<p>Hey everyone,
One of my sons is a current junior in high school at an dual enrollment college prep school out here in Texas with a reputable junior college being the partner school. By the time he graduates HIGH SCHOOL, He will have completed about 64 college credits (2 years transferrable). As of right now, He is most likely going to the nearby UTexas school. This is where the problem comes into play. The classes he took dual enrollment include: College bio 1 and 2, College Chem 1 and 2, Calc 1, and several english courses and other electives. As you can see, the bio, chem, and math pre reqs for med school are already finished by him. this is wat concerns me. When I was looking online through med school student's blogs and stuff, I hear that CC classes for premed reqs is BAD BAD idea even if he substitutes it with higher level bio and chem and math courses at the UT when he transfers. So can he retake all his courses again at the UT when he enters as a freshman with 64 credits instead of transferring the credits and taking junior level courses??? I hope he can because I dont want to reflect upon his high school decisions as a bad idea 5 years down the road when he is rejected by every med school. His other option is to transfer the 2 years to the UTexas and enter as a junior (but he still wants to spend 3-4 years in undergrad) so he would probs do double major or something and apply to med school after 3-4 years.Also is there any other advice or comments on this topic? PLEASE???</p>
<p>he is also thinking of applying to out of state schools. he really wants to get into Duke, Penn, Cornell, and Vanderbilt. Also Private In state like Rice he LOVES. would this option be better for him becuase they wouldnt accept any credits? I am fine with the no accepting credits part as long as it doesnt hurt him in the long run or whatever.</p>
<p>What medical schools don’t like is CC credits without higher level credits at a 4 year school in the same subject area. Especially since he would have taken his pre-reqs in high school. (Except for math, assuming that he’s taken Calc 1 and stats DE, he’s good to go math-wise for med school admission.)</p>
<p>Retaking the classes at UT would look even worse since he is required to report both his DE credits and his college credits to AMCAS when he applies–which will clearly show he retook classes he already had credit for. This looks like he is trying to pad his GPA–which med schools definitely don’t like.</p>
<p>(BTW, he will need to report his DE credits whether his eventual college accepts them or not. He will need to report them even if he never sends his DE transcripts to his college for evalution/consideration. It’s the rule. )</p>
<p>If he is willing to take upper level bio and chem at UT, having intro level DE credits shouldn’t hurt his app in 3-4 years. (Did he take physics at the CC also? If so, he may want to consider taking 1 semester of physics at UT.)</p>
<p>It really doesn’t matter whether he matriculates at a private or UT. Undergrad doesn’t make a huge difference in med school admissions. He should choose the college that offers the best mix of fit, opportunity and cost.</p>
<p>What he should not do is graduate from UT in 2 years and apply to med school as a 19 year old. Younger than typical applicants have a much more difficult time getting accepted into med school because the onus is on them to prove they are mature enough to handle the responsibility of patient care.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your advice! I had just one question. He knows he doesnt want to apply to med school at 19. he wants to spend 4 years at the undergrad. But wat type of courses will he be taking instead then? in his last year or two? Cause he will already have completed higher level sciences? or can u technically never run out of them? So if he transferred 2 years credit, it would not look bad right if he stayed at the college for 4 years nevertheless the credits right? I am really really worried right now. He got two Bs in his college classes already… they are english…</p>
<p>He will never run out of higher level science classes in college. Even in the extremely unlikely event he exhausts the undergrad offerings in his dept, he can always take grad level classes. (Grad classes can be used towards undergrad or grad credit.)</p>
<p>And just because he has tons of humanities/social science credits going in doesn’t mean he will able to complete all the requisites and co-requisites for a science degree in 2 years. In fact, I doubt he’ll be able to.</p>
<p>Med schools won’t care if he could have graduated in 2 years, but stayed for 4, because 4 is the norm for undergrad. So long as he uses his time profitably during those 4 years and doesn’t take subpar courseload of <15 credits/semester, he’ll be fine.</p>