Hey CC,
I was just wondering if Community College is looked down upon by medical schools, and if they prefer that you go to a 4-year college right away. I’ve heard that Med schools prefer that you take certain pre-med pre-requisite courses at a 4-year, but is there any truth to this?
Thanks to all replies.
Yes, yes, and yes.
If drowning yourself in debt is the only way to go 4 year then it would be better to do CC first but try to delay pre-reqs or plan on taking more advanced courses at the 4 year you eventually transfer to. I had a med school classmate who started at CC before transferring to an ivy and then medical school, but it’s definitely not a path I would choose without necessity.
@iwannabe_Brown So from what I can understand, as long as I take more advanced courses at my 4 year, med schools wouldn’t care for CC?
Going to a CC should be avoided if possible.
there are other problems associated with going to a CC:
You pretty much HAVE to do a gap year, instead of going to med school straight from college, because being at a univ for only one year when app go in will mean that your Recommenders won’t have known you very long.
You won’t be able to complete the advanced courses in time to apply at the end of Junior year.
Starting at a CC is not an optimal path to med school.
Med schools do care where you take your pre-reqs. There are still a number of medical schools that will not accept any CC credits for pre-req classes and a number more than will accept only a limited number of CC classes of pre-reqs (think 2 in total). Additionally there is lingering belief among many adcom members that CC coursework isn’t as rigorous or challenging as coursework taken at a 4 year college.
If you must start at a CC for financial reasons, take your GEs at the CC and save taking your pre-reqs for your 4 year college.
As the others have said, I would avoid CC unless it is necessary. I mentioned my classmate to show you it’s not a hopeless situation that is doomed to fail, but it’s definitely an uphill battle vs. just going to a 4 year college.
Guess I’ll attend UC Irvine unless my waitlist status for Davis or San Diego (biomed engi/bioinformatics respectively) changes to admittance. 
@iwannabe_Brown @mom2collegekids @WayOutWestMom Thanks for all the help, but I have one more question.
I’m aware that major really doesn’t matter towards Med school, BUT I’m also aware that certain majors can help you get pre-med pre-req.s out of the way, as well as prepare you for Med. Is Biology a solid major, in regards to med, or is there a more optimal major?
Thanks again for your help :)>-
The majors with the greatest congruence with med school pre-reqs include: biology (and any of its subfields including neuroscience), chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, and, at some undergrads, public health.
There isn’t an optimal major for med school. A bio major can get you to med school, but so will a English lit, theology, classics, mathematics, gender/ethnic studies, computer science, or music theory major.
Major in a subject that you a) enjoy and b) will do well in.
It is also important to think about your Plan B when choosing a college major. Admission to medical school is quite competitive with only 38% of applicants gaining an acceptance last cycle. Every pre-med needs a Plan B.
@WayOutWestMom Makes sense, I’ve always beenbinterested in biomedical engineering as well, and i got into cal poly slo for that major, but I think that I’ll stil to bio at irvine for now (unless get into waitlisted colleges).
Does the undergraduate school you attend matter as well? I assume that Med schools would look a little more favorable toward a person with a 3.8 at UCLA than a person with. 3.8 at UC Irvine, but the difference isn’t that much, right?
Your GPA is your GPA. The name of the school it comes from is of much less importance than you think. Other facets of your application will hold much greater significance than where you went to undergrad.
For a discussion of this topic–read this thread (Start at post #3):
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1872160-grade-deflation-and-medical-school.html#latest
However, you do need to realize that as California resident, you’re already disadvantaged in the med school application process. California is the single largest producer (and exporter) of pre-meds in the country. UCLA & UCB alone produce more than enough pre-med grads every year to fill every single CA med school seat.