<p>Just trying to help a friend but I’m not familiar with either applying as a transfer or doing pre-med.</p>
<p>Student, a young lady, is a California resident hoping to transfer to a four year and do pre-med. Comes from a family of 8 (six kids) and family income is low. Student is good, As and Bs (most likely all As this semester), and has a lot of work experience. She got a certificate to be a law assistant (or something like that) from the local UC extension but has gone back to the community college and now wants to go pre-med. She a very sharp young lady. The family’s been through a lot.</p>
<p>Looking for any suggestions for colleges, pretty much anywhere (Do you still look for reach, match and safeties as a transfer?). I don’t know if they qualify for Pell grants but it’s a definitely possibility.</p>
<p>Thanks for any advice that I can pass along.</p>
<p>There are 1000’s of schools she could consider. She should know that she may still have to do 3 or 4 years at a 4 year school depending on the classes she took at her CC. What kind of school does she want, small, big, private, public, etc. Being that low of an income in a family that size, there is a good chance she won’t have to pay anything for a 4 year school. I would suggest looking at the list of schools that meet 100% of need.</p>
<p>At her current school is a “transfer counselor” whose entire job is to match students like your friend with 4-year college options. That should be her first appt. Good luck to her!</p>
<p>Hopefully, the transfer counselor is available. With the severe budget cuts to our community colleges, I don’t know how available the counselors are.</p>
<p>Steve, I like the idea of looking at schools that meet 100% of need. Since I’m wholly unfamiliar with pre-med (I’m not even sure what that means in terms of major and coursework, to be honest), I didn’t know how one finds schools. Do most schools have that track? Is that biology or something related?</p>
<p>I also wasn’t sure how to narrow the field so that we could look at more specific schools and their transfer policies. My friend (the mom) isn’t involved other than to support her daughter due to having many other things on her plate, but I thought it would be nice to give the daughter some ideas that were more out of the box than most students around here think about.</p>
<p>I’ll meander over to the transfer section of CC, as well.</p>
<p>Pre-med is more of an advisory program at schools, not really a major. Yes, biology is the most common pre-med major but any major works as long as they take the required courses to pass the MCAT.</p>
<p>I’d certainly check into any UC or CSU that has an articulation or transfer agreement with her CC. Not sure about the finances but I’m sure there is still some need based aid.</p>
<p>Because of the impaction of the CCs, she was not able to get all the prereqs this year, or at least that’s my understanding. She has more than enough units but may be missing a class. I don’t know if she can TAG in (this is the last year) but she can apply as a transfer to UCs and CSU schools, and I’m sure she will apply to more than a few. I’m guessing she’ll qualify for app fee waivers.</p>
<p>Steve, thanks for helping me understand how pre-med works.</p>
<p>Sbjdorlo-
pre-med courses are set prerequisites specified by each individual medical school. To get an idea look up UC med schools or USC or Stanford’s and see what each one requires in order to apply. </p>
<p>Most want 2 semesters of bio with a lab, 2 semesters of gen chem with labs, english, maybe 1 or 2 semesters of math (calc or stats), 2 semesters of organic chemistry and 2 semesters of physics with labs. Some med schools are in the process of changing the requirements by adding more pre-reqs…biochemistry, microbiology, genetics…depends on the school.</p>
<p>Most SOM adcoms don’t want to see the prerequisites completed at a CC, but rather at a 4 year. However, if a higher division science is completed at the 4 year after the lower division is completed at the CC that class can be used to fulfill the pre-req.</p>
<p>UC SOMs have incredible levels of competition for a slot. Probably besides NY, the most competitive state for med school admissions.</p>
<p>Middle son is now an MS2, so we recently went through the med school admission process. Any major will work as long as the pre-req courses are completed, son was an econ major.</p>
<p>New MCAT is also being given in the next few years. So additional coursework will be required for that as well.</p>
<p>For an idea of what is truly needed to be a successful med school applicant head over to the pre-med forum here on CC and it will be an eye-opener. GPA, classes and the MCAT are just the start of what it takes to get an acceptance, ESPECIALLY for CA schools!!</p>
<p>Kat
as far as pre-med schools she can do this literally at any college in the US, picking a school as a transfer to minimize her OOP costs and loans is also important if she is looking to med school COA which makes pricey undergrads look cheap!</p>
<p>A gpa would be much more informative, and might give some indication if this student is in the range of being competitive for schools that meet 100% of need. I’d also recommend checking to see if those schools meet need w or w/o loans, the latter usually being even more selective. And many of the more selective schools require standardized testing for transfer applicants.</p>
<p>When it comes to need blind admissions and FA policies, they are not always the same for fr and transfer applicants. For instance, Brown is need blind for fr but need aware for transfers, and they state that they have limited FA for transfers. You also need to check to see if low income initiatives apply to transfer students.</p>
<p>Along with the Premed Topics forum, there is a Transfer Students forum with much excellent information.</p>
<p>katwkittens–keep in mind, also, that in 2015 the requirements are changing and other courses are being added like psychology and some others I can’t remember off the top of my head.</p>
<p>UCs and CSUs should have decent financial aid for in-state students; she should check their net price calculators (may be called financial aid estimators at some of them).</p>
<p>She should use [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) to check on courses for preparing for transfer from a CC to a UC or CSU.</p>
<p>As others have noted, high college grades and MCAT scores are essential for medical school applications. Major is not really important, but the pre-med courses must be taken. The pre-med forum may be helpful.</p>