Community College to State university as a pre med?

Hi All! Currently, I’m working as a nursing assistant and am a nursing major. I’ve always been torn with the idea of medical school, but my family has pushed me to do nursing because of the debt that medical school brings along. Although I don’t think I would be 100% unhappy with being a nurse, I do believe that I will feel a sense of unfulfillment when I’m middle-aged, wishing I did medical school when I have a great opportunity. Anyways, I’m trying to map out my medical school path, and was wondering how it would look to adcoms if I complete medical school prerequisites at a local community college, then transfer to possibly CSUN to earn a degree, then apply to medical school. I currently have a 3.53 GPA, am in General Chemistry I and Microbiology, and have worked as a nursing assistant for about a year. Would this path be a setup for failure? I’m not choosing to transfer to a state university because of fear of rigorous courses, but because of the money, as well as location, I would prefer not to leave home until absolutely necessary, if at all, the only UC close enough to me to drive is UCLA, and unfortunately I don’t believe I have the finances or GPA necessary to get to that university. Thank you for the help!

There are a few medical schools that simply will not accept pre-reqs completed at a CC. At most medical schools there is a very strong expectation (or a requirement) to supplement any CC coursework with additional upper level classes in the same field at a 4 year college.

It’s strongly recommended that students attempting the CC–>4 year–> med school save as many pre-reqs as possible to take at their 4 year university.

Many adcomms view CC classes as less competitive than classes taken at 4 year college and want to see how you stack up against the more competitive students at a 4 year college.

You don’t need to attend UCLA. You can take your pre-reqs and earn your degree at CSUN, then apply to med school.

If you pursue a nursing degree, its is critically important to make sure that your coursework is the right level. Many CCs/colleges offer 3 science tracks: one for science majors, one for allied healthcare professions and one for non-science majors. Only courses for the science majors can be used to meet med school admission requirements.

Nursing majors are disadvantaged in medical schools admissions because adcomms at many medical schools are reluctant to “poach” students from other healthcare professions. In general, nurses (and other allied healthcare professionals) applying to med school are expected to have worked in career field for several years first and to be able to clearly articulate why medicine? and not nursing.

@WayOutWestMom Thank you for the reply. I’m aware of the stigma against nursing as a premed profession, it is understandable, I already took A&P at a CC. Do you think taking physics, ochem, and math at CSUN will be sufficient?

At your CSUN, take ochem, biochem (required by many med schools & tested on the MCAT), physics, stats (or biostats), calc 1, and 2 semesters/3 quarters of upper level bio electives.

You should be good to go, assuming you’ve got all the other unwritten pre-med requirements: community service, clinical VOLUNTEERING, physician shadowing (besides what you’ve gotten through your CNA/nurse exposure).

Demonstrated leadership is highly valued by adcomms. (This doesn’t need to be in on-campus clubs. It can be through holding position of responsibility at your job, at your faith community or in a community service organization.)

Basic lab or clinical research isn’t strictly required/expected, but 85% of med school matriculants have at least 1 summer full time or a couple of semesters of part time paid or unpaid research. Osteopathic and mission-focused schools are less concerned with applicants having research experience than highly competitive programs like UCLA, USC, UCSF, UCSD.

California is THE most competitive state for med school admissions. The California DO schools have stats rivaling those of mid tier MD programs. California applicants need to apply widely to numerous schools outside the state to have the best chance of gaining an acceptance.

Good luck @evee123 !

I think the major problem you are facing is that your GPA is not med school worthy at this point. A 3.5 from CCC won’t get you into ANY med school let alone UCLA SOM, you will need much higher GPA in your CC AND after you transfer, the 4 year school you went. CSUs have very few students went to med school (in relative to the number of attending) and those who do have almost flawless GPAs and at least 80% Mcat. You need work very very hard to bring up your GPA now and in the future. Since you are a CNA, you have enough ECs to apply for any med school.

I can venture that if you have the stats to get in the three top UCs, you might have a chance to get in a MD school. If you can only get in CSUN, the chances will be most likely a DO schools. As WOWM stated, the two DO schools in CA are among the most difficult DO schools to get in.

