Pre-med major... harder courses at a community college?

Question

I am a premed major and majoring in bioengineering at a four year university.I am thinking about doing my harder pre-med requisites (organic chemistry) at a community college since i will probably have a better grade. However, do colleges look down on me when i do this sort of thing?

Answer 1

Yeah I would think so! Medical schools do look to see where your courses were taken. Some admissions reps would have you believe that they even have the time to see if your school offers two versions of the same course (ie, the premed bio class and the bio major's bio class) and see if you took the easier one. Bioengineering is a hard major and some schools would congratulate you for going that route. If you are a great student, you will get in regardless of where you took orgo. But to be a truly competitive candidate, don't create places in your application for admissions committees to start asking questions.

Does this orgo class have a lab? Check to see if that is a med school admission requirement or check with your premed counselor. Get familiar with AAMC's website and the MSAR.

www.aamc.org


Where did I get this info? I am only a doctor!

Answer 2

Check with the university that you are attending to see if they accept pre-requisites from a community college(CC);in particular, the ones you want to take at the CC. If they accept the pre-reqs from a CC, take the courses at the CC as you can save money. Be warned that the chemistry and biology courses are not any easier at a CC, but you will have a longer amount of time to do the work as a semester at a CC is 14 to 16 weeks as apposed to 10 weeks at a university. Plus, at a CC the professors are generally more available to their students than the professors at a university.
Most universities do not look down on community college students; they will know "the wheat from the chaff" in less than 3 weeks.

Answer 3

There are a lot of schools that will not take community college credits, especially in subjects like orgo where it is vital that you fully understand the concepts. I'd double check with your university, but even then I would strongly reccomend against it.