<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I just graduated from UVa. I decided to be pre-med the summer before 4th year, so I took orgo, bio, and physics (and wrote my thesis) 4th year.
I did NOT take the second semester of orgo and bio labs. I got mostly As, a couple Bs, including an A+ in orgo lab I: so I think I proved I can do the work.
My question is, if I take orgo lab and bio lab II at a local (but well-respected) community college, will that hurt my med school application in any way? I’m still considered out of state so I just can’t afford to do them at UVa.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
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<p>Yes.</p>
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<p>Take them at your local instate Uni, then. If you still live in Virginia and have a job, then appeal for instate tuition (after changing over your bank accounts and drivers license).</p>
<p>Hi, I’ve made a decision and I wanted to update in case anyone else has the same question.</p>
<p>I talked to two medical school admissions officers (Dartmouth and UVM) and they both immediately said <em>yes</em> it’s ok to do pre-reqs and community college. In fact the guy from Dartmouth said verbatim: “we don’t look down on community college education at all, it’s a wonderful way to go to school.”</p>
<p>It would be interesting to talk to more schools but those are well-known and selective schools so I will trust their advice.</p>
<p>So it seems that bias against community college is elitist nonsense that admissions officers don’t actually care about. Make the financially sensible choice.</p>
<p>Follow that “financially sensible choice” at your own peril.</p>
<p>Think about it with all of the critical thinking skills that you (hopefully) learned at Thomas Jefferson’s college. Do you really believe that ANY professional school can publicly disss jucos? (It would be political suicide, and a public relations disaster, particularly since a many URMs go that route.)</p>
<p>Med Schools cost hundreds of thousands to attend. Do you really think that a Professor (who votes on your candidacy) cares about whether an extra course costs you $200 or $2000?</p>
<p>Or, do you really believe that admissions will consider an A in Organic from Piedmont Community College as the same as an A from UVa, one of the top Unis in the world? (And btw, anything less than an A from a juco in your situation…)</p>
<p>Seriously?</p>
<p>@bluebayou, I totally agree. You are not going to get the whole truth over the phone. </p>
<p>I was at a panel this summer where many MS admissions questions were asked. On some questions (such as the OP asked) the director of the program made a point of providing the “legal” answer at the panel but offered to “expand” on his answer on a one-on-one basis after the event was over. :)</p>