If I transfer to CSUN and major in biochem, could I take my prereqs at a CC? (Physics, calc, ochem, and gen chem) Or should I save those for CSUN? Also, what are my chances for med school outside of CA? I don’t mind moving if I need to to get in. Finally, what minimum GPA is expected for any real shot at med school? Thank you for your response! @artloversplus

@evee123

In 2016, the average GPA for accepted MD students was 3.7 with a 3.64 for science. For successful CA MD matriculants, it 3.68 overall and 3.62 for science.

https://www.aamc.org/download/321494/data/factstablea16.pdf
https://www.aamc.org/download/321502/data/factstablea20.pdf

For DO students, it was 3.56 overall and 3.44 science

https://www.aacom.org/docs/default-source/data-and-trends/2016-aacomas-applicant-amp-matriculant-profile-summary-report.pdf?sfvrsn=10

If you are a first generation college student, come from a disadvantaged background or are member of a UiM (under-represented in medicine) group, you may get a small bit of leeway on your GPA.

No one can tell you what your chances are for getting a med school acceptance outside of CA. It’s too soon to say. You’d need to have a final GPA and MCAT score.

As for taking your pre-reqs at a CC then transferring to CSUN, you need to talk with the transfer advisor at your CC who will help you map out your coursework. Articulation agreements between the CSU/UC system and CCC lays out what courses are you are required to take at the CC level.

One general comment-- while the distinction between the UCs and CSUs is pretty sharp in California. Outside of CA, it is as well known. The lesser UCs (other than UCSD, UCLA, UCB) and CSUs are often looked at as being about the same in the East and Midwest.

You should try to take all med school prerequisites at a FOUR school.

Also, you’ll need to make sure you’ve taken psychology, sociology, a diversity-focused course at your CC, a bioethics of philosophy class can be useful too.

Top students from CSUs do get into med schools. However, there is relatively few premed students from CSU, of about 125,000 CSU yearly graduates, only about 1,000~2000 premeds ever applied for med schools, the problem may not be their GPA, it could be sGPA, MCAT or difficult to get good ECs. That is far fewer than UC graduates, the reason is that CSU has a different mission than UC, CSU’s mission is to prepare its graduates for the immediate job market, whereas UC is more research and graduate school focused.

If the OP has the stats to transfer to top UCs and choose to attend CSU, the chances are better for med school. Based on the 3.5 performance in CC, you have to work much harder for Mcat and get mostly A’s at a CSU.

I think that you have a difficult road if you wish to become a doctor. As a caveat, I know nothing about DO schools but am very familiar with the California medical schools. You GPA of 3.5 at a CC is not good. A CC is nowhere near as rigorous as a even a CSU and a CSU is much easier than the top Universities such as UCB or UCLA. Basically you need a 4.0 from here on out at your CC taking mostly GE courses than transfer to the best University you can afford.
A 4.0 for two years at a CSU plus good MCAT scores etc might get you in someplace. It would not however surprise me if you were not accepted anywhere even with the above scenario. A transfer to to an upper UC type University with similar grades however would help a lot. You should look at good private school that meets need. The problem with transfer to private schools however is that many such schools give good aid to freshman but not to transfers.

@evee123 I’m a little confused. How much CC have you completed (ie one semester completed, two semesters completed, more)?

Based on OP’s posting date, I’d venture to say he is in the second year of CC. And I think there is plenty of time to make up his GPA and med school is still very realistic in his future. If he is getting all As, or at least getting mostly As from now on, no matter whether he ended up in UC or CSU, he will be successful in the med school quest.

@artloversplus thanks, your post answers where I was headed with my question.

As a practical matter, if your intended major is biochemistry, you will have to take the lower division major prerequisites at CC before transfer as a junior (these are often required by CSUs and UCs). Therefore, it is not realistic to delay taking the typical pre-med courses (which are the same as the lower division prerequisites for biochemistry) until after you transfer to the four year school. However, as a biochemistry major, you will take many upper division science courses at the four year school that you transfer to.

Whether some medical schools will frown on this type of academic record (with the lower division pre-med courses taken at CC, but with upper division science courses taken at a four year school) is another story.