Where did you do pre-reqs at?

[capone2975]

Just wondering where everyone did their pre-reqs. At a post bacc, state school, cc???

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[ntmed]

Just wondering where everyone did their pre-reqs. At a post bacc, state school, cc???

I did mine at a mid-sized state college with an active premedical program.

IMHO, all things being equal, I would not take them at a CC. Community colleges have a different mission than the typical university. As a result, they tend to offer easier courses and have no real premedical advisement. (They may have allied health advisors, but this is not the same thing.) This means you'll be less prepared for the MCAT, medical schools may not respect your science GPA, you may not receive proper guidance, and your instructors may not know the best way to write strong letters of recommendation.

 

[capone2975]

Thank you! I am looking at completing pre-req's at a state school as well. I was curious b/c of the people on the post bacc threads talking about moving to do a post bacc. Didn't know if that was necessary or not. Also, some of the prices are rather high!

 

[notdeadyet]

I took my GenChem at a junior college as prep for a one year post-bac. I spoke to advisor who tells me that _some_ prereq at a junior college is okay but to take most is frowned upon.

I also have read on SDN (so take with a grain of salt) that some med schools do not ACCEPT prereqs taken at JCs. I haven't read this on any med school sites, mind you.

A postbac is handy but not necessary, from what I hear. Good luck with your studies...

 

[Em&M]

I did mine at a mid-sized state college with an active premedical program.

IMHO, all things being equal, I would not take them at a CC. Community colleges have a different mission than the typical university. As a result, they tend to offer easier courses and have no real premedical advisement. (They may have allied health advisors, but this is not the same thing.) This means you'll be less prepared for the MCAT, medical schools may not respect your science GPA, you may not receive proper guidance, and your instructors may not know the best way to write strong letters of recommendation.

I agree with ntmed. Depending on where you live, there is absolutely no need to uproot yourself and your family just to do the same courses at an accredited "Post-bacc." program... The ones that we always hear about on SDN are usually out East. There is no evidence to support the fact that the students who sign up and pay twice/three times as much for these programs are any more successful in med school than you will be.

Don't worry about that. I would also say that everyone is right so far, don't go the CC route either, that is like shooting yourself in the foot... Take your courses at whatever (4-year institution) is closest and economically wisest for you. Work your hardest, do very well, focus on your clinical experience and you should have just as good a chance at getting into med school as anyone in those post-bacc. programs. As ntmed said, you will also have the benefit of having strong recommendations, pre-med advice, better MCAT prep and whatever other organizations or resources the school has for premeds.

Also, you're right. The programs are expensive and they are basically full-time school. They are usually 1-2 years long. If you are organized, you can still work, go to school and still finish your pre-reqs in 2-3 years tops. You will spend a lot less money, you won't have to move and you will not lose very much time.

 

[spc213]

You should take your pre-reqs wherever your schedule and your budget permit.

Though I am a dental candidate, my prereqs are virtually the same as medical, and I took my classes at a Comm. Coll., a local state college, and our main public university. I had very few choices, since I was working full time, and comm. coll. often had the most worker-friendly schedules. I have been successful getting in to schools.

I will caution you that some schools frown on CC work, but they will tell you that in their literature/web site or put a limit on the number of credit hours they will accept to satisfy pre-reqs. If you have the option, go to a college or university rather than CC. One interviewer did reference my cc work in a negative way, but I was still accepted. Take that for what it's worth.

Interestingly, my highest science score on the DAT was in Gen Chem, and I took all my gen chem and gc lab pre-reqs at comm. college.

 

[OrthoFixation]

I took 6 classes of pre-reqs at CC and have been accepted (slightly more than half of the required classes). The other pre-reqs were done during my engr BS at a state 4 yr school.

The biggest issue for me on the CC was cost, availability, and scheduling around work. I think attending CC could hurt you if you don't make predominantly A's or if your MCAT reflects poorly on the CC classes.

I was able to pay for all my CC classes and books out of pocket. For me, that was very valuable. I wanted to clean up my personal balance sheet prior to school. Come August, I will begin piling on the debt.

 

[thirdunity]

Yep, we don't all have a choice about the CC - see my situation below (have to take the prereqs early in my major, and I'm a transfer student, which means taking some of the prereqs at the CC).

I'm starting on my prereqs at the CC. If I don't, I'll be stuck at four expensive years at the UC taking the prereqs plus my major classes - which is especially silly given I've already done most of my non-math/science GEs.

Also, the school I'm transferring to (UC Davis) requires that the prereq's be done in the freshman and sophomore years, and they're prereqs for every other class I need to take for my major (biology). [I would've gotten started a lot sooner - but I was not even a science major until last semester.]

My eggs aren't all going into one basket. If I don't become a doctor, I'm going to become a biologist or biotech person of some sort.

I'll be taking calc, chemistry and physics at the CC, but bio/o-chem and everything else at the UC. As for the English prereq, didn't have a choice in the matter, already took it at the CC years ago.

Would taking my classes for "Honors" credit help me at all? I'm in California and the schools I've gone to have often been "Feeder" schools for the UCs. For example, Mesa College (my school) has a strong relationship with UCSD and there seem to be a number of pre-med students at Mesa. I don't know what their rate of admission to med school is, though.

