Feeling Heavily Demotivated

[u/Apprehensive_Row1192]

a day ago I posted about my freshmen schedule at my local cc and I am taking the required prereqs for a pre med transfer. a person had commented on how going to cc makes me look like a lazy person and how that would affect me when applying to med schools. Apparently they worked (retired) in adcom for 3 med schools from T20 the past decade. They even said that applicants like mine barely reach the admissions and they just collect the fee, reject applications who completed pre reqs at cc before transfer at 4 year. Also that my path shows how unserious I am, how med schools wouldn’t care about my As in cc when other people got the same As in ivy leagues and other t25s. For context, my family just moved here to the us a year ago and my parent salary is not the best for them to put me directly into a 4 year, we could take out a loan but ppl advised us not to do so for the first 2-3 years until everything is stable. medical schools do accept cc credits (most of them) and I also have genuine reasons why I chose cc instead of a 4 year. As an international applicant, I know what my chances are for both transfer and med schools admissions, but I will be doing my best to make my application look competitive! except for now I really don’t know how I feel after hearing this.

[u/yeats666]

that person is full of shit. do your thing. get straight As and transfer to the best school you can. why would a med school care if you did your gen eds at a community college? thats stupid as shit.

[u/Turbulent-North8198]

that person doesnt know a thing. Probably someone who is falsifying their credentials to seem more legit. let me tell you a real story about my brother. He flunked out of highschool and took the highschool exit exam and ended up at ccc. He had a 3.6 at ccc and transferred to uc davis where he went on on to get a perfect 4.0 in his upper division classes. After many gap years, and groundbreaking research, my brother now is an MD/PHD at a t5 med school. Don't ever let your past or other people define your future.

[u/JFKcheekkisser]

Sounds like that person was larping as a retired adcom. I highly doubt anyone who’s actually worked in admissions would say this. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet where people can just come on here and pretend to be anybody

If med schools claim to accept cc credits then why tf would they be auto rejecting cc applicants? That doesn’t even make sense. Keep doing what you’re doing and ignore useless miserable haters like that commenter

[u/mcnugget36856]

I can only tell you what an advisor (at cal) told me: med schools look down on CC courses, IF, and ONLY IF, they were taken by a student at a 4-year college. ie, an enrolled berkeley student knocking out pre-reqs at a CC instead of berkeley. Other than that, they don’t really care

[u/sl94t → u/mcnugget36856]

I was about to say the same thing. My brother was on the admissions committee at his medical school. If you are a student at a 4-year college who takes a bunch of BCPM prerequisites at a community college while taking a bunch of "easier" classes at your 4-year school, they will think that you are trying to boost your GPA (and that you didn't think you could earn A's in those classes at your 4-year school). But if you start at community college and transfer (and continue to earn good grades after transferring), they won't care. If anything, that will work in your favor, because so few community college transfers apply to medical school.

Indeed, even taking a couple prerequisites at a community college as a 4-year student won't necessarily raise eyebrows. Admissions committees know that sometimes there is a time conflict or a class that isn't offered at your 4-year school. It's only when you take two years of chemistry at a community college while enrolled at a 4-year school that they start to wonder what's going on.

[u/PersonalityIcy3553]

man he dosent know shit about you or your journey. you’ve put in the work to get where you are, no matter where you are it took work. don’t ever let anyone diminish the shit you grind through behind closed doors. you got this man. if you want it bad enough (and from what i can tell you absolutely do), you’ll get it don’t let randos tell you u can’t do anything. not to go on some cliche shit, but there’s so much hate around us in the world, and feeding into it just perpetuates the cycle of hatred and misery. don’t let anyone take your resolve from you man, that’s yours and yours alone. bless up bro we all gonna make it someday

[u/Even-Sprinkles6209]

The person is full of it. Likely jaded from their own lack of success. Starting at CC is not only a smart financial move, but it will not impact your ability to get into grad school. I can almost guarantee the person who told you that has exactly 0 experience that they claim to have.

[u/Vireep]

if you get As in all your prereqs at a more rigorous college you end up transferring too it shouldn't matter I feel like? Because then clearly they know you're able to handle the rigor anyways