So I have been accepted to the University of Southern California for undergrad as a psych major but im interested in applying to med school in the future. I wanted to know if I could take some of my prerequisites at another 4 year college (CSU dominguez hills) while fulfilling my psych requirements at USC (also plan to take physics and some upper division at USC since they have more openings in those classes then the lower division classes). I wanted to know if I do well in these classes, will the adcoms question why did I take about half of my prerequisites at a CSU and the others at USC? Sorry for long post, im a newbie here.
taking pre-requisites at two different universities
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I don't think it'll matter too much or at all. I follow this blog about a Stanford Med student who went to Stanford undergrad and she took physics and orgo at a local college. She said it wasn't brought up and they don't really care as long as you get good grades and a good mcat. I guess only adcoms can tell you but I don't think it matters.
Sent from my phone, sorry for any typos.
thanks for the reply, its just I brought this concern up bc some pre-med student was mentioning that some adcoms are thinking I'll be looking for the easy way out but i dont anticipate taking none of my planned classes at a CC.
if anyone is a CA med school applicant/previous CA med school applicant, have you heard the med school advisors mention about looking down on CSU for admission?
if anyone is a CA med school applicant/previous CA med school applicant, have you heard the med school advisors mention about looking down on CSU for admission?
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LizzyM (top school adcom member on this site) disagrees. Heavily. You want to take your prereqs at an institution of the same caliber as your UG. CSU is not the same caliber as USC. It is frowned upon and adcoms will think you are taking the easy way out, because those classes are definitely not as easy at USC than they are at a CSU.
Bad idea.
Bad idea.
thanks for the reply inycepoo, the problem is I am unable to fit all of the required pre-med classes at USC hence why I would like to take them at the local CSU, if I do well in the pre-reqs at USC (gchem and physics) and do well on the bio and ochem at the CSU will it still raise eyebrows even if I do well on the MCAT. Also I thought as long you were not taking courses at a CC it is not a problem. any other suggestions?
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You're a prefrosh. Suffice to say I doubt you know enough about schedule planning to be so certain you won't be able to finish.
If that is the case, though, and you are well-informed, prereqs are required for matriculation, not admission. This is important. It's known that fitting 3 of the 4 yearlong courses and most of the labs at USC (i.e., 1 or 2 labs at another college, ideally one better than CSU, or at least the most highly reputed CSU) would be fine, and you can always make up the extra courses somewhere before you matriculate. Options are plenty, and planning right now gets complicated.
But you are a freshman. Having a long-term plan is important, but just fit as many courses as you can at USC as you can for now. I'm a double major myself at a private university, so I get the whole thing with conflicts and pursuing your passions.
Remember: "Man plans, God laughs." You'll soon realize this.
Plue00 thanks for the response. by chance do you know if this stanford student mentioned she took her classes at Santa Clara University. I am originally from there and when word got out that Stanford students were taking ochem courses at Santa Clara University over the summer because it was "easier" it didnt fit well with many faculty at santa clara.
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any chance you could post a link?
this is not the blog but here is the link about Stanford students taking classes at SCU
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9951648
also if anybody else can give me advise regarding my situation, i know I am newbie both to here and to college but that would be appreciated.
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At the end of the day, it's your GPA and MCAT that matters. They MIGHT look down on you a little for taking premed classes somewhere else, but they WILL look down on you if you get a bad GPA trying to cram in your premed classes with a busy schedule like you said. Do whatever you can to save your GPA.
My school is known having an insanely hard orgo and orgo lab series (yeah, it's hard everywhere) so a lot of people from my school take orgo at their local college. I'd say 50% of the people I know from my school who have gotten into med school took it at a local college and 50% took it at our home school. As long as you know the material, you'll be fine.
She is a peds resident at Stanford now. #2
http://trustmeimanintern.blogspot.com/2013/02/how-to-get-into-medical-school-7-tips.html
Other places in her blog she talks about how it doesn't matter, but it took me forever to find that post so you guys can find it if you're interested 😛
thanks Plue00, inycepoo mentioned its a very bad idea some im hearing some people are saying its bad and others are saying its okay. another concern I have is that even if i can somehow manage to fit all these courses at USC (going to be tough since most times are full in some pre-reqs) is that even if I take them, I might forget the material and do poorly on the MCAT, but I guess that is something I should worry about 3 years from now.
