College before University

[Toad]

Does attending a local college and transferring into a university before applying to medical school affect admissions? Has anyone taken this route before?

 

I would like to know because going to college for the first two years is much less expensive then going straight to a university.

[future_doc]

As far as I know, it is perfectly fine. Its mainly about your GPA.

[Coach]

Does attending a local college and transferring into a university before applying to medical school affect admissions? Has anyone taken this route before?

 

I would like to know because going to college for the first two years is much less expensive then going straight to a university.

 

If you have any intention of applying to American schools then it would be a problem - I've seen several US schools mention that they don't accept college courses (if it's classed as a community college).

 

In Canada, you would just need to make sure that the university where you intend to graduate from is going to accept / transfer-in the courses and grades from the college.

[Tango Charlie]

I did a 2-year paramedic diploma before attending university, where I am at now. Medical schools apparently don't take into account your transfer credits for GPA calculations, so what you get in college isn't important in that sense. However, in the case of Laurentian University, anyway, how many transfer credits you're awarded for your college diploma depends on your grades.

 

Which brings me to the next point. Maybe it's different from school to school, but with LU they only give transfer credits for two-year diplomas, and they at most give you one year's worth of credits. You should certainly see what the policy is with the university you're interested in attending, but at LU, to get one year of university credits, you need to do two years of college and get A's in everything.

 

Also, stuff that doesn't have anything comparable in university may not be applicable when transfer credits are calculated. In my case, none of my patient care theory/procedures classes were worth any university credits, although may anatomy and physiology classes and the like were. So in spite of my GPA, I was only awarded 24 university credits for my diploma. I imagine some college courses which have classes that are very particular to a given field (police foundations, for instance?) could run the risk of having very few courses eligible for transfer credits.

 

Again, check your university's policy, but bottom line is that the classes probably won't be used to calculate GPA at any medical school, and ultimately you may have to put in two years to get one year of university.

[artistintheambulance]

I did a 2-year paramedic diploma before attending university, where I am at now. Medical schools apparently don't take into account your transfer credits for GPA calculations, so what you get in college isn't important in that sense. However, in the case of Laurentian University, anyway, how many transfer credits you're awarded for your college diploma depends on your grades.

 

Which brings me to the next point. Maybe it's different from school to school, but with LU they only give transfer credits for two-year diplomas, and they at most give you one year's worth of credits. You should certainly see what the policy is with the university you're interested in attending, but at LU, to get one year of university credits, you need to do two years of college and get A's in everything.

 

Also, stuff that doesn't have anything comparable in university may not be applicable when transfer credits are calculated. In my case, none of my patient care theory/procedures classes were worth any university credits, although may anatomy and physiology classes and the like were. So in spite of my GPA, I was only awarded 24 university credits for my diploma. I imagine some college courses which have classes that are very particular to a given field (police foundations, for instance?) could run the risk of having very few courses eligible for transfer credits.

 

Again, check your university's policy, but bottom line is that the classes probably won't be used to calculate GPA at any medical school, and ultimately you may have to put in two years to get one year of university.

 

I think you're right as far as technical/trades program credits not being considered by med schools...I am a paramedic too and none of my diploma credits are transferrable. However, many community colleges in western Canada offer transferrable pre-req and degree courses.

 

The reason that I was given of why my paramedic credits will not transfer is because they entail large "practical" based portions. They are not considered "academic" classes, hence not being accepted by universities.