<p>I hope this is the right area to post this, and if not, I apologize. This is my first post :)</p>
<p>I was wondering what the community here would be able to tell me about CC transfers to the UC system with the intention to move on to medical school afterwards.</p>
<p>Right now, I am attending SMC (Santa Monica college) and have just finished my first year with a 3.83 GPA. I am in the scholars program (a honors society within SMC itself, with TAG to UCLA), and am not too worried about making it into UCLA as much as I am how a med school would look at the fact that I went to a California CC. I am also unsure what classes I should take, or if any of the classes I have taken will make me less competitive. I have good reasons for attending SMC (I graduated early from HS when my dad passed away so I could help out with the Family, my mother had to step in to run my father's business, and I had just received my license to drive). </p>
<p>So I guess I'm asking if any of the classes I have taken or the fact that I am at SMC will hurt my chances of getting into a Med School. Also, what classes should I avoid taking in order to avoid looking like I am trying to "take it easy" at a CC? And does my GPA seem strong enough so far (I plan on it raising next semester).</p>
<p>I do plan on talking to my school counselor about what classes I should take, but I would like to have as much feedback as possible as to what path I should follow, and what to avoid if I want to make it into a Med school.</p>
<p>(Also, would it be recommended to apply for some volunteer work at my local hospitals?)</p>
<p>I can list the classes here (along with my grade to the right) if that helps anybody get a clearer picture:
1) Macro Economics - B
2) English 1 - A
3) Political Science (ethnicity/Difference) - A</p>
<p>1) Astronomy 1 - A
2) Micro Economics - A
3) Photo (intro) - A</p>
<p>1) Take only transferable courses (IGETC);
2) Start taking the premed requirements: chem, bio, and math (Calc 1/Stats)
3) Start taking courses towards a possible major. (You can only transfer if you have fulfilled most of the major’s lower division requirements).
4) Look up the UCLA graduation requirements for L&S and take some general ed courses, such as history, English/Writing, Poli Sci, foreign language. (Assuming that you don’t have AP/IB credits.) </p>
<p>forgive me if im wrong, but don’t most Med Schools prefer you to take Chem, bio, and math at the university that you are transferring to? I was under the impression that taking those classes at a CC was frowned upon? (or are there different levels of Chem and Bio that does not apply for?)</p>
<p>^^ It doesn’t matter what med schools prefer. You do not have that option. </p>
<p>UCDAvis and UCLA, for example, requires that transfers into science majors like Bio to already have taken Organic Chem at the juco. They spell it out right on their website. </p>
<p>(The way to demonstrate your readiness for med school is to take upper division science courses at the 4-year, and ace them.)</p>
<p>UC wants you to get out in 2/3 years after transferring in. They want you to have completed the lower division courses/prereqs for the major, PRIOR to transfer. Look up UCLA’s transfer requirements, and those of UCSD and Cal to get an idea. But also look up individual departmental requirements, such as Bio or Psych or history (or whatever major interests you).</p>
<p>Thank you again for the informative response, I appreciate you taking your time to help me out :)</p>
<p>Would taking those requirements hurt my chances of getting into a med school? I was looking it up and came across this quote</p>
<p>“If you are going to a CC and then transfer, then you’re not really taking classes at a CC to avoid the harder version at your undergraduate so it won’t be counted against you. Taking advanced biology courses will even help you to show med schools you can handle your 4-year university’s science courses”</p>
<p>Do you agree with that or do you believe that it would hurt anyway?</p>
<p>And is it possible to major in something like political science, and take 1 or 2 of my pre reqs at my CC instead? or would that be unwise to do?</p>
<p>My opinion is just that, a fact-free opinion. But IMO all academic-types are prestige hounds – it’s in their DNA. And that includes grad and professional schools. That means that a 3.7 from UCLA gets bonus points over a 3.7 from Cal State LA. Ditto a 3.7 from Yale vs. a 3.7 from the University of New Haven.</p>
<p>So, yes, courses taken at a juco are “expected” to be less competitive than similar courses at a 4-year Uni, particularly UCLA/Cal. You had better earn plenty of A’s at the juco. You had better take a rigorous schedule (which probably excludes more Photo courses).</p>
<p>That being said, plenty of folks transfer from a juco to a four-year Uni and go on to med school. The key is to demonstrate your strength in STEM courses at the 4-year. That may mean that you do not apply to med school until you graduate (so you will have two full years of coursework and grades).</p>
<p>If you like history or poli sci or philosophy, or psychology, consider those fields as a major. But if you really like biology or chem, or geology, or something else sciency, consider those instead. But, regardless, you will need to take the prereqs at the juco for whatever major you wish to transfer into at UC.</p>
<p>So, yes, if you are a Poli Sci major, you could max out the Poli Sci courses at the Juco, and take more of the premed prereqs at the 4-year. But do you really want to take Organic Chem as a senior? :D</p>
<p>btw: Philosophy majors at Cal has a lower mean gpa than does MCB, a popular science major for premeds. So don’t think Lit majors are all that much easier!</p>
<p>IGETC is actually a breadth requirement pattern; California CC students who fulfill it can use it in substitution of breadth requirements at UC and CSU schools that they transfer to in most (not all) cases.</p>
<p>But the CC should have a list of which courses are UC transferable and which are CSU transferable (there should be a large set of courses, including typical pre-med courses and other academic type courses, that are both UC and CSU transferable) and which are neither (typically vocational/technical courses for subjects not offered in UC or CSU, and lower level remedial courses).</p>