LECOM no longer accepting AP credit for most pre-reqs

[Mentens]

According to LECOM's website:
"LECOM does not accept Advanced Placement (AP) or /International Baccalaureate (IB) credits in lieu of prerequisite courses. The exceptions are AP or /IB for English or Behavioral Science credits."

I'm not sure when this change took place, as I found threads dated a few years back mentioning that LECOM did take APs for pre-req. I have an inkling on why they may have done this, but the following analysis is not at all based on any objective facts or stats.

Basically, LECOM is the only DO (or US non-BS/DO/MD med school in general) to allow for applicants to apply and be accepted without an MCAT score. As an alternative, they will consider a "AIS" score comprised of a high school SAT score and undergrad GPA. My assumption is that to bolster the predictive ability of success associated with a non-mcat admission, they are requiring that applicants take all STEM pre-reqs at the university level.

However, this also appears to be a questionable way to go about this. For starters, this also applies to students with an MCAT, whose scores should carry enough predictive power on their own. Secondly, this also affects students who received AP credit for beginner pre-reqs, such as physics lab or biology/chem 1. Why should these students have to go back and take these classes if they've already proven their competency in courses that build off of these courses (chem 2, biochem, orgo)?

Let's think about this from the perspective of the applicant pool. Most students are not planning their entire pre-med career around catering to LECOM's unusual pre-req requirement (no shade to LECOM, but this is the case for most schools outside of T20). However, since LECOM offers non-MCAT admission, this could realistically be very enticing to students who have high GPAs, especially if it means saving 3 months worth of studying for the MCAT and getting in on a cycle they otherwise might not have been ready to apply in. However, to do this, a student must first go back and complete pre-reqs they already got credit for (probably bio 1 and chem 1 for most people). So in the end, the student has two choices:

1. Take an extra semester to complete pre-reqs you already had credit for, which won't help you (and can even hurt you if you get low grades) while applying another school

OR....

2. Study for the MCAT and open up the opportunity to apply to the other 157 med schools in the country.

I can't imagine any traditional applicants taking the latter route. Perhaps this is for career switchers? Even then, I'm unsure.

I don't mean to sound like I know better. I'm genuinely curious as to why this policy was implemented, as I can't understand the motivations for this even when thinking only about how it may benefit the school's ranking or bottom line.

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[Mr.Smile12]

Thanks for the update! I cannot represent their admissions committee's decision to change policy here, but I can conjecture.

According to LECOM's website:
"LECOM does not accept Advanced Placement (AP) or /International Baccalaureate (IB) credits in lieu of prerequisite courses. The exceptions are AP or /IB for English or Behavioral Science credits."

...

Basically, LECOM is the only DO (or US non-BS/DO/MD med school in general) to allow for applicants to apply and be accepted without an MCAT score. As an alternative, they will consider a "AIS" score comprised of a high school SAT score and undergrad GPA. My assumption is that to bolster the predictive ability of success associated with a non-mcat admission, they are requiring that applicants take all STEM pre-reqs at the university level.

AAMC research points out a high correlation of medical school progress with undergrad GPA, which becomes higher when combined with MCAT.

However, this also appears to be a questionable way to go about this. For starters, this also applies to students with an MCAT, whose scores should carry enough predictive power on their own. Secondly, this also affects students who received AP credit for beginner pre-reqs, such as physics lab or biology/chem 1. Why should these students have to go back and take these classes if they've already proven their competency in courses that build off of these courses (chem 2, biochem, orgo)?

Let's look at this from the admissions desk. What academic profiles do they see? It won't be the ones that have gotten into MD schools that have accepted AP credits. Perhaps academically, this group consists of those who may have had some challenges early on in their college journey, likely because their high schools offered AP credit but not quite at the level that other "elite" college-prep high schools do. Many of these prep schools have a ton of resources to help their students get high AP/IB test scores; others not so much. However, many colleges will give credit for a "3" or "4". That's great for the student, but may put the student in trouble when thrown into a large lecture weed-out class.

This policy is not geared to the applicants who come from the elite high schools that probably got them into the "brand" premed feeder schools, most of whom probably don't have general aspirations to be a DO or likely don't align with LECOM's mission fit, especially when it comes to helping find people to work in medically underserved areas. Instead it would favor students who do come from places where AP/IB and science prep is not readily available, and it helps direct them to take their prereqs as undergrads to give them the right foundation and study resources.

Yes, it won't be perfect and presumes students want the option of doing DO and can do well in a school's prereq sequence. Applicants who benefit will be those who attend smaller liberal arts colleges with closer student-faculty advising relationships.

See

Building a Prehealth Foundation at Small Colleges: A Conversation with Dr. Chloe Lash - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net

Let's think about this from the perspective of the applicant pool. Most students are not planning their entire pre-med career around catering to LECOM's unusual pre-req requirement (no shade to LECOM, but this is the case for most schools outside of T20). However, since LECOM offers non-MCAT admission, this could realistically be very enticing to students who have high GPAs, especially if it means saving 3 months worth of studying for the MCAT and getting in on a cycle they otherwise might not have been ready to apply in. However, to do this, a student must first go back and complete pre-reqs they already got credit for (probably bio 1 and chem 1 for most people). So in the end, the student has two choices:

1. Take an extra semester to complete pre-reqs you already had credit for, which won't help you (and can even hurt you if you get low grades) while applying another school

OR....

2. Study for the MCAT and open up the opportunity to apply to the other 157 med schools in the country.

I can't imagine any traditional applicants taking the latter route. Perhaps this is for career switchers? Even then, I'm unsure.

I don't mean to sound like I know better. I'm genuinely curious as to why this policy was implemented, as I can't understand the motivations for this even when thinking only about how it may benefit the school's ranking or bottom line.

The third option: LECOM has many medical school seats committed through articulation agreements.

Applying Earlier? Health Professions Admissions through Early Assurance - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net

I would rely on people currently attending LECOM to provide the internal statistics on how many of their students come from their early assurance tracks and agreements. This also includes agreements with postbac programs. To that end, given what they know about how attractive they may be for prospective doctors, they are making specific smart decisions to help them with selectivity and managing their regular admission pool.

 

[Obnoxious Dad]

This just demonstrates once again that getting AP credit out of high school for basic science, math, psychology and sociology is foolish. Take the AP class in high school but never take the exam for college credit.

 

[ccbbkm]

I don't think it's foolish. I just think one has to be aware that using AP credits to satisfy low level biology or chemistry or psychology means that you'll be taking higher level bio, chem, psy classes in college to earn those med-school accepted credits. Those classes may be more interesting and also a smaller class size, allowing meaningful connections with professors.