Medical Will course taken in home country before starting undergrad in US count towards pre-req requirement?

[TheBoneDoctah]

Hi,

I am a first year undergraduate student who will be completing a semester of study in my home country (academic year goes from February to December) before starting college in the States this Fall. I'm planning on taking Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Calculus and Statistics classes so I can transfer them for credit and place out of introductory B/C/P classes, and fulfil the two semesters of math requirement for medical school with my Calculus and Statistics classes. I believe these classes will show up on my transcript as the equivalent class in college, but with a "TR" instead of a grade. Is this a good idea? And do you think that the classes will successfully transfer, since I'm coming from a different country where the course content might be different to the course content in the States? Thanks!

You should contact your undergrad institution and ask them directly if the courses will transfer for credit towards your undergrad degree. For medical school, I would advise against doing all your prerequisite courses out of the county and not being graded.

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[TheBoneDoctah]

Thank you for your reply. Since I'm only taking one semester of each class, I will still be taking the rest of my Biology, Chemistry and Physics classes in the States to complete my prerequisites of 1 year of biology, 2 years of chemistry, 1 year of physics, etc., I'd only be using the transfer credit for the intro courses similar to using AP credit to place out. Is this still okay?

Let me make sure I am understanding what you are saying:

For example, you would take "Intro to General Chemistry" out of the country and then General Chemistry 1 (med school prereq) and General Chemistry 2 (medical school prereq) at your US undergrad?

 

[AlteredScale]

Does your US college have “intro to” science courses that are HARD requisites before taking the normal science courses? I’ve never seen that as a thing at the large university I went to for undergrad unless you were taking upper division courses that were closer to grad level.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

I'm taking first-year Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Statistics classes. They're not called "Intro to...", they're just first-year courses that have to be taken before I'd be able to take upper level B/C/P/M classes if I were to continue studying here.

I'm hoping to place out of Calculus, Statistics (thereby fulfilling the 2 semester of math requirement for med school), and 1 semester of Biology, Chemistry and Physics each, since I was under the impression that Americans usually can place out of those using AP credits. I am still planning to take Gen Chem II, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, another semester of Biology, another semester of Physics, and probably upper level biology classes (will be majoring in a life science) when I get to college.

Prerequisites for medical school (general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, biology) are not upper-division courses. If your plan was to take only half of your prereqs for grades and in the US, I would advise against that.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

I understand that prerequisites for medical school are not upper-division courses. I was just hoping to obtain credit for 1 semester of Calculus, Statistics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics each.

I'm saying that I will probably be taking upper level Biology classes anyway (as a life sciences major), so I'd just be using the Biology credit (if it successfully transfers) to be able to take upper level Biology classes quicker.

For Chemistry, I would just take General Chemistry II, Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry if the Chemistry credit transfers successfully.

For Physics, I would just take Physics II, if the Physics credit transfers successfully—but I'm not sure if medical schools would accept this?

For Mathematics, I think I'd just place out of Calculus and Statistics, if both classes transfer successfully, and thereby fulfil the two semesters of mathematics prerequisite.

Wouldn't that be the equivalent of an American high school student placing out of 1 semester of these classes by taking AP Calc BC, Stats, Bio, Chem and Physics C, except even better since I'm actually taking university-level classes?

Why do you say you advise against this?

I see what you’re saying now. I will defer to the ADCOM here as I haven’t had this question before and they will be able to better answer this question for you.

 

[Goro]

way outside my knowledge base

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

If you do not get any responses on here, this may be a question for the schools directly.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

The advice given is on the right track. Ask your prehealth and academic advisors. I would take the transfer credit but still take prerequisites and upper level biomedical science classes. Don't shortcut if you don't need to.