College credit from AP courses?

[hye345]

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I am currently a senior in high school, and one of my career options is medicine.

I have been told at this and various other forums that most med schools don't accept college credit from courses if the courses were taken in high school as an AP class. This means that if someone takes the AP tests and still passes, that person would still have to take the class again in college. With that said, should I even bother to take my AP exams this year? (I have AP calculus and AP biology).

 

[airshad8]

I am currently a senior in high school, and one of my career options is medicine.

I have been told at this and various other forums that most med schools don't accept college credit from courses if the courses were taken in high school as an AP class. This means that if someone takes the AP tests and still passes, that person would still have to take the class again in college. With that said, should I even bother to take my AP exams this year? (I have AP calculus and AP biology).

This really all depends.
1. What you get on the test

2. What school you will end up at. Depending on the school, and depending on (1) they will award you credit.

3. Don't use AP credits for medical school reqs. Take the class, ace them (since you already took AP and should be familiar with it) and make it look good for medical school.

4. You don't want to run in the problem with some schools accepting, some schools not accepting and causing you to preclude applicaiton to those schools.


I took 14 AP courses in high school, most of which were sciences, but did still took all my pre reqs. Also, I took AP Calc BC, but still took Calc II (C'mon an easy A if you've taken AP Calc BC why not?) in college.

Use your APs on gen-eds, not med prereqs.


Best of luck young'un (I swear everytime I see a high school student on these forums I wonder what I was doing not looking for SDN at that age)

 

[hye345]

This really all depends.
1. What you get on the test

2. What school you will end up at. Depending on the school, and depending on (1) they will award you credit.

3. Don't use AP credits for medical school reqs. Take the class, ace them (since you already took AP and should be familiar with it) and make it look good for medical school.

4. You don't want to run in the problem with some schools accepting, some schools not accepting and causing you to preclude applicaiton to those schools.


I took 14 AP courses in high school, most of which were sciences, but did still took all my pre reqs. Also, I took AP Calc BC, but still took Calc II (C'mon an easy A if you've taken AP Calc BC why not?) in college.

Use your APs on gen-eds, not med prereqs.


Best of luck young'un (I swear everytime I see a high school student on these forums I wonder what I was doing not looking for SDN at that age)

Thanks a lot! You really cleared the fog for me on this one.

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

Most schools accept AP credit if your undergrad accepts them. If you score well on your AP exam you might want to supplement the introductory credits with some upper levels, especiallly if the credits places you out of the introductory class. i.e. Due to my AP Biology score I was not allowed to take Intro bio at my school (or I could but just not recieve credit). The biggest AP problem is usually Physics because people who place out don't usually take physics again in college. It prevented myself from applying to schools like U. Roch, Tufts, Columbia and BU. I could've easily fixed that problem by taking upper level physics but... no thanks!

 

[mvenus929]

I agree with the poster above me. I managed to test out of Calculus, English, Biology, and Physics with AP credits, and I'm making up for the Biology with upper division classes (my biggest problem now is figuring out a lab to take, since I couldn't take the genetics lab this semester). For the English, I took another English course to prove my competency in the subject, and that's acceptable for most schools. For Physics, I only got credit for the lecture, so I took the labs, and that's acceptable for the schools I'm looking at.

I won't be considered at some schools (like Columbia), but there are few, and mostly upper tier schools that I'm not sure I'd have a chance in anyway or schools that I don't want to apply to. Here's a list someone posted a while ago, and while it's not completely accurate, it might help some.

http://www.colorado.edu/ArtsSciences/aacforstudents/noapib.htm

 

[Hassler]

It also depends on what you will major in. For example, I got AP credit for Calculus I and II and took Calculus III my first quarter (my school is on a quarter system). But I know that I will take upper division math because I'm a Bioengineering and Applied Math double major, so I easily meet the one-year math requirement for some med schools (like UCLA).

 

[badlydrawnvik]

Most schools accept AP credit if your undergrad accepts them. If you score well on your AP exam you might want to supplement the introductory credits with some upper levels, especiallly if the credits places you out of the introductory class. i.e. Due to my AP Biology score I was not allowed to take Intro bio at my school (or I could but just not recieve credit). The biggest AP problem is usually Physics because people who place out don't usually take physics again in college. It prevented myself from applying to schools like U. Roch, Tufts, Columbia and BU. I could've easily fixed that problem by taking upper level physics but... no thanks!

