I am asked a lot regarding my opinion of acquiring your post-baccalaureate science programs in a community or technical college. These colleges will often be far easier for many people given that they offer nighttime and Saturday and Sunday classes as well as the usual Monday-Friday arrangment. They likewise represent the most cost effective approach in college presently. It may sound like they will be a great way to get through the prereqs and start working on medical school.
Now wait just a minute! Most admissions committees will not view classes coming from community colleges as being equal to those coming from larger four-year universities. Believe it or not, a few medical institutions blatantly state on their website that under no circumstances will they accept classes from community or online collges.
Several med schools will give consideration to them if you've taken upper division classes with a 4-yr university, but even then you must wonder if any community college work will be disadvantageous to you. And what if you have a B or a C in any technical college school?
I think the medical school prejudices against 2 year college and technical college training is actually a load of crap. Everyone would write the MCAT in any case, so why then will it matter at what type of school you do the pre-reqs? Furthermore, can they assume that a class of 20-30 college students learning from a professor is not as beneficial as taking a 300 person lecture hall and labs explained by TAs?
The caliber of introductory coursework, even from the finest institutions, is often really low quality and quite a few community and tech colleges in fact have better training. Unfortunately, the anti-community college tendency appears securely entrenched.
If you don't decide to subsequently take upper level classes inside the same subject areas, don't spend your time and efforts or cash on community or tech college programs at this stage. The only situation I can imagine in which it could be a good idea is if you're working full time and asking yourself if you possibly could tackle the courses; possibly a couple of 2 year college courses on the side allow you to try things out before you go towards a 4 year college and going through the classes when they will actually matter.
At the 4-yr college, you have got many choices. First, you could search for a formal post bac program and try to get an acceptance. For all those with low grade point average or reduced capital, it's easy to check out a neighborhood 4 year college and merely piece together your own postbaccalaureate program.
The majority do the last option, but for a few the formalized program might be a more suitable option. Be sure you shop around because there are some less reliable programs around just wanting to make a fast buck.
Now wait just a minute! Most admissions committees will not view classes coming from community colleges as being equal to those coming from larger four-year universities. Believe it or not, a few medical institutions blatantly state on their website that under no circumstances will they accept classes from community or online collges.
Several med schools will give consideration to them if you've taken upper division classes with a 4-yr university, but even then you must wonder if any community college work will be disadvantageous to you. And what if you have a B or a C in any technical college school?
I think the medical school prejudices against 2 year college and technical college training is actually a load of crap. Everyone would write the MCAT in any case, so why then will it matter at what type of school you do the pre-reqs? Furthermore, can they assume that a class of 20-30 college students learning from a professor is not as beneficial as taking a 300 person lecture hall and labs explained by TAs?
The caliber of introductory coursework, even from the finest institutions, is often really low quality and quite a few community and tech colleges in fact have better training. Unfortunately, the anti-community college tendency appears securely entrenched.
If you don't decide to subsequently take upper level classes inside the same subject areas, don't spend your time and efforts or cash on community or tech college programs at this stage. The only situation I can imagine in which it could be a good idea is if you're working full time and asking yourself if you possibly could tackle the courses; possibly a couple of 2 year college courses on the side allow you to try things out before you go towards a 4 year college and going through the classes when they will actually matter.
At the 4-yr college, you have got many choices. First, you could search for a formal post bac program and try to get an acceptance. For all those with low grade point average or reduced capital, it's easy to check out a neighborhood 4 year college and merely piece together your own postbaccalaureate program.
The majority do the last option, but for a few the formalized program might be a more suitable option. Be sure you shop around because there are some less reliable programs around just wanting to make a fast buck.
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If you're really contemplating medical school, check out this article on older pre-meds and post bacc programs which will help you avoid the biggest errors you can make. Also, there's always a special masters program to help speed up your acceptance to medical school.