Transfer 2years or just stick with 4 year university

[Everbe]

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I am a senior in high school, and I am a late bloomer. I havent been a hard worker ever since I was a freshman, just a soso average girl getting A in regular/ honors classes and B/C in AP classes. My gpa was around 3.9 weighted and ACT score of 30. I did band for 4 years. And I decided that I really wanted to be a doctor near the 2nd semester of senior year and I havent made it into good UC schools like davis or sandiego and probably irvine because I put my major as biology (and i know that bio is REALLY competitive)

I was thinking if I should just go to a community college for 2 years and transfer or go to a 4 year university like UC Riverside or cal state. Which one is better?

Would going to Community college affect my chances of going to med school?

 

[phenamanlphysician]

Can't comment on which is "better" per say but there's nothing wrong with going to community college prior to transferring to a university. Just make sure you work hard and don't take all of your core science classes there either

 

[SnowInVenice]

I actually contacted some medical schools about this and they all had two general consensuses:
1. It's fine to take the easy courses (i.e. general biology and chemistry), but take the harder courses (i.e. organic chemistry, calculus, and physics) at a university, not a community college.
2. If you do take the easy pre-requisites, particularly general biology and chemistry, be sure to take upper-level courses at a university rather than sticking with the minimum.

With that being said, go ahead and attend community college if it keeps the costs down or will provide more satisfaction, just try to go above and beyond if you transfer to a four-year school. Best of luck 🙂

 

[DoctHouse]

I'm going to go the community college route. You save a lot of money doing this. Just take the prereqs at the 4 year university to be safe.

EDIT: Don't go to a cal state! It's known that you have a much smaller chance of getting accepted to a med school when graduating from a cal state rather than a UC. You'd probably have to be on the top of your class to be able to get accepted.

Go... CC 2 year ---> UC 2 year

 

[Turkishking]

You can start off this journey in anyway you want. If you decide to go the CC route, taking pre-reqs, then taking upper levels at a 4 year university is completely fine. You can attend any accredited four year college as medical schools view that of lowest factor when determining your admission. All that matters is high GPA 3.7+, good MCAT 30+, good EC's+, and substantial research( if you're trying to go to a top 10)

 

[Hannah Faulkner]

I'm going to go the community college route. You save a lot of money doing this. Just take the prereqs at the 4 year university to be safe.

EDIT: Don't go to a cal state! It's known that you have a much smaller chance of getting accepted to a med school when graduating from a cal state rather than a UC. You'd probably have to be on the top of your class to be able to get accepted.

Go... CC 2 year ---> UC 2 year

Yes i also prefer college as it saves you money and plus you got more chances to make good connections in community and your prospect industry both form college and later form the university life ....

 

[Everbe]

Thanks. Im just thinking of going to a UC riverside and trying my best there. I heard that community college can take up to 3 years until transfer because there are just too many students and so few classes.

Also why does cal state lower your chances of going to a med school? Ive been wondering.


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[DoctHouse]

Thanks. Im just thinking of going to a UC riverside and trying my best there. I heard that community college can take up to 3 years until transfer because there are just too many students and so few classes.

Also why does cal state lower your chances of going to a med school? Ive been wondering.


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It has something to do with how western medical schools view them. There really isn't a proper explanation, but the most common said reason is because CSU GPAs are 'inflated'. Previous threads show people talking about how they only know of one or two people who were able to get accepted to a medical school from a CSU compared to many others that have failed.

It's definitely not impossible, but given the many horror stories people tell from going to CSU and failing to get into medical school drives me away from even thinking about going to CSU for undergrad.

Although, if you were to apply to northeastern medical schools or somewhere away from the western medical schools, the ADCOMS wouldn't really know or care about the CSU system or GPA.

 

[Toutie]

Thanks. Im just thinking of going to a UC riverside and trying my best there. I heard that community college can take up to 3 years until transfer because there are just too many students and so few classes.

Also why does cal state lower your chances of going to a med school? Ive been wondering.


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@gyngyn can you please answer this question about going to a Cal St vs a UC.

 

[Geo16]

One of my friend (who is currently at UCLA) recommended me to go to CC.
He was smart and knows how to work hard(very hard). But his GPA tanked compared to what he had in HS and his confidence dropped so hard. He's Econ major.
Well, he did take one course at SMC to complete his GE and he had an impression that he would've had 4.0 if he went to CC route.
Think about that. Because you don't want to compete with other smart people at UC (I believe all UCs are hard).
I'd say just go to CC and survive in Upper division.
However, go to UC if you know you can compete with other pre-meds!

 

[gyngyn]

@gyngyn can you please answer this question about going to a Cal St vs a UC.

I can report that the disparity is true. I have pondered the reasons for about 4 decades.

CSULB and UCLA have the same number of undergraduates (30K) and are 35 miles apart.
CSULB produced 40 applicants to medical school.
UCLA produced 1,011.

 

[Everbe]

I can report that the disparity is true. I have pondered the reasons for about 4 decades.

CSULB and UCLA have the same number of undergraduates (30K) and are 35 miles apart.
CSULB produced 40 applicants to medical school.
UCLA produced 1,011.

Oh wow... alright uc it is.. do you know the numbers for uc riverside? I tried looking it up but i couldnt really get an answer of how many riverside undergraduates applied and got accepted to med schools compared to other schools
Thanks for the clarification


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[gyngyn]

Oh wow... alright uc it is.. do you know the numbers for uc riverside? I tried looking it up but i couldnt really get an answer of how many riverside undergraduates applied and got accepted to med schools compared to other schools
Thanks for the clarification


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UCR had 185 applicants last year.
Acceptance data is not collected by any reliable source, unfortunately.