<p>I have a thought of two different paths to medical school. I could really use some advise.</p>
<p>Path #1: Take GED exam during 11th grade of High School and not attend 12th grade. Take all prerequisites at a community college and transfer to a 4 year university to take the difficult sciences courses. I see this path is much cheaper and I get to see save a year, but I am afraid that it will be a struggle to get classes because community colleges in California are very crowded. I am also afraid that I might not have enough time to do research with professors. </p>
<p>Path #2: Go to a 4 year university from High School and then apply directly to medical schools. As I see it, it will be a much less struggle to get classes. And I will be able to build better relationships with professors and other professionals that can give me letters of recommendations. Additionally I will have 4 years to do research.</p>
<p>Please advise me at what to do. Thank you in advance.</p>
Define “difficult courses”! A strange phenomenon for many students on the premed track is that the most difficult classes are the INTRODUCTORY science classes taken in freshman year or sophomore year. They are difficult not because of the contents; they are difficult because of the caliber of the subset of the students who eventially become successful premed students. It is rumored (and there appears to be some evidence on this) that many medical schools want to see how you perform in these standard introductory science classes; they are less interested in seeing how you perform in some elective science classes, especially those classes that are optional (rather than the core or required ones) for a science major or graduate-level classes. The value of taking many graduate level classes, as far as the medical school admission is concerned, is minimum even though their content is supposedly more difficult – actually, the grade of a graduate level class does not count toward the all important undergraduate GPAs for medical school admission purpose. (However, the graduate level classes may be useful if you pursue MD/PhD. At some school, about top 3-4% of premed students may pursue that route even though they end up applying for MD programs only – i.e., taking a lot of graduate level classes in 4 years. But this is not a norm for those students who are only interested in getting into a medical school.)</p>
<p>Fair or not, the grades obtained from a community college do not carry much weight.</p>
<p>Do option #2. There really is no hurry to rush through things unless you and your family can’t afford it. It may be cheaper to stay four years in high school anyway. If you are a really good high school student and your family isn’t that rich, you can get some sweet need-based aid at the really good private schools.</p>
<p>With regards to being in a hurry to take advanced science classes: there isn’t much of a point if you just want to be a practicing doctor. Look at the medical school entrance course requirements: a couple of introductory science classes. If they really thought that it was necessary for future doctors to know a lot about science, they’d require more science classes. The reason why the medical school admissions people do not require that much science is because a medical degree is a vocational degree and not a research degree.</p>
<p>Excellent posts above me. Also want to add that you or anyone else reading this should not think of college as just a bump in the road to get over before med school. First off, it sounds depressing since college should be among the best years of your life (minimal responsibilities, maximal outlets for fun), second, be wary of treating anything as simply a tool to get into medical school. That attitude will backfire when you get to interviews.</p>
<p>Beside everything noted above, I also have some concern that by “skipping” high school classes to take the GED, you’re cutting short valuable preparation (i.e. high school science & math courses) you’ll need to be competitive with your college peers when you get there since they will have had AP courses in high school and you won’t.</p>
<p>P.S. There is absolutely no reason to be in such a hurry to get to medical school. It will still be there if you graduate one year older under route #2.</p>
<p>@davidbm95, I’m curious about why you are considering your “path #1”. What are your reasons. I spent only three years in high school because at the end of my third year I had already taken 10 AP exams and there was nothing left. It would have been a waste of a year of my life. Is that your situation? If so, then why the GED? Is there no way to leave with a diploma? Have you researched this? Best of luck, …</p>
<p>To those who were opposed of path #1,
I took “Exit 1” during my high school years. I just graduated from high school and am heading to a state university for at least 2 years for my bachelor’s. From the responses above, is exit 1 bad considering that I am the first generation of my family to obtain a B.S. degree? Their efc is $0 and I can barely support myself for the next two years. My sister and I made a deal that if I do make it into medical school, she will help me pay for my education (she’s a 2nd year pharmacy). Sort of like a goal for the both of us. We make goals for ourselves, while our parents focus on educating our little brother. It would be very helpful if you can explain to me the cons of having taken “Exit 1” during my high school yrs.<br>
Also, the whole thing about cc’s being the devalued education is completely irrelevant. At the cc, I have seen many individuals of different ages and races that strive to better, not only their lives, but also their family’s and community’s. For example, an old woman of late fifties strive to work her way towards an English degree to help kids at her church. We don’t see these people doing four years institutions, but instead we see individuals with “different goals in life.” I do not imply that all four-year institution students necessarily share the same characteristics. However, why am I getting the impression that medical schools are frowning upon students from cc’s? By analogy, it is as if university kids and CC’s kids are treated as differently as in history when institutions were segregated between races before the civil rights.
