My daughter is at a private school and like one of the posters above, has few options/electives after taking her major, GE classes and premed classes. She wants to do physics over the summer. We’d all like to save a lot of $$$ if she did it at a Cal State. That is a more budget friendly option, but I also hear it’s not a good idea to take it at the local CC. Does it look bad to do physics at a CC? We are aiming towards a cal state since I think it looks better, but wanted expert opinions on both options. Thanks
Can she take a non-pre-med GE course, or something like psychology or sociology, during the summer, in order to reduce the appearance to some medical schools of avoiding a rigorous pre-med science course at her main college?
She’s literally jam packed. And she switched schools (within her college) that have completely changed some class requirements. (Ex- she wasted a year in language and now it’s not needed). Why would a cal state be bad? Surely there are kids who go to medical schools from a cal state. And we don’t qualify for FA- so ideally would like to save some money. She already is doing sociology- which is good for the premed- but now she switched majors- this particular sociology class is not accepted for the new major, so she has to take another one for her major. Too many changes, honestly
Do you mean to say that she has already completed all GE requirements that do not overlap with pre-med courses, so that only pre-med courses and/or courses required for her major need to be squeezed out of her schedule and moved to summer sessions?
will her college accept transfer credit from a Cal State? And does she need advanced permission from her college/major department in order to receive credit?
will the health professions committee at her college still agree to write her a strong LOR if she takes some of her pre-reqs elsewhere? (Some will; some won’t. Some will but will make note of the fact that coursework was taken at a “lesser” school when writing her LOR.)
It’s best to take science/math pre-reqs at her home college if at all possible–especially if it’s a class that’s typically perceived as “difficult” to do well in. (Like physics) However, if taking the class at a Cal State over the summer is literally her only option and her college health professions committee won’t penalize her, then… she can do it, but it’s not ideal. It will be a minor ding on her application.
Is physics offered at her home college over the summer? Taking it at her home college will look better.
Remember med school admission is partly a game of attrition. Because med schools receive dozens of applications for every available seat, Adcomms are actively looking for reasons to eliminate a candidate. Too many dings will take an applicant out of consideration.
And just a quick reminder, when your daughter does go to apply for medical school, she will need to send an official transcript from literally every college where she has ever taken a college level class. Including any dual enrollment credits from high school.
And since it appears your daughter lives in CA, she needs to be prepared to apply as widely as possible, since CA is the single largest producer of med school applicants in the country AND there aren’t nearly enough med schools seats in CA to accommodate them. Most of the successful CA med school applicants will attend an OOS med school.
This is very interesting. She has already done bio, chem, ochem (1st semester), calc, sociology and is doing bio chem and ochem now. So it’s really just the year long physics that’s left for her premed that is the problem. She’s had As in all of them.
I don’t think she needs the expense of a post bacc for one physics course.
@WayOutWestMom could this student do physics after she graduates from undergrad also…at a four year university? Many (if not most) medical school applicants don’t go directly to medical school right out of undergrad. Maybe she could do this one course while doing something else during a year or so after undergrad…and while prepping for the MCAT?
She was thinking of doing a progressive master degree if med school acceptance doesn’t happen right away. She also wanted to take the MCAT winter of her junior year- that’s why she wants physics at a Cal State Fullerton/Long Beach. Thanks for all the feedback especially coming from someone like me with zero experience dealing with med school requirements/applications!
A med school acceptance right away is unlikely. 65% of successful med school applicants take 1-4 gap years before starting med school in order to strengthen their ECs.
In order to be able to matriculate directly into med school from undergrad, your daughter would need to apply immediately after her junior year of college. This means having all her pre-req coursework completed, her MCAT score in hand, her LORs written and most important–all her ECs done.
Expected pre-med ECs include: long term community service with the disadvantage populations, physician shadowing (especially in primary care), long term clinical exposure thru volunteering or employment, lab or clinical research and leadership roles in her activities.
If she doesn’t have those ECs, her application will be DOA.
She has been on top on the volunteering and has also gotten a research opportunity starting in March. It’s been really difficult to get something in LA with covid.