Merocks14
06-13-2004, 05:36 PM
Hello Everyone..
After reading the new posts on the site, I have come across a question. Jayvon and I have spent some time discussing this. By the way, I had a feeling the tuition at UNIBE was gonna go up. So my ques. is bec. med students get 18,5 gs a year max, does it make more sense to do pre-med in the us? We are talking a max of 12 a year for premed at UNIBE, which just pretty much covers the premed tuition, no living costs, nada...so if I do pre-med in a community college, about how long will it take? And does that translfate into an associate degree? and if it does, an associate in exactly what? thanks for the time, info and effort!!!
Merocks14
ojmdc
06-14-2004, 09:59 AM
Ok. Here's another long-winded answer, lol. If you've never completed any college work at all your first year at UNIBE you would only qualify for a max of about 6,500 dollars, the second year you'd qualify for slightly more, about 7,500. premed at UNIBE takes a year and 4 months from start to finish. So for that time frame you'd have 6,500 + abou 3,500 (half of the next years dispersal) to play with. You're right, that doesn't even cover the present tuition, let alone living expenses and other costs. Another scenario has you already having completed enough undergraduate credits to be considered a Junior or Senior which is gonna be hard to swing down here since they don't really recognize those distinction, you'd really have to talk to the financial aid people and see how they make those distinction, though I highly doubt you'd get a straight answer since I don't think they themselves are very sure, at any rate, if you were considered a Junior or Senior you'd qualify for a max of about 10 grand, half in subsidized stafford and the other half in unsubsidized. Beware that you can only qualify for unsub stafford if you're an independent student, or if your parents fair to qualify for the PLUS loan and you meet other economic criteria. So, long story made short is that if you don't have alternative sources of funding for your education, UNIBE is probably not the way to go for completing your pre-med requirments. As for completing those studies at a community college...that brings another danger...CONVALIDATIONS!. You would really want to make absolutely sure that the classes you were taking at that community college were going to be transferred once you return to UNIBE. The problem is in getting someone to tell you for certain whether or not those classes will be transferred. In that respect the process is slow and it's hard to get a straight answer from anyone. But lets assume they recognize a community college and determine the classes you take there to be equivalent to their recommended premedical classes. In that case, to answer the second part of your question, you don't have any degree at all. An associates degree, at least to my knowledge, is a degree which consists of all the Basic Education requirements, those being, sociology, english, math, assorted other humanities. In short, the classes they everyone, regardless of the major, has to take. The classes you will be taking are more specialized classes that would more appropriately be classes for someone with a scien major of some kind rather than someone just working toward their associates degree. basically pre-med are a collection of classes which don't really mean much to anyone other than a medical school admission board. To sum it up, if you haven't completed any of your premed classes it would be best to complete those over in the states. Most community colleges would be cheaper than UNIBE (or any other school in the DR that is a title IV school) That is of course, assuming that UNIBE will take those credits. I can picture in my mind's eye an evil secretary glancing over your transcripts and coming across the words "community college", she quickly reawches for the lighter fluid and matches, and POOF, up in a tiny cloud of smoke goes your year and a half of premedical work, as far as the folks at UNIBE are concerned. Just be careful and always watch you back at every step, get names, insist upon typed letters verifying things they tell. Trust no one. Hope this helps. Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know. Take care and God Bless.
Ozzie.