Inorganic Requirement Negated by AP

[painmd87]

I think I screwed the pooch on this one -- as a high school senior I took AP chemistry, bio, stats and gov't and passed them all with 4s and 5s. So my undergrad institution said, "Hey, here's 20 credits for your sweet AP scores (8 chem, 4 bio, 4 stats, 4 govt)." And I said, "Sweet. Thanks. No Gen Chem for me, put me in o-chem! I'm gonna be a doctor!"

So I hummed along for 3.5 years, happy as a clam about the excess of credits (124 needed to graduate? Psh, I'll have 160).

My GPA and MCAT were competitive for DO schools and just below the border for MD, but then I started getting the rejection letters: "Inorganic Chemistry pre-requisite not complete."

I called up the adcom's and found out that med schools don't accept AP credit. Talk about a deflating moment. Here I am, one semester away from graduation, past registration time, and I'm getting this stunner that I'm a full year behind. Nevermind the 150+hrs volunteering, the 150+hrs shadowing, the campus leadership, the national awards, etc., I got ahead in high school, and that put me behind in college.

Bitterness will get me nowhere (but damn does it feel good to let it out), so what do I do now?
A) Take Gen Chem I + lab in the spring (with luck and some pleading, I may be able to overload) and Chem II in summer session I.
B) Take Gen Chem II + lab in the spring (I have the pre-req of Gen Chem I from AP). Take Chem I in the summer session, or at another Univ of at a Community college.
C) Take both in the summer, either at my home institution, at another univ, or at a comm. college.
D) Take other chem classes. Obviously Inorganic Chemistry (CHE 324) counts. How about P-chem?
E) Wing it, hopefully wiggle something into my PS about why I appear to not meet criteria.

One school counted biochem as inorganic... which is just great because there's no lab attached to meet the lab requirement.

I'm planning on reapplying this summer, assuming I have this inorganic requirement square away.

(Two pre-professional committee members, who are the heads of the committee, stared at me in awe when I told them AP credit doesn't count. Said they'd never heard of that before. SDN members know better, I've found, than my committee.)

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[JPanda]

actually, a number of med schools i applied to did take ap credit. georgewashington and albany for example told me my ap credits were sufficient. and in truth, this might be a good thing. you can boost up your bcpm scores and maybe push yourself to the threshold of acceptability for MD. all in all you are not screwed and maybe in a far better position than you think.

 

[dragonfly99]

OP, your premed committee screwed up. You also didn't do your homework r.e. this, but your advisors really screwed up.

I would take general chem I this spring, then take general chem II this summer. You can reapply this summer.

Good luck.

 

[niranjan162]

I had a similar problem, but I didnt get flat out rejected by all schools. I also got some provisional acceptances, as long as I make up the credits.

It doesnt matter when you do them, as long as the schools know you are doing them and they are done before school starts.

 

[moneduloides]

Although you are partly to blame for not investigating this earlier, this is a major screw-up on the part of your pre-med committee. Heads need to be rolling...

 

[painmd87]

Thanks for all the advice.

I'll plan to take them ASAP. Will definitely boost the BCPM.

As for doing my homework, it never even crossed my mind that getting ahead early would hurt me later. I guess I got caught up in the "AP is the best thing ever!" talk.

I'll be sure to pass this on to all the pre-med organizations and maybe try to petition the bio department to not allow anyone in pre-professional to take AP credit (which is how the state schools around here operate - no AP credit for in-major classes, or at least they don't count to your degree.)

Thanks!

 

[saylorsdad]

I found a school two years ago that offered chem1 and chem2 in same summer semester. basically you went 4hrs a day four days a week to class and another two hours a day three days a week to lab all summer. you should try and find that requirement and add it to aacomas and it may fill your requirement and allow you to matriculate in the fall.

 

[NontradICUdoc]

Ask yourself, Why are you going to limit yourself to only schools that will take AP credits? If it takes an extra year to get into medical school, so be it. There is nothing you can do about the error was done on both your part and on the part of the pre-med committee. It happened, it is now done.

You had your pity party and now make your plans. Do the plan that will ensure a good grade for graduation and good grades for these 2 classes.

 

[chutzpah]

Wait, does it matter if I haven't taken gen chem? I haven't taken gen chem either, but I plan on taking adv inorganic chemistry as a senior... is that fine? (Does physical chemistry count?)

 

[michigator04]

I had 8 credits from AP Chem as well, but my school had an honors 1-semester combined Gen. Chem. course for those of us in that situation. They didn't allow anyone straight into Organic out of HS.

It's strange that you had this much difficulty with AP credit though. I applied to 30+ schools between this year and last, and not once did I run into trouble for listing 4 of my AP credits as half of the 8 Gen Chem prereq hours. Maybe it is because all of yours were from AP? Either that, or I just managed to avoid the schools that don't like AP.

 

[group_theory]

Wait, does it matter if I haven't taken gen chem? I haven't taken gen chem either, but I plan on taking adv inorganic chemistry as a senior... is that fine? (Does physical chemistry count?)

I also placed out of general chemistry thanks to AP - but I was able to use my physical chemistry courses to fulfill med school's chemistry requirement (and my pchem lab to fulfill the chem lab requirement for med school)

Advanced inorganic chemistry should count towards your chemistry requirement. Someone in the admission office just needs to be able to check off that you fulfilled the requirements.

 

[DisabledDoctor]

The unreal thing is, had you taken chem at a community college and then the AP this would count. Your error was taking it at high school and not an accredited college. You likely would have done just as well. Insane, eh?

Take it over the summer. Plenty of schools offer gen chem over the summer. Harvard Summer School has a great rep.