get a W but apply with a 3.6+ and 31+ MCAT, then I will ask you the following:
1. Why did you withdraw?

Now, if you get the W, and re-take it at your main Univerisity, and still apply with the above scores.

DOn't sweat it - do whatever it takes to get the A's
A "W" isn't a problem, especially if you re-take it next year.
And if you don't have time, then you do an extra semester or year, while you are working in a productive lab, getting some research, publications, etc



Dr. Josh said:
Yea, why does everyone think taking sciences at a CC is an easy A; I'm killing myself and not getting easy A's, maybe a very difficult B and A. No one in either course is getting an easy A; why all the misconception? I decided not to withdraw but I'm hating every second of my life this summer. :(
 
My question is this. If it's still early enough in the semester where the OP says he won't even get a W, what makes him so sure he can't get an A? How many weeks into class are we talking? At my school, after the first week of classes, you will get a W if you drop. So is this still the first/second week of classes? If so, just study hard. You don't know how you'll do yet. The class has barely started!
 
Jocomama said:
1. Are you hating it because of teacher?
2. Are you hating the workload?
3. Are you sure you want Medical School?

Listen - it is grades and MCAT. Get the best at both. It is that simple.
However, the following are items I would ask you at an interview:
1. Why did you take Physics and Chemistry in the summer?
2. Why at Community College?
on the other hand....
If you withdraw, get a W but apply with a 3.6+ and 31+ MCAT, then I will ask you the following:
1. Why did you withdraw?

Now, if you get the W, and re-take it at your main Univerisity, and still apply with the above scores.

DOn't sweat it - do whatever it takes to get the A's
A "W" isn't a problem, especially if you re-take it next year.
And if you don't have time, then you do an extra semester or year, while you are working in a productive lab, getting some research, publications, etc

answers to your questions:

1. HATE HATE HATE the teacher; read his profile on rate the teacher

2. work load is ridiculous and no other sections of physics gets this amount of work; the prof is psychotic, again, read the profile and see it's not just me

3. Yes I am sure I want med school

1. I just switched to pre-med and am going into my junior yr' therefore I need my pre-med requirements; I just took chem 1 and physics 1 (along with micro) last semester

2. I just returned from study abroad 3 fays before starting summer school and the summer session already started at my regular college. i also did not want to be away since I just got home. Also I couldn't afford a private school for the summer

3. and I have no time in my schedule to retake at my regular college

and I am sticking it out after trying to transfer classes, but i know i won't get an A
 
MedStudentWanna said:
My question is this. If it's still early enough in the semester where the OP says he won't even get a W, what makes him so sure he can't get an A? How many weeks into class are we talking? At my school, after the first week of classes, you will get a W if you drop. So is this still the first/second week of classes? If so, just study hard. You don't know how you'll do yet. The class has barely started!
I was wrong; I do get a WQ; it's almost time I'd get and F if I dropped it :(
 
MedStudentWanna said:
My question is this. If it's still early enough in the semester where the OP says he won't even get a W, what makes him so sure he can't get an A? How many weeks into class are we talking? At my school, after the first week of classes, you will get a W if you drop. So is this still the first/second week of classes? If so, just study hard. You don't know how you'll do yet. The class has barely started!
I was wrong; I do get a W; it's almost time I'd get and F if I dropped it :(
 
hey dr. josh....just out of curiousity....whats up with that physics class? is class still in session? hope you're doing well in it.
 
People are hilarious in here. They have no idea what a bad physics teacher can do to a student. Physics is probably the hardest class to teach, period. A bad teacher will ruin you...badly. I don't care how smart you are, if you have a horrible teacher and are taking a physics class over summer you're going to struggle.
 
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