Is anyone here...

[BrandonR]

Going into college with 0 AP credit/ 0 college completer credits. This means that all of the general intro stuff like Bio and Chem will have to be taken. How much of a disadvantage would a person like this be compared to someone with double 5's on both AP Chem and Bio? Thanks.

(Not sure if this should go on hSDN or Pre-Med)

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[CodeBlu]

No disadvantage. Take those classes. Rock them and you'll be fine

 

[dmf2682]

You'll be fine

 

[gmcguitar4]

not really pre-med but..

You are not at a disadvantage at all. If you take the courses and get A's in them then I would say you are at an advantage. The reason being that they are all easier compared to the upper level science courses. So they become a buffer in your sGPA.

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

Going into college with 0 AP credit/ 0 college completer credits. This means that all of the general intro stuff like Bio and Chem will have to be taken. How much of a disadvantage would a person like this be compared to someone with double 5's on both AP Chem and Bio? Thanks.

(Not sure if this should go on hSDN or Pre-Med)

Doesn't matter. Moreover, the head of the chem dept at my university did research on kids who took AP chem vs kids who didn't in terms of their performance, and there was little difference overall. Her data showed that success was directly related to number of hours spent studying. I know from TAing Chem 1 and 2 that a lot of AP kids think they will do good without studying because they have seen it before. Not true. A lot of them do poorly on the first exam, which serves as a wake up call.

Just bust your ass studying and you will do fine.

 

[WSOXFAN]

I think its better to be taking those intro science courses while at university rather than advancing to whatever is next during your first year (MCB/genetics/orgo or more advanced chem). The transition to college can be tough enough. So many people that I know came in with all these AP credits, went right to the tougher courses, and it really hurt their chances of getting into med school/competitive grad school programs.

 

[link2swim06]

Going into college with 0 AP credit/ 0 college completer credits. This means that all of the general intro stuff like Bio and Chem will have to be taken. How much of a disadvantage would a person like this be compared to someone with double 5's on both AP Chem and Bio? Thanks.

(Not sure if this should go on hSDN or Pre-Med)

No disadvantage...I went into college with zero AP/credits and it caused me no problems. Not a big deal bc most people w/ AP credits retake honors versions of the courses regardless so they will likely be on the same schedule as you...

 

[ppfizenm]

I had AP but in history and psych. U'll be fine.

 

[obgyny]

Going into college with 0 AP credit/ 0 college completer credits. This means that all of the general intro stuff like Bio and Chem will have to be taken. How much of a disadvantage would a person like this be compared to someone with double 5's on both AP Chem and Bio? Thanks.

(Not sure if this should go on hSDN or Pre-Med)

I was a bit of a slacker in high school. I didn't take any AP classes and I did the bare minimum math (I think it was 2 years), so I had to take a lot of math classes to catch up to calculus in college. Not a big deal.

 

[kautionwirez]

Going into college with 0 AP credit/ 0 college completer credits. This means that all of the general intro stuff like Bio and Chem will have to be taken. How much of a disadvantage would a person like this be compared to someone with double 5's on both AP Chem and Bio? Thanks.

(Not sure if this should go on hSDN or Pre-Med)

I never took AP or honors in HS and got into UCSD. 3.4gpa

 

[kduck]

Going into college with 0 AP credit/ 0 college completer credits. This means that all of the general intro stuff like Bio and Chem will have to be taken. How much of a disadvantage would a person like this be compared to someone with double 5's on both AP Chem and Bio? Thanks.

(Not sure if this should go on hSDN or Pre-Med)

Our freshman year the administration told us that scores on AP bio were not especially correlated with grades in gen bio. Work hard and you'll do great!

 

[Double Trouble]

I came in with 0 credits.

I didn't care because my plan was to make As in all the lower level classes (histories, cal 1, etc) and use that to pad my gpa

 

[NickNaylor]

Definitely no disadvantage. I had credit for most of my pre-reqs, but I had zero faith in the College Board and AP exams, so I retook all of the classes. I managed to fit in all of my classes for my major and an entirely unrelated minor without taking any classes during the summers. As far as your performance in the classes, it'll matter very little.

 

[Double Trouble]

Definitely no disadvantage. I had credit for most of my pre-reqs, but I had zero faith in the College Board and AP exams, so I retook all of the classes. I managed to fit in all of my classes for my major and an entirely unrelated minor without taking any classes during the summers. As far as your performance in the classes, it'll matter very little.

Yep.

+ when are you gonna update your blog??? or is med school keeping you too busy? 😛

 

[1TB4RKSB4CK]

I think its better to be taking those intro science courses while at university rather than advancing to whatever is next during your first year (MCB/genetics/orgo or more advanced chem). The transition to college can be tough enough. So many people that I know came in with all these AP credits, went right to the tougher courses, and it really hurt their chances of getting into med school/competitive grad school programs.

This.
I'm glad I did not take any AP.

 

[sunflower18]

For me personally, it's been a bit frustrating watching other students with AP credit taking the intro chem and bio classes and just acing them without even trying, because I didn't have the AP option at my high school.

But last semester, for example, in intro chem, I was very disheartened for the first half of the semester because everybody except me seemed to know all the material! But, like other people have been saying, about halfway through the semester, they stopped having an advantage because they no longer knew the material. I, who had developed a college-level work ethic and knew how hard I needed to study, was then finally granted an even playing field because they suddenly started doing poorly on their exams while I set the curve. In the end, I got a 100% on my chem final even though I had no legitimate chem background, just because I learned how to work hard.

Moral of the story: it may be hard at first to watch your peers sleep through class and get great grades, but it will definitely end up catching up to them. If you don't let it get you down and figure out a way to rock those classes, you will be just fine 🙂

 

[CeeEstee0]

The only AP's I am taking are non-science. People have already mentioned the pros of many science classes, which are keeping a higher sGPA and spreading out your average so one low grade won't be as large a drag. You are at no disadvantage IMHO.

 

[Cessna120]

In my opinion, I would only take the AP classes if you feel that they would increase your chances for college scholarships or if you really want to increase your knowledge base before taking those same courses in college. If those factors aren't essential, then just enjoy your time in high school (ie play a sport, get a job, take up a hobby, and enjoy life).

A better option would be to take non-science dual credit courses (usually high school and community college dual credit). I recommend waiting until you are in college to take your core science courses. Many medical schools do not take AP credits for core science courses or require you to have an equivalent number of credits in a higher level course within the same area of study. I personally ran into problems with how my AP English credits were coded on my transcript when they were required as a med school pre-requisite.

In Short:
-Take dual credit classes for non-science courses where available
-Take AP classes only if dual credit classes aren't available and only if you need them for your college scholarship resume.
-Take your core science courses at a 4-year university if at all possible
-Don't forget to enjoy life. You are going to be in school for a long, long time. Don't burn yourself out.

 

[Hotshy]

Not that big of a deal. Most pre-meds end up retaking their AP credits, for the actual pre-req class such as chem and bio. I had chem credits and didn't retake them. Had I taken gen chem during undergrad I probably would have done slightly better on the PS section of the mcat (I scored 11, maybe could have gotten 12 or 13, who knows). If anything taking the actual classes during undergrad will help you come MCAT time.