<p>Well, it’s official. I just got my final rejection e-mail, meaning I was shut out of all the Bioengineering PhD programs I applied to this year. I was able to get feedback from one school and they said I was lacking a few prerequisite courses (one physics course, one bio course, etc). My major was more or less industrial engineering, which I chose because it seemed very general and I didn’t know at the time what I wanted to do with my life. I thought this would give me a broad enough background to do just about anything I wanted later. I was wrong. I figure that without taking the 3 or so courses I’m lacking, my chances at the top PhD programs next year will remain slim.</p>
<p>I live about 5 miles from the school where I did my undergraduate, which has one of the world’s best engineering programs. It would be great to take these courses there. I would think that taking them at a community college or online university would look very bad. Here’s the problem: I am five years out of college and working about 50 hours a week (M-F 8:30-6:30). My work hours coincide exactly with the hours these courses are offered on campus.</p>
<p>So my question is this:
What is the best way to take these courses while keeping my job? Is there any way to take them online that won’t look bad? I’d like to keep tuition costs reasonable, and I’d like to get a professor recommendation out of this if possible.</p>
<p>Take the courses at a community college. The courses will be taught by people with just as much experience as those who teach at public state universities. They offer the same 100 and 200 level courses as most state universities (and most other universities). Most likely they teach the same material, using the same textbook, and same syllabus as the local state university and other local universities.</p>
<p>The difference?? Tuition at a community college will run you no more than $100 a credit, vs $300 to $800 per credit a university. Community colleges have a number of night and weekend courses that are geared towards those who work full-time. Many of the students in these night and weekend courses are adults with degrees who are taking courses for professionally development to enter a different field of work, or to fulfill pre-req for a graduate program. </p>
<p>It’s honestly time to remove the social stigma attached to community colleges… and graduate school won’t care that your post-bac courses are from a community college :-)</p>
<p>Also, community colleges have small class sizes so your intro to bio class will only have 20 to 30 students, not 100+ like at a university.</p>
<p>I am going to disagree with creolan here - avoid the community colleges. I do not have anything against CC’s, but in my experience grad programs DO care about where you take your classes. You did not specify the level of the course, but if it was enough to deny then it would seem to be important to them. Good programs usually care about who teaches the course, and from what book, so taking them from an unknown professor at an unknown college is not an application bell-ringer! </p>
<p>If you can take them online from a good school, that might be acceptable. The better choice by far is to find a position (within your company or elsewhere) with the flexibility to take the courses you need. Depending on your current specialty, your company might even pick up the tab for some or all of the courses.</p>
<p>You should also check out night classes. A number of quality schools offer some number of courses in the evenings - that’s how I got my masters. It’s not as good as the daytime classes, but better than nothing, and in my opinion better than a CC.</p>
<p>Ouch… that work schedule will kill you! As somebody who took day courses for almost 5 years to finish his degree (I was starting again after 30+ years, in an unrelated field), I have three pieces of advice:</p>
<p>1) Do it at the best university possible. Forget CCs - you already have a degree and you’re looking for LORs - that last alone is enough reason to be picky about where you study. </p>
<p>2) Work with your employer and be as up front as possible. Nearly all companies of any size will have tuition reimbursement plans if you can make a case that the course is job related.</p>
<p>3) Do MUCH more than the minimum. If you need one physics class take that plus the next one in the sequence. Consider getting a masters at your local university rather than going directly for a top 50 PhD program again. As cosmicfish noted, there are likely to be programs specifically for working adults that will get you there.</p>
<p>If it were me…I would take these classes at a community college. I have no doubt that all the other individuals posting that say CC classes aren’t as high quality as normal classes are correct. However, for such a general course like intro physics or intro bio, you will get out of it what you put in. Even CC classes must use a textbook.</p>
<p>I would not take the CC courses unless you absolutely cannot take them anywhere else. Some universities offer evening Master’s program. You can apply for special student status and take the prereq’s there. I honestly think even online graduate courses from a reputable program are a better alternative to community college courses.</p>
<p>Everyone works full time and takes classes. Your employers are usually cooperative because they like for their employees to get smarter at no real cost to them. Work on Sundays and Saturdays and prepare to work earlier or later to get the same hours. Then plan up to 20 hours (I average about 10) out of class study time. Take 1 class at a time or your grade will suffer and drive on.</p>
<p>Cake.</p>
<p>Ps. Don’t take CC courses. You need graduate or upper level undergraduate credit. I’ve talked to professors, my mother is a professor as well, and they all see CC after BBA as going backwards. They even discourage taking any more undergrad courses unless you’re changing careers. Really it graduate or bust. Many grad program have intro for graduates courses for their “less qualified” graduates to get up to speed. Look for those.</p>
<p>I was exploring a PhD in Econ last year before I settled on an MBA/Finance</p>
<p>Depends on the courses you need to take. If you need Physics 101 and Bio 101, then taking them at a community college is acceptable. Graduate schools don’t care about the prestige of the places you’ve taken the classes at, and a lot of people take classes at community colleges to get pre-requisites out of the way for graduate and medical school. They’re less expensive, community college professors aren’t any worse than professors at state universities (and often went to the same graduate programs as those state professors), and biology 101 is going to be pretty much exactly the same regardless of where you go.</p>
<p>Tortfeasor’s advice would make sense if what you needed were just random classes - it would be better to take them at the graduate level - but I’m assuming that there are certain prerequisites you have to take at the undergraduate level before you get into the program, yes?</p>
<p>If you need upper-level courses then yes, you’ll have to take them at a university.</p>
<p>Consider the advice to work with your job to acquire a master’s. Many jobs have programs for employees to earn degrees part-time to enlarge their skill set - the long-term return to your employer is greater than the short-term expense to them, so they usually have some kind of tuition reimbursement package or maybe will give you flexible hours. Talk to your supervisor about undertaking a master’s program part-time on their dime. Then you can try to get a master’s in bioengineering and enter a PhD program later.</p>
<p>Take a look around the area where you live, and see if any of the community colleges are offering pre-bio engineering programs, or bio-tech programs. You might be able to pick up the courses that you need in a program like that. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>