Thank you for your time.</p>
<p>Community colleges and 4 year institutions are totally different entities with different purposes and therefore different student bodies. Anyone can attend a community college and their purpose is to provide educational opportunities for the community to better itself and increase it’s earning potential.</p>
<p>4 year institutions are communities of their own. They have a selective admissions process and their purpose is to foster intellectual growth and create a new generation of leaders regardless of their field of interest.</p>
<p>Medical schools are even more selective both in terms of academic caliber and in terms of what they want from their students. It makes sense that they would tend to prefer students from the stronger institutions.</p>
<p>There are pretty much no paths that guarantee you won’t be able to do something. There are however paths that increase your odds of achieving certain goals. Your analogy to racism is very flawed, misguided, and obviously meant to be inflammatory. I hope you now realize that the preference for students from 4 year institutions is much more merit based than you give it credit.</p>
<p>The issue is that there is a perception on the part of med school admissions committees that CCs provide a less competitive environment for core pre med classes, that coursework taken at a CC may not be truly indicative of a student’s ability to succeed with difficult material. (Since med school classes are fast-paced and cover an immense amount of complex material in a very short time, it’s imperative to select for students who can be successful with difficult material. There is also an additional financial consideration. The cost of training a doctor is much higher than the tuition a medical student pays. The additional cost is borne by the taxpayers at both the state and national level, as well as by the medical school itself. Medical schools cannot afford -literally- to take risks in selecting candidates unless they are absolutely certain they can complete the program.)</p>
<p>This is why it’s generally recommended that serious pre meds take key required coursework at a 4 year college. Medical school admission committees want to see how well an applicant competes when stacked up against the strongest of all students–students an applicant isn’t likely to find in a CC class.</p>
<p>I have enormous respect for CCs and their goals. I know several CC instructors. I got a AA in computer programming at a CC. But in all honesty I have to add that my classes at the CC were not as rigorous nor as comprehensive as the computer classes I took at a university.</p>
<p>No, it is not. It is the key point. Whether we like it or not, academics are prestige hounds. (As are government types and Wall Street, but that is a topic for another thread.)</p>
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<p>That’s awesome, but just proves that the point that a juco has less competition for grades than a four-year Uni. Thus A’s are easier to earn at a juco. (Whether or not it is true doesn’t matter, since that is the perception held by academics.) Yes, professional schools are cognizant of the fact that many poor students must attend their instate public for economic reasons. But, to validate those “perceived” easier grades, it is good to take some upper division science courses at the four year Uni and earn A’s.</p>
<p>Sad but true. A coworker in the hi-tech field once made a comment: If you go to a prestigious school like an Ivy but still choose to major in some traditional engineering field like EE instead of trying to explore the possibility of heading to Wall Street, you are either brain-dead or foolishly waste your money by paying such tuitions to go to such a school and then choose a “wrong” career track. Heck, even many MIT engineering kids would like to go to Wall Street.</p>
<p>“Community colleges and 4 year institutions are totally different entities with different purposes and therefore different student bodies.”
-Not exactly very different in regard to job opportunities. But it definitely depends on field of study. CC landed me my first proffessional job in extremely high unemployment area during Carter’s years (about 16%). Since then and 8 more employers, I am MBA, all fully paid by various employers. Obtaioned BS and MBA while working full time. Going to college while working was more entertainment than anything else. I did not need additional degrees, but hwy not if it is free. Later I have discovered that additional degrees provide better opportunities for future employment, but that is about it. You got to learn practically anew at every place. I love my job, most around me do not have MBA and some do not have BS.</p>
<p>Ok so to be more specific about my past and why im in dispute between these two paths are for these reasons: I came to high school not giving a CRAP about anything, i practically failed 9th grade. But something got into me and gave me the need to try (probably my love and interest in medicine by the start of tenth grade). i took AP classes and did quite well in my tenth grade. Point is, my family isnt from the wealthiest of nature and I talked to my counselor in my high school and she told me medical schools do not look down on Pre-reqs at community college, so i decided why not? so putting together my incapability to go to a decent 4 year univ. after highschool (due to my horrible grades in 9th grade) and not having enough money to even pay for it i decided to do it. BUT my counselor also told me with my fantastic grades and a killer SAT i could still get into a decent university. SO please help me. anyone just give me advice SPECIFICALLY on the flaws of community college and/or if medical schools look down on this at all. THANK YOU so much.</p>
<p>Princeton, Carnegie-Mellon and University of Michigan are among the top schools that have said they don’t consider 9th grade grades. I think you should continue to do well in high school and go to a good 4 year college.</p>
<p>I do not know much about CC/Med. School. However, I know that you do not need to got to TOP 4 year UG to get to Med. School or any GOOD 4 year college. Go to anyone that fits your personality and range of interests and make you feel like at home and do your absolute best. Better yet, if you get Merit scholarship(s) to cover as much of your UG education as possible.</p>
<p>^^Umm, not according to Princeton’s own Common Data Set. Class Rank is checked as "Very Important’, the same check that they give to gpa, test scores…</p>
<p>Regardless, unless one is hooked, there is just no reason for P or S – another college that claims to ignore Frosh grades – to accept someone out of the top xx or so students. Why would they?</p>