 

[Emergency!]

There has been some extensive disscussion on either her or oldpremeds about community college courses. I think that the general consensus was that the California community college system was a whole different kettle of fish than community colleges in other states.

From what I remember, people who applied to California medical schools had no problems with the pre-reqs at the UC junior college feeders. Where they tended to have problems was with interviewers/adcoms in other states who don't understand the UC system.

Try doing a search for community colleges here or on old pre-meds. There was a lot of great info on that old thread.

 

[r_salis]

Try doing a search for community colleges here or on old pre-meds. There was a lot of great info on that old thread.

Also check out the post-bacc forum here on SDN for more discussion about community colleges.

 

[thirdunity]

There has been some extensive disscussion on either her or oldpremeds about community college courses. I think that the general consensus was that the California community college system was a whole different kettle of fish than community colleges in other states.

From what I remember, people who applied to California medical schools had no problems with the pre-reqs at the UC junior college feeders. Where they tended to have problems was with interviewers/adcoms in other states who don't understand the UC system.

Try doing a search for community colleges here or on old pre-meds. There was a lot of great info on that old thread.

I may be finishing up in Oregon. I don't need to explain very much as everyone knows about the legendary cost of living in Cali, which more or less leaves me with the choice of 1) staying in a bad marriage or 2) not staying in school. In Eugene, I could stay in school, get a part-time job and student aid, and *still* have a studio apartment. My dad lives there, if all else fails, and even though I don't *want* to live with my parents at 31, if nothing else, there's still a safety net.

Is this such a bright idea? If I'm going to transfer to a California school (was originally planning on Davis) and not University of Oregon, it may not be worth it to give up my Cali residency when I only have a year and a half left to go before transferring to 4-year. I want to go to med school in Cali, ultimately, anyway. Will going to U of O after community college, look worse than going to UC Davis after community college?

 

[thirdunity]

Something else you can do in Cali, as a community college student, is get into a "concurrent enrollment" program. This is where you take a class at UC or CSU *while still a community college student*, and more importantly, while paying community college prices. Different schools have different restrictions on this, however. For example, the San Diego district's system only allows you to take courses at UCSD if you are a full-time student and have taken twelve units previously at that school. Not practical for me, since I've been mostly part-time, and since I've moved a *lot*, I'm lucky to have twelve units at *any* one school.

 

[sunnyjohn]

When it comes to pre-req's and post bacc, I'm gonna do a "quadruple whammy"

Community college
Online courses
4-year state school
Ivy league

What will give those ad com's something to think about....

 

[CanIMakeIt]

I took my GenChem at a junior college as prep for a one year post-bac. I spoke to advisor who tells me that _some_ prereq at a junior college is okay but to take most is frowned upon.

I also have read on SDN (so take with a grain of salt) that some med schools do not ACCEPT prereqs taken at JCs. I haven't read this on any med school sites, mind you.
A postbac is handy but not necessary, from what I hear. Good luck with your studies...

Wafe forest specifically asks that none of the pre-reqs be taken at CC. I am sure there are others too....so why take a chance

I did my post-bacc classes at NC State Univ. I didn't want to move to do a recognized/official/formal post-bacc program and neither did I have that kind of money. So I took 2 courses/semester (Max allowed per semester for Life-long education credits) and it was never a problem with any school.

Good Luck

 

[nico05]

Since I've already dropped a ton of money to obtain my first degree, I thought it would be better for me (financially) to attend a state (in this case city) school. I couldn't see taking part in an "accredited" post-bacc program (which means absolutely nothing unless they have direct medical school ties, most of them do not). Remember for private schools it's all about the money; they need to lure more and more students in, they do not receive money from the state so they need to appeal to the masses i.e. "programs" and "certificates". That's just my take.

 

[Sainttpk]

I may be finishing up in Oregon. I don't need to explain very much as everyone knows about the legendary cost of living in Cali, which more or less leaves me with the choice of 1) staying in a bad marriage or 2) not staying in school. In Eugene, I could stay in school, get a part-time job and student aid, and *still* have a studio apartment. My dad lives there, if all else fails, and even though I don't *want* to live with my parents at 31, if nothing else, there's still a safety net.

Is this such a bright idea? If I'm going to transfer to a California school (was originally planning on Davis) and not University of Oregon, it may not be worth it to give up my Cali residency when I only have a year and a half left to go before transferring to 4-year. I want to go to med school in Cali, ultimately, anyway. Will going to U of O after community college, look worse than going to UC Davis after community college?

Im going the Community College route as well. Next year I am graduating law school and I do not have money to attend a 4 year school. Seriously one year of CC is the same price as one quarter at a 4 year!! Hell one year of law school is the same price as an entire undergraduate degree!!

I think most west coast community colleges (I.E. California, Oregon, Washingto) tend to be pretty good. I live in Seattle, and all of the community colleges in my area are very good. I think it really depends on the resources of your state.

T

 

[dok101]

In all likelyhood I'll be taking the pre-reqs at a local 4 year State School this Fall. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get good letters of recommendation, but it definitely is an area of concern for me. I guess I will just have to be pro-active and really attempt to establish a good rapport with my professors.