<p>I suggested that simply b/c you seemed to imply that you didn’t want the credits to transfer. I know that at my alma mater, courses taken at the remedial level (ie below College Algebra) were not for credit anyways. You’re likely to be dealing with a lot of different policies on that though, so that’s why you need to be sure you know what’s going on.</p>
<p>The thing about “not spending 4 years” in college isn’t really that medical schools look down on it, just that having less than 4 years doesn’t present as full of record of achievement. If you get done in three years, then you’ll be applying after your second year. Everyone else getting done in 4 will be applying after their 3rd - a 50% increase over you. That’s more time to build a good academic record, and perhaps more importantly, more time to build your resume with other accomplishments - research, campus involvement, volunteering, shadowing MDs, etc.</p>
<p>I think you have two options here - CC to get “caught up”, taking mostly remedial classes in preparation for taking the SAT/ACT. So mainly math it seems plus whatever else (French?) you feel you need to get accepted to a college you like. This may be a year depending on what you feel you need to take.
Option two would be to enter a CC and go on to get your Associates Degree. So that’d be two years most likely, maybe three again dependent on your need to take remedial classes. Then you’d transfer like any other AA degree holder, and would need to look at how the credits transfer in your favor. During this time at CC, you could be doing the things like shadowing physicians and volunteer work, as well as getting involved on campus. We tend to suggest that you try to avoid as many pre-med science requirements while you are at a CC, simply b/c med schools would prefer to see you complete them at a 4 year university.</p>
<p>Of these two options I’m not sure which is better, or which you might prefer. I also don’t know your parents’ financial situation or of those other sorts of things that may make one scenario harder than the other.</p>
<p>The big thing I hope you realize is that you are smart enough to get through all this. I feel bad using “remedial” so often like you can’t handle the work of normal classes, when I know that’s not the case. You got put in a rough situation through no fault of your own and are simply having to play catch up. I feel for you.</p>
<p>Hope</p>