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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am a new poster- I was also a nontraditional medical student.

TJ -> UVA and went into multimedia development, mostly web but also some web based educational software. I volunteered at a hospital because I liked it. After a few years I decided I would really rather be in medicine and started taking the courses I would need to apply. A post-bacc was really expensive and I was going to be paying on my own. So, I went to community college at night (NVCC and LFCC depending on offerings) and took a job as a medical assistant and medical office manager for a single physician practice. Studied a lot on my own and did well on the MCAT. Fortunately got in to an MD program on my first round of applying! No debt because I went through the military- has pros and cons but medical school has become so expensive, esp if you know you want to go into a lower paid specialty.

Having outstanding grades and high test scores is important, but I agree that the application process is holistic and looks at the whole applicant- it helps to have something different about you, and something you're passionate about. [/quote]

Very interesting. My DC1 is at Brown and they won't take CC science classes. [/quote]

Brown Medical School? The undergrad school does not have to accept the post bacc classes.[/quote]

Yes. A quick google search points that other med schools also discourage science classes at CC
https://www.upstate.edu/com/admissions/faqs.php[/quote]

Very high number medical schools take cc credits.[/quote]

I'm the prior poster who took community college classes. I called the schools I most wanted to attend and ensured that those classes would be acceptable. In Virginia since the basic science community college course credits transfer to our state flagships so it wasn't an issue. I was applying to mid tier schools out of state and of course the VA allopathic medical schools. I graduated about 10 years ago, though, so of course check current policies and specific schools.

In the context of a strong academic history taking a few classes at CC and acing them, and then doing well on the MCAT it was fine. The upside of CC is that classes like organic chemistry didn't have a lot of students so I had a lot of one on one instruction and learned the topics well. I had already taken some science courses in undergrad and did well (bio, chem). I was already successful in a different STEM field so that probably impacted my applications.

The med school application process seems like it's a lot more miserable than when I applied. I didn't want to waste money applying to schools where I had no shot so I only applied to 6, interviewed at 4 and was accepted to 2. It seems like current students are encouraged to apply much more broadly and applicants are getting more qualified all the time.

I would definitely say that community college while working full time and volunteering and then test prepping on my own, and navigating the whole application process solo was not optimal. If I had a kid who was really sure they wanted medicine I would encourage them to look at one of the combined undergrad/MD programs. For someone making a career change who didn't want to go in debt it worked out for me but it did take a lot of hustle and planning. [/quote]

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