I am planning to join Berkeley City College and I want to do my major in Biochemistry and I’m planning to transfer to UCLA to further complete my undergraduate major. So, I just wanted to clear my confusion because I have been hearing a lot from some people not to do premed prerequisites courses in community college because I won’t get admitted to top medical colleges like Harvard which I would love to admit to.So what is the actual stuff? Can anyone please explain me what do I need to do?These days have been so hard for me thinking about my medicine career. I feel so helpless. I feel I won’t be admitted to top medical colleges if I take prerequisites in community college.I want proper guidance and also my steps from community college to med school.
This was advice I copied from the Pre-Med forum that was posted by a very knowledge CC poster @ WayoutWestMom.
Pre-med and CC:
Taking coursework at a CC is non-ideal but it’s not a total dealbreaker for med school.
While it’s true that some medical schools will not accept CC credits to fulfill med school admission requirements, many will
IF (and this is a very important IF)
you take additional upper level credits to supplement any CC science credits that you earn.
For example, if you take 3 quarters of intro bio at the CC, you MUST take at least 3 more quarters of upper level biology credits when you are at your 4 year transfer university. If you take 3 quarters of gen chem at the CC, then save ochem and biochem for the 4 year.
Now this may mean you will have to change your preferred major so that you can fit in all the required classes for graduation in your major AND take the rest of your pre-reqs.
I know that you need to earn enough credits to transfer to your desired major and that will require taking some pre-reqs at a CC–like intro bio and gen chem. But try hard not to take more sciences than just the first year of biology and chemistry. Then make sure you take ochem, biochem plus several more upper level bio classes when you get to your transfer college.
You can certainly take your GEs at a CC, plus non-science pre-reqs like writing skills, intro psych, intro sociology. You could even take Calc 1 and stats. ( If you do take the math classes at a CC make sure to take a biostats class after you transfer.)
As a practical matter, to major in biochemistry, you will need to complete most of the pre-med courses at community college, because these are the lower division prerequisites for the biochemistry major.
https://www.assist.org/transfer/report/23146107 says that (for UCLA’s biochemistry major):
In other words, you need to complete the following BCC courses:
CHEM 1A, 1B, 12A, 12B
BIOL 1A, 1B
MATH 3A, 3B
with the following recommended:
MATH 3C
PHYS 4A, 4B, 4C
However, as a biochemistry major, you will be taking substantial upper division biology and/or chemistry courses at UCLA or whatever four year school you transfer to.
So if I take these lower division courses at my community college then will that affect my MCAT application coz I took these med prerequisite courses at community college?
You will report all colleges and college courses on your medical school application. Some medical schools may look down on taking those courses at community college, but others will see your upper division biology and chemistry courses at a four year school as confirming your academic strength (assuming you earn pre-med-worthy grades in them).
Now, if you were not a biochemistry or other biology major (particularly a non-science/math major), your strategy of which pre-med courses to take at community college and which to take at a four year college would differ, in that you would want to take at least half or more of your pre-med courses at the four year school, so you would take just enough of them at community college (probably general chemistry and calculus, plus the non-science requirements of English/writing, psychology, and sociology) so that the rest could still fit into your post-transfer schedule alongside the upper division courses for your major.
So, do I not need to worry about this issue until and unless I complete my lower division courses of biochem at community college with good grades and continuing to excel academically at upper division courses after being transferred to 4-year university?
Also, my one query…Can I retake my most medical prerequisites that are contained in lower division courses for biochemistry after I get transferred ?
No, retaking classes for med school isn’t necessary if you have a good GPA and passed the courses. Also, keep in mind that since AACOM has killed grade replacement, any new grades from classes you retake will just be averaged together with your old grades. Your old grades will no longer be replaced on the AACOMAS application (for DO schools).
If you repeat courses (or AP credit), you will have to mark “repeat” for those courses on your medical school application. This will obviously look bad to medical school admission readers.