Should I Delay Graduation?

[Aflasa]

Hey everyone. I posted here a couple months back and got some really good advice, thanks again for that.

It's time to register for what will be my final semester starting in January. My plan was to take the MCAT in May and apply immediately after, thus taking a gap year. But not I'm not sure if I need to delay graduation by a semester in order to make more courses or not.

I'm a social science major at a prestigious school. Former Army medic, and I currently work part-time in civilian healthcare. Several thousand hours of paid patient care experience, ~100 hours of clinical volunteering on a disaster strike team, some shadowing, and... most importantly... I just started doing stand-up comedy (and YES I am putting that on my application!). No non-clinical volunteering to speak of, hoping to rectify that soon though.

I have a ~3.8 cGPA and a ~3.6 sGPA (if I don't screw up the pre-req I'm taking currently). The only science courses I've taken are the pre-reqs, one per semester, except for stats. My plan was to get my degree in the Spring then take stats after I graduate at a community college as I apply either this coming Summer or Fall. I've done some digging, however, and it seems like the best case is community college pre-req coursework is evaluated on a "case-by-case" basis, whatever that means. Not only that, but I took one of my pre-reqs at a 4 year institution that isn't my alma mater. So I'm wondering if I'm pushing it with the dispersal of my pre-req courses were I to take stats at a community college.

Delaying graduation means that I would have to stay here for an entire extra year, assuming the courses I need aren't offered at my school during Summer which is never a guarantee. The rental market is predatory, and I don't know of any leases less than a year in duration. That's an entire extra year of barely scraping by in this city with an extremely high cost of living. I'm sure Uncle Sam would love to see me do something with my disability checks other than immediately forfeit them to a come-to-life Ebeneezer Scrooge. Beyond that, I am not thrilled about the idea of delaying graduation for a single course. I'd like to move away from here and begin working full time so I can stop living paycheck to paycheck, but if sticking around here for a whole extra year is worth it just to take stats and some science courses at my home institution, I'll see it through if the juice is worth the squeeze.

Maybe hard to give advice without more information, but I hope that's enough to go off of. Any insights, thoughts, or soliloquies are seriously appreciated. Thanks.

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[Sn00pygrrl]

My understanding is that AdComs don't really care where you do these credits. It's more the grade that counts. Many accepted and matriculated students on here have posted about doing pre-reqs at CC's or 4 year institutions.

Is stats a required pre-req for a school you're hoping to apply to? I haven't seen it as a required pre-req at many schools.

 

[Aflasa]

My understanding is that AdComs don't really care where you do these credits. It's more the grade that counts. Many accepted and matriculated students on here have posted about doing pre-reqs at CC's or 4 year institutions.

Is stats a required pre-req for a school you're hoping to apply to? I haven't seen it as a required pre-req at many schools.

Thanks for the reply, that's good to know. Yeah probably a quarter of the schools I plan on applying to require stats, from my research it's a lot more common than people think.

 

[Just Call Me Doc]

My 2 cents, the juice is definitely not worth the squeeze to delay graduation for one course. My pre-reqs were spread across three institution (original undergrad, DYI post-bacc, and some extra online courses) and I took stats at the online school (University of Maryland's program). I guess actually four institutions if you include my JST from the military. Still got 10 interviews, 9 acceptances, and ended up at a top-20 school.

Move out of the expensive city, get a job to pay the bills, and take the stats course at a CC or wherever. You'll check the box for stats and any institution you'd want to go to will quickly move on to look at the rest of the application from the Army medic/comedian with tons of real-world medical and disaster experience.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Your best bet is to email the schools that require stats and ask if they’ll accept the CC credit. If the MSAR says “case-by-case”, you should officially verify that CC is accepted. Seems like a silly thing to roll the dice on.

I suspect it will probably be fine. But if the schools say no to CC credits, can you take stats at some other 4-year institution before you matriculate? Doesn’t have to be your alma mater.

 

[deleted367183]

One course? No way this matters. Take it at the CC and enjoy. I found it fun. I am currently trying to learn R, so maybe take a peek at some R tutorials while you're at it.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Take it at a CC. Take it online from a solid institution. Usually won't matter in the end but check the schools just in case.

 

[Aflasa]

Your best bet is to email the schools that require stats and ask if they’ll accept the CC credit. If the MSAR says “case-by-case”, you should officially verify that CC is accepted. Seems like a silly thing to roll the dice on.

I suspect it will probably be fine. But if the schools say no to CC credits, can you take stats at some other 4-year institution before you matriculate? Doesn’t have to be your alma mater.

One of the schools I spoke to said one or two courses is fine, which corresponds with the advice I've gotten here. I can't afford to take courses at a 4-year institution as a non-degree seeking student after I graduate unfortunately, so community college is the best option for me.