<p>So I recently got into Northeastern University into the 6year PharmD program. This summer however I had an internship at a hospital which allowed me to shadow doctors in all the departments and it is here that I got into thinking about med-school.</p>
<p>I was able to drop General Chemistry because I got a 5 in AP Chem. If I were to transfer out of the Pharmacy Program because I wanted to pursue a pre-med track I would probably major in Chemistry.</p>
<p>I am still unsure about whether I'd want to go on this track so my question really is, would it be a good idea to just take General Chemistry freshman year in my PharmD track so that if I do decide to change majors or transfer out, it wouldn't be a problem? If I transferred to a school with Pre-Med as a major they would they require I have taken Gen Chem in college as a freshman? And, is it possible to take Gen Chem AND Orgo as a sophomore (though it may kill you).</p>
<p>It will pack my schedule freshman year since I am required to take Psych, Physics, and Chem my freshman fall semester, but will work hard to keep my GPA high.</p>
<p>If you got a 5 on the AP and submitted the score to the school, it is the policy of many schools to reflect this on the transcript. So if you do decide to switch out and proceed to graduate or professional school, they’ll see that you forfeited your AP credit to take the easier class. Check your school’s policy and speak to pre-med advising, but I think that if you placed out of Gen Chem, you don’t have to take it again for pre-med requirements as long as you supplement it with upper level courses (which you would anyway if you were majoring in chemistry). For instance, I got a 5 on AP Chem and my school has that on my transcript. So I will either take Orgo this year or put it off for a year. Either way, I wouldn’t have to take Gen Chem - I would be taking upper level Chem classes (I’m a Chem major).</p>
<p>IFF they look that hard, and that is debatable, the fact is that adcoms just won’t care. An A in Gen Chem is an A in Gen Chem; hopefully followed up with an A in Organic. If you are certain to be a Chem major, then you will be taking upper division chem courses. But, colleges offer hundreds of other courses that a typical high schooler has never heard of. You might find Philosophy more to your liking, or Russian Lit, or Linguistics…if so, acing Gen Chem now is a no-brainer.</p>
<p>What do you mean “if they look that hard”? If it’s there, it’s right on your transcript! And the transcript is something you can bet they’ll read carefully. Anyway, here’s the excerpt from my health advising office:
“Medical schools would prefer that you do not retrace your steps and avoid the challenges of upper-level coursework… And lastly, remember that all AP credit granted to you will be listed on your Princeton transcript when you send it to medical schools, even if you’ve gone back and done the introductory courses over again and forfeited your AP. They will see that you spent many, many hours taking the “easy route” when you could have been much more adventurous and brave in your academic choices.” - <a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/hpa/faq/coursework/#comp00004ca9d3b2000001551e2d48[/url]”>http://www.princeton.edu/hpa/faq/coursework/#comp00004ca9d3b2000001551e2d48</a></p>
<p>And this is coming from people whose job it is to get over 94% of the people applying to med school into med school.</p>
<p>They will see it. They simply won’t care. Take Gen Chem. Ace it. It didn’t hurt my kid one bit and she did it for Bio and Chem. And P-Tiger, you might have been “drinking the Kool-Aid” a little too much. Time to start thinking critically. No school gets 94% of their Pre-Meds into med school. Not without cooking the books.</p>
<p>@curmudgeon, Princeton supports the application of almost all premeds. The admit rate has never been lower than 90% in the past eight years (as far back as the chart goes). The rate is similar at all top schools. You think about it. Those top schools admit only the best students from their high school classes. These students are motivated and driven. Anywhere else, they could have been top of their class. At top schools, they apply this work ethic and still maintain good grades despite competition from everyone else who is also like them. It stands to reason that most of these students will be admitted to med school (note that I did not say a top ten med school or their top choice med school - they were admitted to A med school). </p>
<p>In fact, I job shadowed a surgeon who did his undergrad studies at MIT and I asked him about the rate of admission to med school from a school like MIT. He said he would be surprised if the rate was significantly lower than 90%. Every premed he knew in his class was admitted to a med school. And MIT doesn’t prescreen its premeds! Remember we’re not talking about a state school here. Elite colleges wouldn’t be elite if they couldn’t boast excellent admission rates to graduate and professional schools. Perhaps you could give me your argument as to why you believe the actual admit rate is lower and provide statistics to back it up.</p>
<p>Would you rather listen to an expert whose profession is to get kids into med school or to a bunch of opinionated people on an online forum? Curmudgeon, you don’t know what got your child into med school or what went against them in committee. Perhaps your child was strong with impressive research experience and significant volunteering and clinical work. You simply cannot say that one factor did or did not impact their application.</p>
<p>OP, if you scored a 5 on an AP exam, then move on with your life and take the next level(this is what medicals school adcoms would prefer you do). Time is precious, you don’t want to waste it on useless endeavors. The classes in college that AP exams let you skip are really high school level classes, why would you want to retake a high school level class in college?</p>
<p>BTW, I skipped genchem (5 on AP exam) and so I took Orgo I/II my first year in college. It was a walk in the park :D</p>
