UCI AP Conversion Chart

[Nomaks]

I am planning to go to UCI, and I am lost in the AP conversion chart. http://www.editor.uci.edu/catalogue/intro/intro.11a.pdf

If an AP score of 3 or higher can obtain 8 units and you basically take 13 AP exams and passed them all, you can possibly obtain 104 units just by those exams. Does this mean you graduate faster when the minimum requirement of graduation is 180 units?

"Students, however, cannot earn units or grade points in courses from which they have been exempted on the basis of Advanced Placement credit, even if placement
results require enrollment in such a level."

-I do not know what that means.

I plan to graduate faster and apply for medical school and would like to know this. =)

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[Badger MD]

Wow... I don't think I've ever seen a more confusing site! I think it means that if you are taking a course at their university, but have already been exempted from that course because of your AP credit, it will not count towards units or grade credit. And if you still go through with that, the course will be specially coded into your transcript (but will basically count for nothing). Thats my take on it 😳

 

[Big Dog]

UC's are extremely generous with AP credit, which will enable you to graduate early. What that specific line means is that you cannot double dip. You can't take AP credit for Basketweaving 101 and then take Basketweaving 101 at UCI. If you do take the course, you lose your AP credit.

btw: since this is sdn, you should consider that med schools don't seem to be too enamored with early graduates.

 

[DoctorIn2015]

I read that as saying that if you choose to take a course that you are exempted from, you do it for the experience and no grade will be given. That said, I cannot agree more with the point raised above me; adcoms really scrutinize reasons for early graduation and early graduates in general. They want you to have had time to get out in the world, get some experience, and KNOW that this is what you want to do based on that experience. In addition, many medical schools won't take AP credit for prerequisite courses, so you should look into that at the schools you're hoping to attend before you take tons of AP tests to expedite your college experience. And lastly, remember that most of the courses you can test out of with AP exams are your basic college courses that will more than likely only help your overall GPA, and testing out of them erases that benefit since you won't get a grade for them.

 

[indianjatt]

I attend a sister UC and here, the AP credits just exempt you from a class. The units just count towards the 180 units needed for graduation and for priority registration. You will still need to fulfill all of the GE requirements (AP's will not count towards the GE requirements) and major requirements.

 

[ModernAlchemist]

Hey there,

Congratulations on going to UCI!

The thing about AP credit is that it will give you more units and could get you out of taking some breadth requirements, which is very helpful for graduating early. I do, however, advise you to take ALL medical school pre-requisite classes at UCI because AP credit will likely not be sufficient to learn the material for the MCAT and it would just be to your overall benefit concerning medical school application. Definitely, try to get out of as many breadth classes as you can, though.

As a side note, I'm going to give you a general piece of advice for being pre-med at UCI. Hit the books hardest your first quarter and THEN adjust your studying from there. The campus has a lot of really amazing resources for getting involved with everything you can think of, including health-oriented service projects. Those things will be there for you the whole time you are at UCI (and you should definitely utilize them), but getting a high gpa is the most important thing. I was a SPOP staffer and I saw about 60% of pre-meds drop after the first year because they didn't fully commit. Again, I don't know you, but I wish someone said that to me before I started.

Good luck!