<p>I am accepted to the U of M, and will most probably do the honors program. I want to major in chemistry and eventually want to go to a good med school (will be taking pre med). I took many AP classes and took the exams. I got a 5 on the chem exam. will be taking the biology, calc bc and physics c exams this year. should i use any of this credit? would it help me, or would it put me at a disadvantage? should i "retake" those subjects in college just so i get better a better GPA? I am really confused.</p>
<p>My pre-med advisor said that one should not use any sort of pre-existing credit towards any medical school requisites.</p>
<p>My regular advisor said that as long as you can demonstrate the prowess for those courses on the MCAT then you are golden and he recommends using all previous credit.</p>
<p>A lot of med schools don’t accept AP credit for pre-reqs, so keep that in mind. If, say, you opt out of general chem, you’ll have to take two semesters of higher level chem w/lab if you want to be able to apply broadly.</p>
<p>I heard that SOME colleges will not allow a student with an AP credit to retake an equivalent introductory science class. Also, the academic adviser from many science departments often recommends the student with an AP credit to take a more advanced or “honor/accelerated” class.</p>
<p>It is somewhat ironic that almost all college-bound high school students want to take classes that are as advanced as possible; while at many colleges, many preprofessional students coming in with an AP 5 try to convince their academic adviser that an introductory science class that is meant for the students at a lower track is a fit for them. Many successful premeds take algebra-based physics at college, even though they may have taken a calculus-based physics in high school. One physics professor at a local university once said this really wastes the brain power of the brightest students in the nation.</p>
<p>It is often suggested that it may not cause any inconvenience in the future if you take the AP biology credit. This is because students will likely take a couple of upper-division biology classes any way (watch out for the required labs though.) Taking the AP physics credit will more likely put yourself in a disadvantage position in the future if you college will not allow you to retake an equivalent class (unless you are a physics major or are very interested in advanced physics.)</p>