AP credit for English req.

[*sunny*]

I know that most schools require a full year of English as a pre-req. My current school has given me 4 credits in english for an AP course and I was planning on taking another semester of English to satisfy the "full year" requirement. Has anyone had any trouble with getting med schools to accept and AP credit as one semester of english- and do med schools look at your AP score ie. 3,4,5 or just whether or not your school gave you credit for an English class. Thanks!

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[B. Bingley]

I had a slightly different situation at my school; my AP score got me into the one-semester honors class instead of the year-long English Comp. My advisor suggested that I take an additional elective English class for the stricter (top 10) schools that want a full year.
As a rule, I don't think med schools accept AP credit by itself - I would take at least one English class.

 

[Bonds756]

Yeah, med schools don't like AP credit too much. And yes, they do see your score as you must put the AP class on your AMCAS application. However, schools are much more laxed about english than say organic chemistry so one class plus the AP credit might be enough. You might want to call the schools you are considering applying to in order to make sure that is ok. However, it is much safer just to take two english (or english related- schools allow a pretty wide range of classes to fulfill this requirement) classes.

 

[Hilaree320]

What about dual enrollment classes? I am taking dual enrollment classes this summer and fall at the local CC, while Im still in HS. I know medschools dont look favorably upon CC credits, but would it be ok do you think?

 

[JumboFool]

my story, fyi:

I was able to use my AP English 5 to place out of my undergrad's entire 2-semester English requirement. However, my school's policy for the actual awarding of credit is only to give 4 credit hours (one semester) of credit, despite having placed out of an 8 credit hour sequence.

As it turns out I didn't take a single pure English course in college. I just sat on those 4 English credits. Sure, I took that "writing intensive" psych course or whatever substitute ppl tend to come up with, but as far as the English credit that med schools look at, I only have 4 of 'em.

Result: Accepted applicant, even interviewed at schools like Einstein that explicitly state that they require 2 semesters of English credit, no exceptions.

So if you can fulfill the two-semesters, do it. Some English classes are cool anyway. But if it comes at the expense of taking something else that you really like, I wouldn't sweat it. In my experience, having only the AP credit wasn't a problem at all.
(Do well on the writing of the mcat though )