<p>Ptontiger- just to give you a heads up about pton’s premed advising. The person in charge for son’s time there and previously was let go last year, and it wasn’t because he was great at his job. Son knew some of his advice/advising was crap and didn’t follow “alot” of what he was told to do. He had other advisors in the healthcare field from years past, research and summer programs who told him very much the OPPOSITE from what the specific advising office you site told him to do.</p>
<p>Needless to say they butted heads and he did not ask for a committee letter from them and went with his own references. And the outcome was much better than what pre-med advising predicted. They were so far off it was ridiculous. Seriously ridiculous.</p>
<p>They could not believe he had a Harvard interview until they saw it themselves. Add to that the acceptance and his other acceptances, and scholarship offers and they were just wrong. About most of his academic, athletic and EC career.</p>
<p>So as Curm has stated, think critically for yourself. And if you don’t think the pre-med advising office doesn’t screen for numbers, think again.</p>
<p>Kat
and yes son is now in med school, 1 app cycle</p>
<p>S2 had advanced placement for many sciences classes … he took physics again (not his favorite subject and had no wish to take advanced classes), and had to retake chemistry…due to an honors program he is in… acts as a TA in labs, it is required that they take the course offered by the school before allowed to TA…so he will have a few that show as retakes. but except for physics he will be taking many more advanced courses in both chem and bio. they will see the retakes on his transcript but i fall into the curm camp…i really dont think they will care</p>
<p>Ask any kids (like mine) who got a 5 in AP Calc and 800 in SAT’s Math whether it was “a walk in the park”. It was not. Not even close. What is taught in those AP courses pales in comparison to the level of the subject as well as how a professor zips through the material.</p>
<p>Exactly, and if you do your critical-thinking research, you’ll find out that med schools will read your Organic grade “carefully”, as well as all upper division science courses, particularly bcpm. Do you really think they care one iota about an intro Frosh Chem course? Seriously?</p>
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<p>Do you own research, and you’ll find that he is wrong. No school has a 90% acceptance rate. None.</p>
<p>Have you taken AP Stats? If not, I highly recommend a stats class. And then go back to the premed office at P’ton and ask how many matriculating Frosh are premed. Ask how they count the numerator. Do they screen out anyone who is not “approved” for a Committee Letter? Do they count alums, i.e., students who may have a weaker transcript so they are counseled to take a gap-year or two?</p>
<p>I’m guessing its ~25% of the class, or approx. 300-350 entering Frosh. Then look at the stats on the link your provide…only ~100 apply. Hmmmmm</p>
<p>@Kat, what exactly was wrong? I’d like to know so I don’t make the same mistakes. </p>
<p>@bluebayou, a lot of people drop premed even before they are screened because they find they like another field better, they find out medicine isn’t worth it, they’re just not good at it (perhaps Orgo weeded them out), etc. Most people change their majors once they get to sophomore year anyway. I would be interested to know how many juniors are still premeds and how many intend to apply for med school vs how many actually do and are supported by the committee letter. I know they screen, but mainly that’s just to eliminate the people who still haven’t got the hint (2.5 GPA, etc)? There is no way that 25% of the incoming Princeton class is premed. Princeton is bigger on political science and Econ. Not to mention how many premeds are driven away by grade deflation. There is no way that 25% of the class would be premed. I wouldn’t be surprised if a quarter was Econ or Woody Woo, but not premed. If you honestly believe so, put your money where your mouth is. Show me the statistics - its no use arguing by hearsay here. </p>
<p>Here’s a personal take on.the OP’s question. Do you go to college for the sake of learning or to get a high GPA? This is important because if you do it for the latter, you might as well retake Chem. People are saying to retake Chem because it’s easy and you’ll ace it. If you already know the material, what’s the point of retracing your steps? You’ll miss out on taking two higher level classes that are far more interesting down the road because you spent two semesters retaking a class that you obviously already have a strong foundation in.</p>
<p>What about the students who are applying to many of the Cali schools (i.e.Keck, Loma Linda, UC Davis, UCLA) that will not accept AP Credit? Their only options are to take upper level courses or take Gen Chem. Medical schools understand that some schools will not accept AP credit and thus have to take the class in college. I’m not positive about how it appears on the transcript but I believe once you take the class the AP credit is forfeited as you can’t get dual credit.</p>
<p>III. Counting Advanced Placement Units for Advanced Standing</p>
<p>When adding up your AP units, please remember the following points:</p>
<ol>
<li>All advanced placement awarded at matriculation is recorded on your transcript. You forfeit the use of your AP for advanced standing if you take courses deemed equivalent to or below ones for which advanced placement was granted. In the case of foreign language, if you were awarded two units of advanced placement credit at matriculation, you forfeit both units if you enroll in any 100-level course in the language for which AP was granted.</li>
</ol>
<p>OP. Advice to you, an entering student at Northeastern, is getting lost in a discussion of elite schools and … well, let’s just say it’s getting lost. </p>
<p>Read the the “New Pre-Med” sticky at the top of the page. </p>
<p>Here’s part :
</p>
<p>Read the rest of it, too. You’ll understand.</p>
</p>