Retake AP Credits or take other science electives

[jgatz2280]

This situation is a little unique so I really would like some advice

Profile:
-currently a sophomore, school is ranked in Top 20 of of all US Public Schools
-Econ major (always been Premed)
-3.92 CGPA, 3.84 SGPA, 4.0 GPA w/in major
-Received 45 AP credit hours including: Comp 1 & 2, Micro/Macro, Gen Chem 1 & 2, Calc 1&2, and Stats (all of these I scored a 5 on)

~~class schedule and grades~~

Fall 2011
-Honors Gen Chem with Lab (4 credit lecture, 1 credit lab) : received an A in lecture, B+ in lab

*I was enrolled in this course because of my AP score and Chem placement test; it was a Gen Chem course that essentially was Chm 1 & 2 in the same semester

Spring 2012
-Bio 1 with Lab (3 credit lecture, 1 credit lab): B+ in lecture, A in lab
-Orgo 1 (3 credits): A-

Fall 2012
-Bio 2 (3 credit lecture, 1 credit lab): A in lecture, A in lab
-Orgo 2 (credit lecture, 2 credit lab): A in lecture, A in lab

Spring 2013
-BioChem (4 credit lecture): on pace for an A




Because I have only 5 non-AP college credits of Gen Chem, and 0 non-AP credits of Stats, Calc and Comp, do I essentially need to replace all of these courses with higher level replacement courses in the same subject? Or is it stronger for me to take higher level science electives such as Genetics, Microbiology, Anatomy, Virology, Immunology etc if I'm looking for admission to top tier med schools?

Thanks all

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[Weewee]

I know from personal experience I had to retake all the prerequisites I had ap credit for because none of my schools accepted it. Also, a lot of schools require 8 credit hours of gen chem. I suggest getting the msar and looking at a range of schools to get a better idea.

 

[487806]

I know from personal experience I had to retake all the prerequisites I had ap credit for because none of my schools accepted it. Also, a lot of schools require 8 credit hours of gen chem. I suggest getting the msar and looking at a range of schools to get a better idea.

I'm curious to see which schools you mentioned require you to take prereqs because of AP placement. Could you PM me an example or two?

Upper level courses are suitable substitutes for the prereqs you have placed out with AP credits.

 

[Weewee]

I'm curious to see which schools you mentioned require you to take prereqs because of AP placement. Could you PM me an example or two?

Upper level courses are suitable substitutes for the prereqs you have placed out with AP credits.

I don't know why I included that first sentence without more info....wasn't paying attention and it is specific to my situation.

Basically, the only upper level English classes available required us to take the first two semesters as pre-recs and would not allow us to use ap credit to satisfy the requirement...so I ended up having to take the basic anyways and there was no need for a replacement.

I was more concerned about op needing 8 credit hours because I was advised not to take a combo honors 1&2 because certain schools are strict about the actual credit hour requirement...but my pre-med advisor also yelled at me for not taking calc based physics so msar is your best bet!

 

[Meihua]

Some schools will accept APs for prereqs, some won't. Most will accept upper-level courses from the same department (e.g. inorganic chemistry + analytical chemistry instead of two semesters of genchem, cell biology + immunology instead of two semesters of intro biology). Pritzker in particular accepts AP credits for all prereqs but requires that you supplement AP credits with an equivalent number of course+lab credits (in any science).

I ran into this issue when I was choosing schools - I wasn't pre-med when I entered college and had used all my AP credits, so the only prereq class I actually took in college was orgo. I ended up having to narrow my list of schools somewhat because I hadn't actually taken any genchem courses in college, and only one semester of physics (upper-level). In general, to be safe, you should either retake the prereq class or take equivalent hours of an upper-level course in that field.