<p>I've heard lots of conflicted information about whether it's a good idea or not to take premed requirements (specifically physics) someplace else during the summer, like at a CC. Would do you guys think?</p>
<p>Not a good idea unless you have a really really good reason for doing it. I think I personally may have to take some over the summer at a normal college but that is because there are no openings in the class so I can't sign up for it. Med schools like seeing full courseloads because that simulates med school. The figure that if you take something during the summer you can't hack during a full load semester. This is all unless you have a special circumstance.</p>
<p>Well, the truth of the matter is, med-schools are going to have no idea whether you have a really good reason or not. For example, anybody can just take classes over the summer and just say that they had to do it because there were no openings available during the regular semester, and med-schools aren't going to bother to try to verify that claim. Not that I'm advocating lying in any way, but the simple fact of the matter is that there's no good way for med-schools to know whether you took summer courses because you were forced to do it or whether because you freely chose to do it. </p>
<p>Because of that, my take is that taking summer courses is fine. Obviously the best thing for you to do is to take premed courses at your regular school and get A's in them. The problem, of course, is that not everybody is able to do that. The regular classes tend to be curved such that only a limited number of A's are given out. For the purposes of med-school admission, it's better to do premed work at a CC and get A's than to do regular-semester premed work at your regular school and get bad grades. </p>
<p>I agree with the gist that you don't want to be seen taking low-load semesters. But just because you do coursework over the summer doesn't mean that you have to take a light load during the regular semester.</p>
<p>I agree with bigndude. I would guess that taking those summer classes would raise some questions among the med school admissions board.</p>
<p>Unless your college is one of those incredibly tough science schools (Johns Hopkins, Cornell, etc...), it's probably best to take all premed requirements at your school.</p>
<p>I agree with Impact.
Sakky's argument has always been that a high GPA, no matter how obtained, will at least get you a second look from an adcom. I think it just delays your rejection letter a bit.</p>
<p>You pretty much summed up my arguments. The way I see it, you want to stay alive in the admissions process for as long as possible. You can't get admitted if you get immediately rejected in a first-round numerical screen. For the same reason that med-school adcoms don't seem to scrutinize the fact that certain majors like engineering give out lower grades than do others (you can ask people like Calkidd about this), or don't seem to care that certain schools (most notably those whose names end in the words "Institute of Technology") grade harder than others, so then it seems doubtful to me that med-school adcoms would particularly care if you did your premed stuff over summer, even at a CC. </p>
<p>Look, obviously the best thing for you to do is complete your premed work at a difficult school and get top grades. The problem is that not everybody is able to do that. Go tell the premed at MIT that it's a cakewalk to get all A's in MIT premed coursework, and watch him laugh. Hence, the second best thing to do is to do your premed work at an easy place, and get top grades. That's not as good as the first option, but it's clearly a whole lot better than doing premed coursework at a difficult school and getting bad grades. Maybe your admissions chances are low if you do your premed coursework at a cC in the summer. But hey, if you don't get invited to submit the secondary-app, a determination that is made almost solely by numerical criteria, then your chances of admission are zero. Low chances are better than zero.</p>
<p>Besides, I don't see what's so 'wrong' with doing your premed coursework at a CC. Y'all seem to be acting as if this move is somehow wrong or unethical. Why? Plenty of people can't get into a good university right after high school, so they use CC's as a stepping stone to improving their lives, including taking premed coursework. And a lot of working adults use CC's to change careers. I know people who graduated years ago but now decide that they want to try to become doctors, so they complete their premed coursework at a CC. There are plenty of reasons why people are in CC premed courses. If it's OK for these people to be in there, why isn't it OK for a current college student to be in there too? Where is it written that if you're a current college student who wants to do premed coursework, that you are automatically obligated to do it at your college? </p>
<p>You might say that such a person might be doing that just to pick up easy grades, but like bigndude said, there are perfectly legitimate and logical reasons for why you might do this. How would the med-school know what is legitimate and what isn't? Again, I'm not advocating that anybody behave unethically, but the fact of the matter is that there is no way for a med-school to really know why you took your premed courses at a CC.</p>
<p>They don't know why someone went to a CC and they don't really care. Academic snobbery abounds in med schools and adcoms reflect that perfectly.</p>
<p>I know that CC credits are not transferable at my school - you should check up on your school's policy. Most schools will, however, allow you to take classes at a 4 year institution which works to your advantage. I attend a school where competition is ridiculously intense and am currently taking one of my requirements at my local state school. The class is a joke and the kids are no where near as bright as those at my school. It's sad how intelligent kids at top schools are forced off the premed track because of their grades, while their less intelligent counterparts at the state schools do make it.</p>
<p>You all amke wonderful, logical arguments about why MedAdComs should respect Comm Colleges or should respect challenging private schools over State U.</p>
<p>Remember the first task of the AdCom. Take an applicant pool of 35,000, each of whom applies to 10-15 schools (350,000 to 525,000 applications), and fill 16,600 seats.</p>
<p>They don't have to care and if they miss a few worthy candidates in the crunch it can't be helped. In war it's called collateral damage.</p>
<p>To put a finer point on it, state universities should not be confused with CCs. In my neighborhood, a 4.0 from LSU will trump a 3.0 from Tulane easily.</p>
<p>
[quote]
They don't know why someone went to a CC and they don't really care. Academic snobbery abounds in med schools and adcoms reflect that perfectly.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Exactly. That's exactly what I thought. So I think we can all agree that the process isn't fair, and the adcoms don't really care that it's not fair. As a corollary, I've often wondered why is it that MIT premeds have such difficulty in getting into med-school, relative to premeds from HYPS, or why is it that engineering students have such problems in getting into med-school. Now, I think the mystery has been explained.</p>
<p>It's funny - at my university, the engineering school has a higher med school admissions rate than the arts and sciences school.</p>
<p>My only concern with that would be if taking pre-med classes at a community college, and acing them (presuming highly) is that the A's you earn wont transfer over to your university, instead you'll just get teh credits transfered.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It's funny - at my university, the engineering school has a higher med school admissions rate than the arts and sciences school.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This may be due to the selectivity of the 2 different schools. Some schools have different admissions processes for the engineering school and the arts/science school such that the engineering students are better students than the arts/science students, and so it is that boost in initial quality that can translate into a higher premed placement rate. After all, MIT is a notoriously difficult school, yet MIT still manages to place a higher percentage of its premeds than the national average, simply because MIT is an extremely selective school and therefore gets very high quality students in the first place. </p>
<p>There is also something to be said for self-selection - which is that it is possible that only the very best engineering students are applying, whereas lots of mediocre arts/science students are applying. That's why it's important to look at things like average gpa and MCATs of the different student pools.</p>