Will Med School accept High School Credits?

[Heatwave]

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Okay, here is my situation (I am a first semester sophomore, by the way):

I took a bunch of courses through my high school at another college. Basically they reproduced the college situation, but in a high school classroom. Same class size, same length of class time and same preparation time. I received an entire year (two semesters) of biology, and their corresponding labs. Do you think a medical school is going to accept these credits? I am not a science major so I don't have time to retake these biology courses without taking them during the summer. The credits are from Syracuse University if that makes any sort of difference.

 

[Cinclus]

If your university accepts them, most med schools will also accept them.

 

[sector9]

Hmm does your transcript list a grade for these courses or just a pass or what?

 

[BigBlueBear]

Yeah it really depends on the school...some do and some don't.

It also helps if the AP credit is listed on your university transcript.

 

[Heatwave]

It just says "T" for what I am assuming means transfer. No grade listed. I actually am glad that I checked cause my college made a mistake and put Bio 2 Lab twice instead of Lab 1 and 2. And it isn't AP or have anything to do with College Board, they are treated as transfer credits from Syracuse.

 

[Cinclus]

It just says "T" for what I am assuming means transfer. No grade listed. I actually am glad that I checked cause my college made a mistake and put Bio 2 Lab twice instead of Lab 1 and 2. And it isn't AP or have anything to do with College Board, they are treated as transfer credits from Syracuse.

All of my AP transfer credits just showed up with a "grade" of "CR" on my transcript. None of the med schools gave me a hard time about it.

 

[DAPI]

Yes. You will need to get a transcript from Syracuse University and send it to AMCAS (in two years), not just from your new university as they are actual college credits and not AP or something.

 

[sector9]

It just says "T" for what I am assuming means transfer. No grade listed. I actually am glad that I checked cause my college made a mistake and put Bio 2 Lab twice instead of Lab 1 and 2. And it isn't AP or have anything to do with College Board, they are treated as transfer credits from Syracuse.

Like DAPI says, you are going to need to get your transcript straight from Syracuse as well. The grade on your Syracuse transcript is the relevant thing in this situation

The short story is that I think pretty much all of the schools will accept them if the credits were graded on your Syracuse transcript but some schools won't accept them if they don't show up as letter grades (like if it just says "Pass" or "Credit" or whatever). In the case that you didn't receive a grade, some schools may allow you to substitute upper level classes to fill their bio requirement

Here's the instruction manual section

Many high school students take other types of college-level courses either independently or through special programs offered by their high school. Courses may be physically taken at the high school or at a college, depending on the program, but should be listed on the application under the name of the college.
You must contact the college involved to determine transcript availability prior to submitting the application. If a transcript from the college is available, it must be forwarded to AMCAS and courses must be listed in the Course Work section of your application. If letter grades and credit hours are listed on the college transcript, these courses will be included in AMCAS GPA calculations, even if they have not been transferred to the primary undergraduate school or used towards a degree. These courses do not require any Special Course Type, unless otherwise appropriate. The Year in School for such courses is "High School."
If a transcript is not available from the college, do not send high school transcripts to AMCAS. Instead, the registrar's office of the college must forward an official letter, with an AMCAS Transcript Request Form attached, indicating that no transcript is available due to institutional policies. The Transcript Request Form can be found in the Transcript Requests section of the application.

Keep in mind that the instruction manual only tells you how AMCAS handles it when processing your application. Individual medical schools will each have their own requirements as far as their specific prereqs

 

[ComradeDoktor]

If your university accepts them, most med schools will also accept them.

Even if they are technically "acceptable", med schools prefer you take your core premed classes at the university where you do most of your undergrad education. Boston University even asks you whether particular classes were at a "preferred" institution on their secondary. I don't think that's a smart risk to take, especially if you're a non-science major.

 

[Cinclus]

Even if they are technically "acceptable", med schools prefer you take your core premed classes at the university where you do most of your undergrad education. Boston University even asks you whether particular classes were at a "preferred" institution on their secondary. I don't think that's a smart risk to take, especially if you're a non-science major.

If you take and do well in higher-level classes in the same field, however, it's absolutely no problem to have these types of transfer credits. Students with AP Chemistry credit, for instance, still need to take o-chem, and many will even take biochem.

 

[mirimonster]

Even if they are technically "acceptable", med schools prefer you take your core premed classes at the university where you do most of your undergrad education. Boston University even asks you whether particular classes were at a "preferred" institution on their secondary. I don't think that's a smart risk to take, especially if you're a non-science major.

Syracuse is a "preferred" institution. It doesn't have to be the same school, it just should be at a rigorous school. Read: not community college.

 

[Lucky Louie]

Courses with the AMCAS grades listed below are not included in the GPA
calculations. Instead, the total hours for each of these categories are reported to
medical schools under the heading Supplementary Hours.
o Pass/Fail - Pass
o Pass/Fail - Fail
o Advanced Placement (AP) Credit
o College Level Examination Program (CLEP) Credit
https://www.aamc.org/students/downlo...ion_manual.pdf

IOW, your gpa is not affected, but you do get credit (even if you got 'dual credit' at SU). You'd list it under Supplementary Hours.

It also needs to be listed somewhere, preferably on your regular college transcript. You may also need to get a transcript from SU. I should also add that these courses, like any AP course, are generally not considered sufficient for pre-med reqs. Instead, they simply allow you to take a higher level course IN COLLEGE, not in high school.

Be sure to check with your pre-health advisor about this, especially if you're not intending to take any other Bio course.

 

[mvenus929]

Syracuse is a "preferred" institution. It doesn't have to be the same school, it just should be at a rigorous school. Read: not community college.

What looks bad is you doing most of your courses at a university, but doing your pre-reqs somewhere else in the middle. If you start at a community college for financial reasons and take general bio and general chemistry there, adcoms aren't going to give you a hard time about it (though you should have some upper level courses at a university). If you go to State University for 2 years, then take gen chem and gen bio at a community college, it's going to look really bad.