<p>-> when I’m finally working <em>as a medical professional</em>
→ It’s fine to… start your <em>medical</em> career sooner</p>
<p>Sorry for the confusion.</p>
<p>I’m all for applying to medical school after one year and graduating college in two…</p>
<p>…if you are capable of it
(already know how to articulate yourself, how to travel for interviews, how to memorize quickly for your long-term memory, ect).</p>
<p>And sitting in front of a computer does not sound pleasant :/</p>
<p>plumazul, getting a 5 on the AP Chem exam in no way correlates to your chances of doing well in orgo. Organic is almost entirely new information and only reverts back to gen chem for a few concepts. The reason it’s not suggested that “anyone” take orgo freshman year is because it is one of the hardest courses you’ll ever take. Going from high school where you’re living with your parents and taking easier courses, to orgo gets many people to switch majors.</p>
<p>Also, gen chem 1&2, the prereqs for orgo, are in no way a high school level course. If you take intro to chem, then yes, I would agree. Gen chem is a pre med course that weeds out a large percentage of pre med hopefuls. This is true at almost every major university, including the Ivies. These aren’t dumb kids that are failing these courses. </p>
<p>I agree that an A in orgo isn’t essentially to admittance to med school.</p>
<p>At many colleges, dual-credit classes taken at CCs that counted towards your high school graduation don’t count towards college. In other words, any of those CC classes that you took that helped you graduate from HS may not earn you any college credit, so you may have fewer credits going in than you think.</p>
<p>I don’t actually think it will be possible for you to graduate in 2 years - perhaps 3. But you will be competing with students who have 4 years of shadowing, 2-3 years of research, 2 summers of pre-med programs, etc. The only way I would say go ahead and graduate in 2, if you even could, is if you were planning to do a post-baccalaureate program like at the NIH for a year or two and then apply.</p>
<p>@Trannay - You can check this out, but it is my understanding that the vast majority of med schools in the US WILL NOT allow you to substitute an AP score of 4 or 5 for general chem, but REQUIRE that you take it in college. So much of this other discussion could be partly moot if I am correct. Check the web sites of the top 30 or so med schools, and ask the pre-med advisors at a 4 year university that has a lot of pre-med students.</p>
<p>I would ask the Med. School adcoms, nobody else would know and it may be different from Med. School to another.
However, it is very early for your to decide, just start your UG and see. Many initial pre-meds simply fall out of track, huge %. Survive few sememsters with the college GPA very close to 4.0, then send your question to few Med. School adcoms under your consideration and see what they say. I would not listen to anybody else. My own D. had few questions about her APs and she has contacted few of the Med. Schools on her list. They respond very quickly, and you would not question their response, you will have to listen to them.</p>
<p>…BTW, accelerated bs/md programs have only 2 years in UG, so here you go. But you will not be in one of them, so you need to ask.</p>
<p>Normally I would not participate in a necrobump, but the comment:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>is just very wrong. Here is a link to the latest edition of the Rice guide. </p>
<p><a href=“Log In ‹ Office of Academic Advising — WordPress”>Log In ‹ Office of Academic Advising — WordPress;
<p>@plumazul how do read this? School that does not accept AP credit (N), will not accept upper level credit to satisfy the requirement (Y*)? My understanding is all schools accept upper level credit to satisfy the requirement. </p>
<p>As an example in the pdf, JHU has N in the Bio. If it does accept upper level credit to satisfy the pre req, it should be Y* (= upper level credit in the discipline will satisfy the requirement). Many people will read it as - do not use AP bio credit, take bio 101 and 102 and then take upper level bio classes. Thoughts?</p>
<p>Even if I overstated it with the words “vast majority”, there are enough that have M, N and Y* (which means you would have to take something beyond Organic Chemistry to satisfy them) that using AP credit to simply skip general chem remains a dubious move. Most of the courses beyond general chem are even harder. So I really don’t think it was “very” wrong. Bottom line, skipping general chem if you are going to med school is probably an iffy idea.</p>
<p>Here is a link regarding Medical School and AP credit:
<a href=“http://thecollege.syr.edu/students/undergraduate/advising_academic_support/pre_health/_pdfs_docs/Advanced%20Placement_FAQ.pdf”>http://thecollege.syr.edu/students/undergraduate/advising_academic_support/pre_health/_pdfs_docs/Advanced%20Placement_FAQ.pdf</a>
Also many Medical schools will not accept required classes such Ochem, Biology etc… from a CC. You need to check each individual school to see their requirements
. </p>
<p>@yesdee,
</p>
<p>Yes you are correct that (virtually?) all schools accept upper level credit to satisfy requirements. The “N” would mean that you have to take the required number of hours in upper division classes. The Y* means you just need to take an upper division class at your university. In the case of chemistry, since AP Chem is so ubiquitous many/most universities offer a quantitative analysis class(mostly lab) that you can take after Orgo to satisfy medical schools. I never took any intro science classes, but for bio I took several upper division classes. I interviewed at JHU. When a student has AP credit, professional/graduate schools want you to move on and take upper division classes. It serves no purpose to waste time retaking anything. However, because of the way the AP exams are scored(notwithstanding the fact that some colleges will give credit for a score of 4) I personally feel that only a score of 5 means you’ve mastered the skills of that class. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is no longer true. There are only a tiny number of schools which refuse to accept CC credits. (Creighton is the only one that springs immediately to mind.) Even long-time hold out JHU will now accept CC credits.</p>
<p>Please consult MSAR for each school’s specific requirements. </p>
<p>I am not sure why all this semi-geussing game here when you can get a straight and very quick response from the Med. Schools adcoms and that is exactly what my D. did in regard to some of her AP credits. It is almost getting yourself into trouble asking here. People applied to different schools and in different years and might have completely different experiences. More so, one has to stay open until they get accepted as (and again, it is ONLY my D’s experience), school(s) may change requirements AFTER you have applied and register for your fall semester of senior year, then, TATA, here you go, need 2 more classes for this one school. You can disregard, but what if this school is one close to the top of your list. D. had to drop one of her minors and completely change her senior year plan and since she has registered for fall sememster, she had to change her registration and walk in into couple classes, here when pre-med committee at her UG had a crucial role in the success of all this reshuffle.
So, stop discussing here and going to various websites. Get busy contacting the ONLY VALID SOURCE- Medical Schools adcoms
.And another advice, make sure to have a very heavy schedule in the beginning, so that in your last year you have a room to change (if needed) and still have enough credits to graduate in your major.</p>
<p>Sheesh, can you imagine the influx of emails if every HS SENIOR emailed medschool adcoms to ask questions? Miami, for the most part, UG kids can fulfill their med school pre reqs WITHOUT checking with medschools before they start UG. As YOU say, things and req’s can change year to year…so why would you tell a high school kid to check with medschools? That’s a def #annoying</p>
<p>@Gumbymom,
</p>
<p>The link you posted appears very dated. Both Penn and GT currently accept all AP credits for requirements. Penn also appears to be moving toward (along with a growing number of schools) dropping all formal class requirements. </p>