More than 40 percent of American undergraduates were enrolled in community colleges in 2010, but in a study published in Academic Medicine, researchers found that only 5 percent of applicants who enrolled in medical school in 2012 had attended community colleges after high school. Despite their ubiquity, community college graduates are vastly underrepresented within the physician workforce.
To help community college students on their premedical path, here are three tips for students transferring to a four-year university in hopes of going to medical school.
[Read: How Medical Schools View Community College Credits.]
Find a community that understands your challenges. Community college transfer students often find themselves navigating obstacles that their peers figured out years before, such as acclimating to a new academic environment, living far away from home and making new friends.
“You have the social stresses of a freshman and the professional pressures of a junior, with medical school applications only a year or two away. With these challenges, the best solution is to find a community that will make you feel OK,” says Andrew Pastor, a first-year medical student at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
Community college transfer students can find other students with similar backgrounds and goals. Many institutions that recruit students from community colleges also organize academic programs and social events to help transfer students transition successfully into a university setting.
Anita Chanana, a fourth-year medical student at the Stanford University School of Medicine, advises, “Talk to people from community colleges who are one step ahead of you. They know what you’ve been through. The mentorship ladder is full of people who can help you on your premed path.”
Students can also extend their network by joining clubs that interest them, including premedical clubs and hobby-related organizations. Doing so can expose students to peers from diverse backgrounds who share similar interests and expand their worldview.
Pace yourself in the first semester. Premed-specific opportunities may be limited at many community colleges, and when students transfer to a four-year university, the wide array of health-related extracurricular activities, research opportunities and courses may seem overwhelming at first.
“When you transfer, the student who’s been there since freshman year seems 10 steps ahead of you in terms of research, clinical volunteering and premed courses,” Pastor says.
[Read: 3 Tasks to Complete as a First-Semester Premed Student.]
Transfer students often make the mistake of taking on more than they can handle due to their eagerness or misplaced desire to catch up to their peers. But they soon discover that their science classes are bigger and more difficult than what they were used to. It then becomes harder to balance tough course loads with their new extracurricular activities and burgeoning social lives.
“The hardest part of being a transfer student was going into larger upper division science courses in my university and not knowing what I was getting myself into,” Chanana says.
Dr. Ronald D. Garcia, program director of the Center of Excellence in Diversity in Medical Education at the Stanford University School of Medicine, advises students to figure out which study skills work in their new academic context before plowing full speed ahead.
“In the first term, go light. Take just one lab course and pick a couple of clubs and activities you might be interested in. In terms of medical school admissions, it’s about quality of your experiences, not quantity. Getting overwhelmed in the first term won’t do you any favors,” he says.
[Read: How Premed Students Can Avoid 4 Common Academic Mistakes.]
Discuss your journey during the med school admissions process. Medical schools are always looking to create a class of talented students from a diverse array of life experiences. Community college students who continue to excel at their universities are demonstrating resilience and a proven track record of overcoming new challenges. For this reason, students should not shy away from discussing their experiences in their medical school applications and interviews.
Community college students can use their experience as an edge, not a weakness, Pastor says.
“I think admissions committees just really appreciated that I had a distinct educational journey that involved me interacting with a super diverse set of colleagues,” he wrote in an email. “For example, my study buddies at (community college) regularly were individuals who were what would be labeled non-traditional in a uni setting, but there they were just students trying to pursue higher education. This really gave me perspective on my own path and the fact that there’s no ‘one true’ way to pursue higher ed and your dreams.”
Pastor says admissions committees were interested in what the transition to a four-year university was like. “Initially, I felt insecure about my community college background. But it was never seen as a negative by medical school admissions committees. In fact, it made me distinct, and it was a way to stick out. So, embrace your background,” he says.
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3 Tips for Premeds Who Transferred From Community College originally appeared on usnews.com
