question

[prudvi]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I have taken AP Physics in high school and I received college credit for Physics I and II (including the labs). I heard that med school require me to take a advanced course in Physics because I have gotten AP credit. Is this true? Thank you for your help.

 

[alwaysaangel]

I have taken AP Physics in high school and I received college credit for Physics I and II (including the labs). I heard that med school require me to take a advanced course in Physics because I have gotten AP credit. Is this true? Thank you for your help.

Never heard that before ever. They just want 1 year of physics with lab.

 

[slb830]

Never heard that before ever. They just want 1 year of physics with lab.

I dont know for sure - but I bet your undergrad institution will not give you credit for both your AP Physics courses and then Physics 1 and 2 if you retake it in college. You may have to just lose the AP credits and take Physics in college (or, if you want to keep your AP credits, take advanced physics courses). I am pretty sure that medical schools will not accept AP credits in lieu of college classes.

Besides - MCATs suck. It will only help you to take college level physics.

 

[alwaysaangel]

I dont know for sure - but I bet your undergrad institution will not give you credit for both your AP Physics courses and then Physics 1 and 2 if you retake it in college. You may have to just lose the AP credits and take Physics in college (or, if you want to keep your AP credits, take advanced physics courses). I am pretty sure that medical schools will not accept AP credits in lieu of college classes.

Besides - MCATs suck. It will only help you to take college level physics.

See - yeah this is probably true.

I would check with your undergrad instititution. Maybe ask your pre-med advisors about the medical school aspect IF you find out you still could take the basic physics. They should know.

 

[prudvi]

Thanks everyone🙂

 

[kenmc3]

Most medical schools accept AP credits of some sort. I am a med student at the University of Miami and this is what our admissions website says.

“AP credits are accepted and can be used to satisfy requirements for English, biology, and inorganic chemistry, as long as the credits appear on a college transcript and are verified by AMCAS.”

I do not know why physics is not listed. I would assume that some medical schools accept physics AP while others don’t. Unfortunately, the only way you could know is by calling all the admissions offices for the schools you might be interested in. So here is what I think:

1) I am not aware of colleges requiring you to take advanced credit – unless the physics 1 and 2 were taken at a community college. Although check with a pre-med advisor.

2) I think that if a medical school had a choice between a student who has taken college level physics (grade A) or tested out using AP – they would choose the student who took it in college.

3) If you find out you don’t need to take physics to satisfy med schools – get your hands on some physics problems from the MCAT. Because it would really suck if your high school AP physics didn’t adequately prepare you for the MCAT.

4) You might just want to take physics in college – you would probably get an A anyway.

Good Luck

 

[PZMO]

OP- I had the same thing happen. And it IS a problem at some schools. I had AP credit for the whole first year of physics with labs, and some schools said that they would not take it. A higher level series of physics had to be taken (above what the AP credit was for). It absolutely could not be used to satisfy their physics pre-reqs.

That being said, I found enough schools to apply to. Most will accept AP. But be aware that there are some that will not, and that you can't apply to unless youre willing to take a higher series.

 

[Skaterbabe74]

And if you end up taking a higher series of courses the ones most similar to Gen Physics would be Classical Mechanics and Electricity and Magnetism. At my school E&M is a gpa killer (half the class regularly fails and we're talking physics majors) so unless you are a physics major you might just want to retake the Gen series again anyway.

 

[CTtarheel]

YES, this is a problem at SOME schools. I used AP credit for physics, and ended up taking one more physics course (modern physics) to satisfy my chem major requirements. Check my mdapps list, all of those schools didn't mind me using AP credits to satisfy requirements, though some wanted you to take at least one advanced course. It's a BIG problem with top schools like all the ivy's, hopkins, etc. and kept me from applying to a few reach schools (but thats probably a good thing as it saved me from wasting money on rejection letters!).

 

[MDapp06]

UCLA does not accept AP credit for these courses: Biology, Physics, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Math, and English. Applicants must take a full year of these courses before matriculation. So you don't have to have all these courses complete at the time you actually apply.

Hope this helps 🙂

 

[prudvi]

Thank you so much everyone.🙂

 

[mvenus929]

While this hasn't been shown to be completely true, this is a handy website for looking at AP credits. I have AP credits for a lot of classes, so it's a bit of a problem for me.


AP credit acceptance

 

[musiclink213]

It depends on the school. Some will tell you if you get credit for a full year of physics, then just take the second semester, nad that will satisfy the requirement. Some will tell you it's fine, some will tell you need to have an extra class in the area. Your best bet is to call up the schools you';re interested in and find out what they want.

 

[prudvi]

I have decided to take Physics again in collgege because it will increase my chances of getting a better score on the MCAT.

 

[prudvi]

While this hasn't been shown to be completely true, this is a handy website for looking at AP credits. I have AP credits for a lot of classes, so it's a bit of a problem for me.


AP credit acceptance

Thanks.🙂