I know this topic has been done to death, but I’m asking if med schools negatively view those who use AP credits for Bio 101 and then take upper level biology classes. I don’t want to repeat the basics again and I feel comfortable enough to skip bio 101, but I plan on taking a few upper level classes. Is this ok?
Here’s a chart (current as of May 2016) that shows which med schools will accept AP credits in lieu of college level credit. Some do; some don’t. Most that accept AP credits require you to take additional upper level coursework in the same dept. to satisfy admission requirements.
It’s important that you check the admission requirements/policies at all your in-state med schools. In-state med schools are every student’s best opportunity for gaining a med school admission so it’s strongly in your interst to meet their requirements.
Be aware that AP credits may not satisfy the lab requirements at all med schools so be sure to take 2 semester of bio lab credits in college. (Most upper level bio classes don’t require a lab, but some do or offer an optional lab. Take labs for those bio classes that offer it to satisfy the lab pre-reqs.)
As far as I know, very few colleges require you to take a specific basic bio class but most accept classes that meet specific subject matter, whether at lower or higher level. So if you are using the AP credit only to take a higher level class, you should be fine.
Pre-med advisory at your college is the one that knows the best. Normally, pre-meds are taking good number of upper level Bio in preparation for the MCAT anyway. However, some UG programs are designed in such a way that the intro Bio class is way higher level than HS AP class. It may go thru the AP material in couple weeks and then move on to a higher level material. Only pre-med advisory at your college can direct you properly in regard to this.
@MiamiDAP I also did the IB, but I took the AP exam also. So I did 2 years of HL Biology, with year one covering microbiology and year two covering macrobiology (evolution, ecology, and anatomy).
I got a 5 on the IB exam. I took AP so I could ensure any credits because IB results didn’t come out until July.
@WayOutWestMom I will be taking the lab this semester because the credit allows me to skip out of the intro bio courses and go straight to the lab.
Only your pre-med advisor is in position to assess if you can skip the class or need to take it. The college intro Bio is different from one college to another. Ultimately, it is your choice who to get advice from. Keep in mind, that we here have different backgrounds and will respond accordingly.
College Bios are much more deeper than HS bio classes, therefore many med schools discounted HS AP classes and want the applicants to demonstrate their abilities in Bio.
For Example, in my D’s UG school, almost all pre med track students take a series of class labeled " AP 5 Bio series" This series of classes only opens to entering freshmen with AP Bio scored 5 in HS, it lasted for a full school year. This turned out to be the weed out classes for pre med track students, as they were the hardest classes for all my D’s 4 year UG. As matter of fact, she had to take more higher level classes in her 4th year for GPA repair.
Here, post #7 is another proof how different Bio series is at every college. There is no general answer. The answer depends on the specifics of YOUR college and only pre-med advisory at your school will know.
As far as taking 2 Bio’s at HS, many done it and that includes those who even used the same textbook as they later used in their intro Bio class. Does not make any difference. D’s intro Bio went thru AP class material in the first 2 weeks. The class was taught by 3 profs being at each lecture at the same time, each presenting their own sub specialty of this intro Bio class. Yes, it was weed out and good number of HS val’s did not survive on the pre-med track due to this class. It may be totally different story at your college.
Thanks to every one for your helpful posts.
@WayOutWestMom Thanks for the above link and it is useful to plan ahead.
- The question I have on the link is, there is a column Lab; Is that implies only Bio lab or is it expected there should be a lab in all science subjects Bio, Chem and Phys?
- Any feedback on my D plan (who is a freshman).
HS AP: Bio / Chem / Stat / Calc BC / Psychology - each 5; Phys-1 4;
Plans to use AP to waive courses in 1 sem Intro Bio, 1 bio lab, 2 sem general chem, 1 sem intro physics, 2 sem calculus, 1 sem Psychology, 1 sem sociology
College courses planned to take: Genetics, Cell or molecular, Physiology / Phys 1 sem and 2 sem labs / OChem 2 sem and 1 lab, BioChem, 1 sem higher level Psychology, 1 sem higher level stat
In particular there is no Bio lab she has planned. (though she has done a college level lab in Physiology in UC Berekely during HS). Is that strongly recommended to take a Bio lab (none of the higher level Bio courses she plans to take has lab offering).
Though this plan satisfies her UG college Pre-med reqs and that state medical college reqs, just to be on the safe side, I want to see if this plan will address and enable her to apply to CA (in state) medical school is there is a need down the road. She plans to major in History. Thanks.
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Medical school admission requires lab credits in bio, gen chem, ochem, and physics. If she doesn’t have lab credits that appear on her college transcript, then she hasn’t fulfilled admission requirements
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I wouldn’t skip physics 1 unless she’s comfortable with taking 1 semester of an upper level physics elective with a lab (like modern phys, E&M, thermo) to supplement or fulfill admission requirements.
Some thoughts----
Since she’s not going to major in a science–I’d be very leary of just having her use mostly AP credits to fulfill admission requirements.
—Adcomm members do not really believe that an AP class (even with a score of 5) is equivalent to a college course. Even if she earns all As in her sciences, there may be a perception she is a weaker candidate.
— since your D will be a history major, your D will have fewer math/science courses comprising her sGPA than most applicants. If she uses all her AP science/math credits, she will have even fewer. This means if she falters in any of her college science classes, it will have disproportionate impact on her sGPA–which is equally or more important than her overall GPA for med school admission purposes. Fewer science classes also makes it more difficult to recover from a poor grade or even from a B.
