<p>I am currently at a CCC (California Community College) with a GPA of 3.34, and I just decided that I want to go to med school. I've been at the community college for a year and a half taking a wide variety of classes (everything from Linear Algebra to Study of Fiction), but I haven't focused on bio/chem classes. Nearly all of the UC's biology-based majors require general and organic chemistry, which I haven't taken. Are the schools really strict about having those completed?</p>
<p>I know that I can take General Chemistry before I transfer, but I don't want to stay for another year to take Organic chem too. </p>
<p>P.S. By the time I transfer my GPA WILL be up to at least 3.6, I'm working as a Math tutor at a WASC accredited private school, I'm the treasurer of the math club, and a member of the biology club. Could these extracurriculars help to displace some missing transfer classes?</p>
<p>As stated earlier, they care about your pre-reqs greatly because its soothes graduation on time. Not finishing those pre-reqs mean staying longer=>more money + you are given least priority for the students who did complete the pre-req.</p>
<p>Just don’t apply as a bio major…you can be any major and go to med school. In the mean time, do finish your med school requirements at a decent pace… extracurriculars don’t make up for pre-req completion. Not completing G-chem should be an auto rejection from the Bio major at most UCs…not sure if Ochem is required but it would be helpful.</p>
<p>A couple of things here. First, if you took any chem in HS then you might want to think about taking O-chem and regular chem at the same time next year (I’m reading your post to mean you haven’t taken any chem yet, so are planning an additional year at the CC). They are tough classes, but its possible with good study skills and motivation. Talk to someone in the Chem dept at your CC to see if they will let you do this; O-chem doesn’t have too much reliance on what you learn in general Chem, and HS exposure to chem will probably be enough to be able to take it and understand what is going on.</p>
<p>You should familiarize yourself with the requirements to apply to med school. An excellent start is the guide at [Amherst</a> College Guide for Premedical Students](<a href=“http://www3.amherst.edu/~sageorge/guide2.html]Amherst”>Amherst College Guide for Premedical Students) There are also books that cover this and its worth reading one or two. For starters, you don’t need to major in Bio or even a science to apply. So you could xfer to a UC as a History or whatever major, do well in that (GPA is HUGE for med school) while at the same time taking the 9 or so classes required for med school. Thats the chem, calculus, physics, etc. Nothing stops a junior xfer from taking lower-division classes like these; you just need to be sure you can take them plus your major requirements and fit under the UC unit cap. If you go this route you’d probably also want to take a few upper-division science classes to show med schools you can handle that work. </p>
<p>In my next post I’ll give some more general advice</p>
<p>Ok, general advice, what I hope someone would be telling me if I was in your shoes. You write “I just decided that I want to go to med school.” I don’t mean to suggest this is not the right path for you, but I do mean to suggest this is likely a premature conclusion. This happens a lot on this board; people looking for colleges are always asking what colleges have the great pre-med programs that will get them into med school. Or someone, like yourself, decides that yep, med school is the ticket.</p>
<p>The issue is what you (and the others) have done to think this thru. Many HS-age kids can only name a few careers, so when they think of medicine they naturally think of doctor. But medical spending in the US in 2007, for example, was $2,260 billion dollars! Clearly there are a lot of occupations inside the medical umbrella other than doctor, and yet when people decide they are interested in medicine those thinking of higher ed almost invariably think doctor.</p>
<p>Understand that from where you stand now, 3 more years of college, 4 years med school, 3 years residency (up to 7) sit between you and your first day as a trained doctor. That’s a decade from now! I’m not saying it isn’t right for you, I am saying that before you lock this choice in you should spend some time looking into both whether being a doctor is right for you and what alternatives might exist before you sign up for a 10+ year journey and boatload of debt.</p>
<p>Volunteer work in a medical setting is an unofficial requirement to get into med school, and there’s nothing stopping you from beginning this February 2012. It will give you first-hand understanding of what doctors do, what other professions in the medical area might interest you, etc.</p>
<p>@mikemac
It may seem like I’ve jumped the gun on this decision, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot for the last two years. Because of the wide variety of classes that I have taken, I have honed in on what my interests are. I have decided to transfer to UCSD as a bioengineering transfer because I have thouroughly researched the curriculums for many UC majors and that one stands out to me most. </p>
<p>And, I actually don’t want to go to med-school to be a doctor. I would like to do medical research with the CDC or some other organization like it.</p>
<p>That’s a valid goal. At least you had time to try to take a variety of courses to find out what interests you most. </p>
<p>BioE would be hard at UCSD to get into, its impacted. And the #1 program in the nation. You would have to follow an engineer pre-req sequence and thats a lot of math, physics, bio and chem. </p>
<p>If you had to stay at cc another year to accomplish the bigger goal, then there is nothing wrong with that. Just concentrate on taking the most classes you can and getting the best grades. </p>
<p>If you really want to do med research, go MD-PhD and have your medical degree fully funded for free. But remember you do NOT need a PhD to do medical research. </p>
<p>You can major in anything to get into med school, as long as you take the classes required for the MCAT. You can choose an easier major than BioE… say Statistics and get into med school just fine. (And your g.p.a will probably be higher).</p>
<p>i love this thread because I am a pre-dental major as well but non trad. (majoring in poly sci)</p>
<p>anyways, I plan on doing Bio/Chem series in my first year and Ochem/Phys in my 2nd. </p>
<p>If you don’t choose to do that, then you will have to look for a post-bacc program or do a 2nd bachelors.</p>
<p>you don’t really have to equate residency into your equational timeline because you get paid for that and you will be working so much time will go fast, but I don’t want to do that, thats why I’m majorly considering dental.</p>
<p>Don’t forget to have your calculus finished for physics as well!</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ve already finished calculus, linear alg, and diff. eq., and started the physics requirements. </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Many California students are in a very difficult situation when it comes to doing medical school prerequisites. If they are at a CCC, before than can transfer to a UC they generally have to complete all of their lower division requirements in Biology and Chemistry before they will be accepted as transfers. This makes some sense in that you are limited in the amount of time you are allowed to finish your degree requirements for graduation after transfer. Taking a lot of lower division Biology, Chemistry and Organic Chemistry classes while trying to finish upper division requirements can make things very difficult.</p>
<p>However, competition for admission to medical schools is incredibly intense and medical schools tend to take a negative view towards medical school prerequisites taken at community colleges. The want to see those courses done at 4 year colleges or universities which they believe are more demanding.</p>
<p>UC medical schools are probably aware of the problem and will not hold it against you if you take your medical school prerequisites at a CCC but medical schools in the East and Midwest will probably not like seeing CCC courses used to meet medical school prerequisites.</p>