School requires physics lab and accepts AP credit, but undergraduate university did not award equivalent lab section course?

[jacob42]

I'm in a weird situation that I can't find the answer to anywhere explicitly. I took AP Physics 1 and 2 in high school, each with a lab section. However, my undergraduate university only gave me credit for the equivalent of Physics 1 and 2 lectures for AP credit. Some medical school websites say they accept physics AP credit if it's listed on your AMCAS and transcript, but they don't refer to whether they're counting the AP class as its own thing, or as what the university deems to be equivalent. It doesn't really make sense to me if it's not the former. If two different students take both AP Physics 1 and 2 in high school and go to different undergraduate institions, one of which gives credit for Physics 1 with lab and Physics 2 with lab, and the other of which gives credit for Physics 1 and Physics 2 (no lab), how can medical schools say the first person meets the lab requirement and the second one doesn't? Both students took the exact same AP course. Does anyone happen to have experience with this or a similar situation, and which way they considered this?

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[wysdoc]

I'm in a weird situation that I can't find the answer to anywhere explicitly. I took AP Physics 1 and 2 in high school, each with a lab section. However, my undergraduate university only gave me credit for the equivalent of Physics 1 and 2 lectures for AP credit. Some medical school websites say they accept physics AP credit if it's listed on your AMCAS and transcript, but they don't refer to whether they're counting the AP class as its own thing, or as what the university deems to be equivalent. It doesn't really make sense to me if it's not the former. If two different students take both AP Physics 1 and 2 in high school and go to different undergraduate institions, one of which gives credit for Physics 1 with lab and Physics 2 with lab, and the other of which gives credit for Physics 1 and Physics 2 (no lab), how can medical schools say the first person meets the lab requirement and the second one doesn't? Both students took the exact same AP course. Does anyone happen to have experience with this or a similar situation, and which way they considered this?

If you weren’t awarded the credit that’s the reality for you.
Find a local college or community college where you can take Physics 1 and Physics 2 labs and move forward

 

[jacob42]

If you weren’t awarded the credit that’s the reality for you.
Find a local college or community college where you can take Physics 1 and Physics 2 labs and move forward

I'm applying this cycle. Would I be still fully considered if I applied to schools that have this requirement and take a physics lab at a community college this coming fall or spring, so long as I have the requirement before matriculation? Or is this a prerequisite for acceptances too?

 

[wysdoc]

I'm applying this cycle. Would I be still fully considered if I applied to schools that have this requirement and take a physics lab at a community college this coming fall or spring, so long as I have the requirement before matriculation? Or is this a prerequisite for acceptances too?

Meet the prereqs before med school enrollment time & you’re good

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Often the undergraduate physics department will provide the prehealth advising office a memo about AP credit describing their policies in awarding course credit. If your prehealth office is able to share this memo, this should be okay. If no such memo exists, then you may want to talk to your physics department about this.

 

[jacob42]

Often the undergraduate physics department will provide the prehealth advising office a memo about AP credit describing their policies in awarding course credit. If your prehealth office is able to share this memo, this should be okay. If no such memo exists, then you may want to talk to your physics department about this.

They do have a website listing what courses are credited from AP courses. Many schools list their Physics 1 and 2 classes and lab under the same course, meaning their AP credit covers both of these. My school, however, has these classes separate, and only awards AP Physics credit for the lectures themselves.

It’s unfortunate because the labs I did in AP chemistry, for instance, ended up being virtually identical to the labs I did in my undergraduate chemistry lab. The standards for our write ups were actually higher in high school I felt. My university only actually gives credit in AP chemistry to Chem 1 (even though I got a 5, and the AP exam covers all the content in Chem 1 and Chem 2). So I ended up taking Chem 2 in college because it was a graduation requirement that I didn’t end up appealing. But my school had no physics lab requirement, so I never ended up taking that. So I’ve been struggling to see why they don’t cover the physics labs when other universities do. It’s weird to me that if I just happened to go to a different undergraduate university, this would have counted despite me not actually taking the lab in either case.

I emailed my school to see if they would give me credit for it post-graduation. Hopefully they do something, but they have no obligation too, which stinks.