If your daughter has already taken physiology at the college level she should NOT re-take the class unless she earned a C- or below. Applicants are required to report any and all college coursework–even dual enrollment credits–and provide transcripts from those programs. Those credits will be included in GPA/sGPA calculations for med school admission.
Med school admission in-state in California is very challenging. Your daughter should not count on getting an in-state seat. More than 2/3 of CA applicants who do get an acceptance to med school have to go OOS. CA public med schools do not have an instate bias in admission so in-state applicants are competing against a national applicant pool. Three (4?) of the CA med schools are mission-driven and unless you fit the mission, your chances for an admission are poor. Four CA med schools are top 25 ranked schools (with USC at #31) nationally so that applicants have sky-high stats and significant achievements in their ECs.
UCLA alone produces more pre-med applicants each year than there are medical school seats in the entire state of California.
Thanks a lot for the detailed response.
@goldenrock - There are 3 separate pieces you need to determine the gaps if your D wants to apply out.
- What the college will issue on the transcript.
- Which colleges accept those AP credits
- What the rules state at each college in addition to AMCAS requirements.
Here is what Rice provides for item 2.
The above covers some of 3 but the schools change the requirements each year and some of what it says now will be different in 3 years. I expect most schools to require psychology and most likely sociology in the next 1-2 years since old MCAT will be phased out.
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I’d be very leary of just having her use mostly AP credits to fulfill admission requirements.
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I don’t think anyone should ONLY use AP credits to fulfill admissions req’ts and call it a day. Most med schools won’t allow that anyway.
But, as mentioned, if you use AP credits to skip on to HIGHER level BCPM WITH labs, that should satisfy most/all med schools.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think there is a US med school that doesn’t allow a student to use AP credits to skip to HIGHER levels of sciences with labs. The reason I say this is because there are some colleges (not many, but some) that essentially force those with AP credits to skip and go on to a higher level. For that reason, I think most/all med schools will accept skipping and taking the higher level.
My son used his AP Bio, AP Chem, and AP Calc to skip to higher levels of Bio, Chem & Math (with labs), but he took Cell Bio, Genetics, BioChem, Orgo, some others and all the math needed for Eng’g. He ended up with minors in Bio, Chem, and Math. He used his AP English credits as well, but did have 9 credits of upper division “Writing Intensive” courses that med schools accepted.
If I recall, the AMCAS app has a place to detail these substitutions.
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College courses planned to take: Genetics, Cell or molecular, Physiology / Phys 1 sem and 2 sem labs / OChem 2 sem and 1 lab, BioChem, 1 sem higher level Psychology, 1 sem higher level stat
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Others can chime in here, but I don’t think any/many med schools require a student to take “higher level” psych or stats if one uses AP credits. Those classes don’t seem to require or have an expectation to show “college level competency”. Maybe a college level math class might be req’d if using AP Stats, but I’ve never seen anything that indicates that a higher level of psych is needed if AP psych is used. In most cases, it seems that psych is optional anyway.
Thank you all for the valuable posts.
Since my D will do her MD in OU Medical college, reached out to OU medical school admission office and they confirmed she will meet their requirement per the plan outlined above.
But all of your points are valid and being addressed. For example, already OU transcripts has given the credits for all her AP and it includes Bio lab for AP Bio. In her case, since she has also done a Physiology lab (2 credits) in UCB as a college level course, that pretty much should address lab in bio.
The reason she is doing a Psychology (Personality) course this semester is, OU Pre-Med office requires this specific requirement in addition to the Intro PSY course for which she got the waiver due to her AP Psycho.
For the same reason, there is a specific STAT req, in addition to AP Stat. The pre-med office req doc, explicitly states, ‘many of the Texas schools require Stats than calculus’. Interestingly OU Medicine school did not list any math requirement, though pre-med req stated 2 math courses which are waived due to AP Calc-BC.
OU Medicine confirmed her AP Chem and BioChem and 2 sems OChem should address all her chemistry reqs.
Since she is a student in Honors College and doing a minor in Medical humanities, those course should cover English and Humanities related reqs.
Interestingly though History is major the total credits are 36, but to meet pre-med reqs she will do 35 credits courses in addition to the 37 credits she got due to AP for a total of 72, though she will not get a major or minor in any science area. If she ends up doing UG in 4 years, then she can plan to do some course in general chemistry and other science courses and may get a minor in some science area.
In general UG Pre-Med office req are more super set (since they don’t know to which medical schools kids will apply) than a specific medical school. That is what I noticed when I see OU Pre-Med office req sheet versus OU Medicine req. Though Medical school req should have addressed AMCAS reqs, it is best to check AMCAS reqs also.
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Parent of a freshman who started in OU last week in the combined BS/MD program from CA.
Since my D will do her MD in OU Medical college, reached out to OU medical school admission office and they confirmed she will meet their requirement per the plan outlined above.
But all of your points are valid and being addressed. For example, already OU transcripts has given the credits for all her AP and it includes Bio lab for AP Bio. In her case, since she has also done a Physiology lab (2 credits) in UCB as a college level course, that pretty much should address lab in bio.
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Your DD is very lucky to be FROM Calif and be in a BS/MD program! I’m sure you’ve heard the horror stories of very qualified CA med school applicants getting no acceptances and having to go thru 2-3 app cycles to get ONE acceptance (and usually to an OOS school). Your DD is set!!!
It sounds like OU Med is accepting the AP Chem credits because she’s demonstrating Chem proficiency in Ochem (even tho Gen Chem is inorganic). Is that right? If so, I’ve heard of several med schools that seem fine with that…don’t know if many/all are.