<p>Im into my second year at a CCC on the quarter system. I am planning to transfer next fall, probably to UCI in business economics or a UC in socal. Recently, i have decided to pursue medicine, the thought has always been in my head, but i have never acted on it. Now my problem is that i do not have any of the prereqs, besides probably math done for medical school. I am planning on taking chem next quarter or spring quarter, but even in the best case scenario i would not be done with more than 2 quarters worth of chemistry. I am trying to figure out is it worth staying another year at junior college to do the prereqs or just transfer and do them as i go along?</p>
<p>Just some background info:
Major: business economics
GPA: around 3.8-3.9
Units completed after this quarter: 66 (quarter system)
EC's: volunteering, outside activities, just regular stuff</p>
<p>my advice is that you do what you want to do. last thing you want is to be laying in your bed at 3am, ten years from now thinking "what if?"
if its something you always wanted to do, i say go for it.</p>
<p>if you don't want to delay your time getting into a UC, you may try just sticking with biz-econ as your major, but once accepted into the UC, start taking the pre-med pre-reqs. i will probably be doing something similar to that, with poli sci as my major.</p>
<p>First of all, do what you really want to do. I mean if you graduate with a degree in biz econ and within 10 years you feel that careers in this field aren't for you and you want to switch to medicine. Then you would have to go to school again. Its better to go for an extra year or two instead of waiting 5-10 years realizing that this isn't what you want to do. It saves you time in the long run. As for CCC or UC, its much cheaper to take courses at a CCC than at a UC. So cost might be an issue. I recommend you look at the department website and ask around to know for sure what your job prospects are and what field you like more.</p>
<p>I think so, but there is a test or something for the med school. I would agree with EJ20, why not spending 1 more year at UC to complete Bus Econ (it's possible, for 4-5 quarters and you can take class also in summer). But in a word, if you even plan to waste 1 year at college, why not "waste " it in a UC and get a BS in Bus Econ ??? you can even double major or minor in Bio chem after that if you want to. But just be careful with this: At UCLA, you can take up to 216 + 2 summer sessions classes (as much as you can finished in that 2 sessions, at most 24 units I think) before you graduate => 216+ 26 = 242 units. that's pretty much enough for double major if you plan the classes carefully. A suggestion in advance, if you plan to do so, you will kill all your summer time in 3 year, 1st year: when you just accepted, second year: when u are at LA, 3rd year: when ur going to graduate. I am not sure how the unit cap work at UCI. good luck</p>
<p>how many pre reqs he has left? he/she also can take advantage of the summer at his college after being admitted in other to clear about 15 units of pre-req. Then staying 3 years at LA. sorry, you don't have to kill 3 summer holiday if you can stay at LA for 3 years. What I said before was applicable when u want to get out in 2 years with double majors</p>
<p>thanks for the responses... but i really dont want to double major. Would it be possible to finish all pre-reqs and complete my degree in biz econ at a UC in 2 years after transferring?</p>
<p>other option is to stay another year at CC... i really dont want to though. Ive also heard staying another year at CC just to do prereqs would look kind of wierd</p>
<p>Stay the extra year. Get some clinical experience before transferring. It going to be highly competitive for you. Most premed students at UCLA begin clinical internships sophmore year, so if you want to be able to compete for those internships that make your resume stand out, then you're gonna need a strong foundation in math/sciences and some experience.</p>
<p>Remember, grades/mcat are just two components to being admitted to med school.</p>
<p>I would highly advise that you not spend the extra year at CC taking the prerequisites for a couple of reasons.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You have a highly competitive GPA right now. You WILL get into an economics program with that kind of GPA. If you were to stay an extra year taking prereqs at the CC level, you risk forgoing that GPA, and due to the competitiveness of economics programs within the UC system, you could potentially compromise admission into said schools. </p></li>
<li><p>As you have mentioned, it will be impossible to complete a substantial portion of your medical school prereqs at the JC level. Even after you transfer, it will be very difficult to take the med school prereqs, complete economics, get volunteering experience, AND study for the MCATS. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Here's what I would do (in fact this is i'm kind of working towards too [still deciding whether or not i'm forreals about being a doc]):</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Transfer to the school of your choice. Excel at your major and keep your GPA up there 3.6+ AT LEAST.</p></li>
<li><p>In your free time get a lot of experience with either volunteering at a hospital or working as some kind of lab tech or whatever...whatever you can get. Getting a job as a lab tech will be hard since you're an econ major, but it's def possible--right now I'm an econ major working as a research assistant at a biotech firm. </p></li>
<li><p>Graduate on time from your undergrad and apply to post-baccalaureate premedical programs. These programs go anywhere from 18 to 24 months and usually have a 70-90% admission rate into medical schools vs. the national average of 45%. Most of these schools also boast ties with certain medical schools. The downside is that they're usually pretty expensive. I know that SF state has some kind of program for $5000 a year or something like that, but I haven't found out anything about how strong the program is. Mills College up near oakland has a REALLY good program but that's about $25k a year. I think Berkeley's extension has a program thats roughly 8k a year. USC offers a good program. UCI offers one for "disadvantaged" students. So def look into this. All you have to do is google "post-baccalaureate pre medical" and you'll get a ton of results. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>hope that helps you get started on your track to med school</p>
<p>thanks poppin, i thought about the post-bac. are they relatively difficult to get into?
my friend suggested i stay but then apply for winter or spring admission? or i thought about if i just apply now , and ask if i could defer for 1 or 2 quarters?</p>