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Can you take them from a better csu over the summers? CSU Dominguez Hills really does not have a good reputation at all and I do think schools might look down on it more than taking them at a better/even average reputation csu.
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CSU long beach is far and not that much reputable and CSU los angeles is close but not that reputable either. the only other option is that I could take classes at Oregon state University since I have family there and did a project there but i guess that would be out of the question as well since its generally looked down upon to take pre-reqs over summer.
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Well what if you cant afford it at a better caliber school? Not anyone can dish out 2000 dollars for one semester of a pre-req at a high caliber school. Seems ridiculous, especially if its a class like gen bio or gen chem.
FWIW i know someone who took o chem and physics at a CC in his sophomore year. He went to a UC his frosh year but for personal reasons had to go to a local CC. Didn't hurt him one bit.
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wrong forum sorry
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so I decided to email a few schools on what they thought and here is what some said
UCLA
"It will be O.K. as long as you do well and your grades correlate with your grades at USC and MCATS. Admissions"
University of Arizona
"As long as you complete all of your pre-reqs with a grade of C or better, we do not care if you take them at multiple schools. The admissions committee acknowledges that the pre-med requirements can be a heavy load of courses, especially for students whose major is not in one of the sciences to begin with. You will need to ensure that transcripts from every institution that you take classes at are submitted to and verified by AMCAS."
Harvard
"While the Committee on Admissions does prefer applicants complete as many of the prerequisites as possible at their primary undergraduate institution, we will accept courses completed at any accredited college or university."
UC Irvine
"Thank you for your email and interest in UC Irvine School of Medicine. It is fine that you are taking the courses at CSU Dominguez Hills and Oregon State."
so it seems like most are okay with it, if anything the MCAT will show whether I learned the material or not.
UCLA
"It will be O.K. as long as you do well and your grades correlate with your grades at USC and MCATS. Admissions"
University of Arizona
"As long as you complete all of your pre-reqs with a grade of C or better, we do not care if you take them at multiple schools. The admissions committee acknowledges that the pre-med requirements can be a heavy load of courses, especially for students whose major is not in one of the sciences to begin with. You will need to ensure that transcripts from every institution that you take classes at are submitted to and verified by AMCAS."
Harvard
"While the Committee on Admissions does prefer applicants complete as many of the prerequisites as possible at their primary undergraduate institution, we will accept courses completed at any accredited college or university."
UC Irvine
"Thank you for your email and interest in UC Irvine School of Medicine. It is fine that you are taking the courses at CSU Dominguez Hills and Oregon State."
so it seems like most are okay with it, if anything the MCAT will show whether I learned the material or not.
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See now the problem with that, and especially so with Harvard and any other really selective institution, is this: it's not in their best interest to tell you the real truth about how they perceive things. I'm not saying they're lying through their teeth, but they will almost ALWAYS tell you "it's okay" in order to 1) calm you down and 2) get you to apply to their school regardless so they can get the app fees to boot. Also, the people answering the emails may not be the ones reading your app and making the final vote on decisions. I don't know about any UCs, though.
Again, this isn't as serious a case here, but Harvard has told people at the health professions fair at my institution (Ivy) that a 3.4/32 is "borderline" for applications and to reply regardless. (I don't go to Cornell or Princeton, so grade deflation isn't an issue.) I know an adcom member at Harvard very closely who says their system is typically set at a 3.5-3.55 threshold to filter people out.
So I'd take their advice with a grain of salt. It's the best you'll get from anywhere, no doubt, but I'd still be wary. Just a thought.
Again, this isn't as serious a case here, but Harvard has told people at the health professions fair at my institution (Ivy) that a 3.4/32 is "borderline" for applications and to reply regardless. (I don't go to Cornell or Princeton, so grade deflation isn't an issue.) I know an adcom member at Harvard very closely who says their system is typically set at a 3.5-3.55 threshold to filter people out.
So I'd take their advice with a grain of salt. It's the best you'll get from anywhere, no doubt, but I'd still be wary. Just a thought.
