Medical Transfer coming back around to Pre-Med - Will this raise a red flag?

[Catalystik]

I started at a California Community College as a Biology major 3 years ago, and completed 1 year of General Biology, 1 year of General Chemistry, 1 semester of Calculus, and 1 semester of Organic Chemistry. 1 and 1/2 years into CC an existential dissatisfaction led me to change many aspects of my life, one of the more consequential ones being a switch to an English major. At the present time I am a brand new transfer at UCLA (Coming from CC with a 3.85cgpa); I enjoy my major and am confident that I can secure a good GPA in it. However, I am feeling a strong pull towards Pre-Med once again. As a person I've changed considerably since first starting community college, and feel that my motivations for pursuing medicine at this point are both better informed and more reasonable than they were when I was 18. I have put a lot of thought into this and have been scouring these forums to try and form an idea of my best course of action, so I will ask my two most pressing questions below:

1. Will Adcoms see a giant red flag in the gap between some of my prerequisites?

Tuition and cost of living at UCLA are not cheap, and the school only offers Calculus-based Physics courses. This raises an issue for me in that I would need to take additional Calculus classes to qualify for a Physics sequence of greater rigor than is necessary for Medical School. I'm not one to shy away from difficult classes, but the combination of increased difficulty and absurd cost of attendance are driving me in that direction in this particular case.

2. Assuming I take Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Statistics at UCLA as prereqs, would Adcoms frown upon my taking Algebra-based physics at a CC in order to save money and time? I am aware that attitudes toward CC prereqs vary but if anyone with insight into this could provide feedback I would greatly appreciate it.

1) No. There is no bias against those who travel the "road less taken."

2) Some adcomms will frown, but most won't, especially given your perfectly legitimate reasons for seeking the class elsewhere. This thread might help give additional perspective: Are summer classes considered as competative as semester classes?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You should network with admissions staff and students especially in-state programs regarding your questions because there is probably someone who took a very similar path and got into school.

 

[lord999]

1. Not a red flag, but it could be asked about, but your explanation is fine as different paths are quite valid if you enjoy what you do. That said, why veer back (and that's a valid question that I'm sure you have a prepared answer for as that's another way of asking why medicine)?

2.
The problematic issue is that UCLA articulates to the Berkeley standard for Physics, so even the non-major/non-engineer Physics for the Biological Sciences is calculus based, so I understand your headache. But for the UC schools, there is going to be an expectation that either the class was completed during your earlier history or it becomes somewhat of a question if done post-hoc.

I'm afraid I'm going to say yes for UC system applications, because while calculus-based Physics is not necessarily required, going back to the CC while at the University to take a class while you are concurrently a University student doesn't look good depending on the transcript. I don't think you'll be asked, it'll just look questionable. But if you gave such an argument about tuition if you are applying to the UC system for medical school, it probably is not going to go over too well at this point. If you had taken it while you were at the CC in your early years, it would fit that narrative better, but you would obviously look like you were going out of your way to avoid a class that many of your peers who are applying have taken the calculus-based class for life science majors.