AP credits should not prevent you from applying to a school. On the Colorado list in the other post it also lists that BU does not accept any AP credit. When I applied there I e-mailed the dean about it and he said "every case is variable, the only way I could tell you is if you applied." I remember even at the interview they said something about not accepting APs during some speech. I asked someone in the admissions office and they said "if you're here you shouldn't have a problem." I was accepted and absolutely loved it there, it ended up being my second choice. You might miss out on a great school that could fit you perfectly, might as well take a shot. I should add that I had credit for English, physics, some calculus, and all of introductory chem in addition to a bunch of general requirements.

 

[hye345]

But is there any real advantage of starting out with higher-level classes in college? Doesn't that make it harder to get good grades? I have heard that adcoms don't care about the difficulty of a class nearly as much as they care about how you did in the class.

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

AP credits should not prevent you from applying to a school. On the Colorado list in the other post it also lists that BU does not accept any AP credit. When I applied there I e-mailed the dean about it and he said "every case is variable, the only way I could tell you is if you applied." I remember even at the interview they said something about not accepting APs during some speech. I asked someone in the admissions office and they said "if you're here you shouldn't have a problem." I was accepted and absolutely loved it there, it ended up being my second choice. You might miss out on a great school that could fit you perfectly, might as well take a shot. I should add that I had credit for English, physics, some calculus, and all of introductory chem in addition to a bunch of general requirements.

I emailed about 30-40 schools and those 4 that mentioned in the previous post told me explicitly that I needed to taken another semester or two of Physics in order to be eligible. Columbia won't take any AP credits at all I believe so in their eyes I never took Physics. Congrats on your acceptance though.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

But is there any real advantage of starting out with higher-level classes in college? Doesn't that make it harder to get good grades? I have heard that adcoms don't care about the difficulty of a class nearly as much as they care about how you did in the class.

Well let's say you AP out of general bio, or let's say you take gen bio and make like a B. Then you go off and take Advanced Cellular and Molecular Biology VII and totally bomb it. They won't appreciate your ambition or quest for challenging material, they will only notice your rampant stupidity.

That being said, you can't take The Biology of Breathing and Blinking and expect to be taken seriously.

 

[badlydrawnvik]

I emailed about 30-40 schools and those 4 that mentioned in the previous post told me explicitly that I needed to taken another semester or two of Physics in order to be eligible. Columbia won't take any AP credits at all I believe so in their eyes I never took Physics. Congrats on your acceptance though.

When you say you e-mailed the schools, did you e-mail the admissions office, or the dean of admissions. I've found that they will often give you different answers. A secretary might go by the what the book or website says, while the dean will likely say that they take many things into account and having APs will not take you out of the pool.

 

[Dr_Berk]

I think everyone here is talking about the current rules about accepting APs. Since you're still in high school and there seems to be a trend toward not accepting AP scores in medical school admissions, I don't think you should use AP scores to pass skip classes. Unless you wanna graduate early, it doesn't serve any purpose anyways.

I would take the tests anyways though.

 

[shantster]

If you are planning on majoring in one of the subjects that you have received AP credit for, and it is a pre-req, you'll fullfill the med school requirements since you'll be taking upperlevel classes in that subject.

For math, only Harvard would not accept my AP Calc credits (for both Calc I and II) with me taking Statistics in the Psych department, which is required for my psych major.

That said, if you want to take the tests, then do so. I found that with the number of credits I can in with, I have been able to do other things with my time.

 

[CTtarheel]

AP Bio shouldn't be a problem as long as you get 8 more hours + 2 labs in undergrad, which if you're a bio/chem major you definitely will. Calc. is also not a big deal as you'll need more calc if you're a science major, and only a few schools require it anyway.

PLUS, most schools do accept AP credits (I had AP credit for ALL of my basic sciences), it's only the few top schools that tend not to. So . . . if you're gunning for Harvard, Hopkins, etc. then its definitely something to be wary of.