Start out at a CC or 4-year college

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
21

<p>So what if it's hard to fail out of med school? If you get bad grades in med school, bad clinical write-ups, and a bad residency, guess what? You're going to be a bad doctor! That's the whole point of having standards. That's why the med schools highly recommend you take your premed classes at the university level, so when you do start med school you don't fail. And just because they don't literally kick you out doesn't mean you weren't a failure to the program (and now a liablility). Having harder classes is the choice you make when you go to an elitist school. Either work harder to get the grades you need there, or don't go to MIT for premed. It's as simple as that. Don't blame the adcom for not being able to determine how hard you worked to get a C there as compared with a POSSIBLE grade you could have received elsewhere. Why not just let everyone who does premed at MIT or Caltech into med school, no questions asked? Not using grades at all in the admissions process would be a huge mistake. Although the system isn't perfect, in most cases and in most schools it is a good measure of the effort the student put in over the course of several years - and a good way to compare students. I agree with you that it's not very fair when students major in liberal arts to inflate their grades, but it really doesn't matter to me. I chose one of the harder majors at my university for a reason. As Shraf said, if you set your standards high as an undergrad, you're preparing yourself for success in med school. Yes, this is a hard path and I would recommend it for people who don't just want to get into med school, but for those who actually want to be great physicians as well. </p>

<p>jyancy is correct in their post when it says there is a difficulty discrepancy between community college and university classes...and that discrepancy is huge. There might be a couple of CC's out there that might be comparable in a class or two, but I think this is very rare. I've tutored people in Calc. and Chem from several community colleges and honestly couldn't believe how easy the classes were. I can't express how huge the difficulty gap is between university and CC. The adcoms are right to not look at classes taken at community colleges favorable. I personally wish they didn't accept them at all.</p>

22

<p>
[quote]
So what if it's hard to fail out of med school? If you get bad grades in med school, bad clinical write-ups, and a bad residency, guess what? You're going to be a bad doctor! That's the whole point of having standards. That's why the med schools highly recommend you take your premed classes at the university level, so when you do start med school you don't fail. And just because they don't literally kick you out doesn't mean you weren't a failure to the program (and now a liablility). Having harder classes is the choice you make when you go to an elitist school. Either work harder to get the grades you need there, or don't go to MIT for premed. It's as simple as that. Don't blame the adcom for not being able to determine how hard you worked to get a C there as compared with a POSSIBLE grade you could have received elsewhere.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Don't you see the inherent paradox in your position? On the one, you counsel people against going to community college in order to pump up their grades to look good to medical school. On the other hand, you say then say that people should choose not to go to MIT. Don't you see that that's the basically the same thing? Both ways involve choosing an easier path in order to get higher grades. So why is it good advice to not go to MIT, but not good advice to pick up some easy A's at a community college? Honestly, what's the difference? </p>

<p>
[quote]
Why not just let everyone who does premed at MIT or Caltech into med school, no questions asked?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Who said anything about letting them all in. I propose to having admissions decisions not rest of grades. I personally think the best way to go is to just use a single comprehensive test to determine your academic ability. If the test is lacking, then the solution is to design a better test. </p>

<p>As a case in point, I would point out that this is precisely how ALL admissions were determined in the US in the past. In the old days, if you wanted to get into Harvard or MIT, you just had to score high enough on an entrance exam. Nobody cared about your grades. If you did well on the exam, you were in, if not, then you were out. Simple as that. That's how admissions are STILL run today at many prestigious foreign universities, notably the India Institutes of Technology, as well as many university systems in Europe and Japan. Admissions are based on one or more tests - either you score high enough, or you don't. Everybody takes the same test(s), so you never have to worry about trying to gauge different grading standards.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Not using grades at all in the admissions process would be a huge mistake. Although the system isn't perfect, in most cases and in most schools it is a good measure of the effort the student put in over the course of several years - and a good way to compare students. I agree with you that it's not very fair when students major in liberal arts to inflate their grades, but it really doesn't matter to me. I chose one of the harder majors at my university for a reason. As Shraf said, if you set your standards high as an undergrad, you're preparing yourself for success in med school. Yes, this is a hard path and I would recommend it for people who don't just want to get into med school, but for those who actually want to be great physicians as well.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>But again, the problem lies at the margins. There are people at MIT and Caltech who would be great physicians, but can't even get into medical school because their ostensible grades aren't good enough. That's the problem. On the other hand, there are people who skated their way through easy majors and are in medical school now. This is a huge inefficiency that ought to be rooted out.</p>

<p>However, as it stands now, the current system sadly rewards academic cowards - those who deliberately take easy classes at easy schools. Counseling people to avoid MIT is the same advice as counseling people to take classes at an easy community college. It's the same idea in principle - in both cases, you are counseling somebody to take the easy way out. Hence, you can't support one and not the other.</p>

23

<p>So what should a person do if they have to go to a community college?</p>

24

<p>Nothing other than getting good grades and a good MCAT score.</p>

25

<p>heres a tip, forget about community college, its too easy and you wont learn as much. another thing is you dont have to go to MIT or caltech if you know they are so hard. but still, that doesnt mean take the easy way out. go to a GOOD school, it doesnt have to be ivey league or prestigious, but GOOD, for example: rutgers, university of florida, university of miami, penn state. these are all very good colleges with a strong premed curriculum.</p>

<p>so in summary, don't be dumb and take your requirements at community college, it only shows that you dont have what it takes to do well in med school and become a "good" doctor. And also, dont go to grade deflated schools even if they are ranked high because you may learn more but the system wont work out the right way.</p>

26

<p>Are not-so-good universities seen equally as bad as community colleges. Say I go to a bad university for 2 years then transfer to a better one, would that be seen the same as going to a CC for 2 years then tranfering?</p>

27

<p>bump? I want to know thank you.</p>

28

<p>If I were to speculate, my guess is that no, most four-year universities would be seen as being superior to community colleges.</p>

29

<p>The point that you guys are forgetting is that not all smart people will make good doctors. For example, I doubt Albert Einstein would make a good doctor. </p>

<p>That is why in addition to good test scores, and good grades you need 2 be a sociable, friendly, and well-rounded person because the best of doctors are those that are the most human. </p>

<p>Accordingly, choose a school that will give u the most opportunities to excel in medicine in addition to providing you with a good education. It doesn't have 2 be an Ivy league or MIT but it should be a school that allows you to develop academiclly, and socially while providing you with great opportunities. Community Colleges are a great way to start if you lack funds but if you can afford a 4-year university it is your best bet.</p>