<p>I come to you for advice instead of my usual High School Life forum or any of the specialized forums because of your unique and broad life experiences. My question is that ** How to grad schools [Specifically Medical and Law Schools] look at applicants who graduate early?** I am aware of previous CC threads that ask this, but they are incoherent to me and don't fit my situation. By the time I graduate high school, I will have completed 24 AP classes and will likely have a large amount of AP credit. By going to a school that takes AP credit, like Virginia [I'd Graduate in 1-2 years, only would have to do 60 credits there, likely would do 20 in the summer and 20/20 during the school year], William & Mary [I don't think they have AP restrictions] and/or Berkley, just too name my targets. This option is ideal to me because I don't qualify for aid, but don't want to burden my parents who will have to pay for my siblings' education as well. However, I am interested in a professional graduate degree, so I am unsure about how grad schools would feel [Note: I do know about Med School requirements, but it shouldn't really interfere with an early graduation] about this situation. I'd otherwise attend another, non-state school and do unique programs with my AP credit, such as going to UPenn [Hopefully Huntsman or Jerome Fisher] and graduate with a Masters in 4 years. </p>
<p>Sorry for the long block of text, but once again, I believe you unique experiences throughout life will really be able to help me with this. Also, I already know you will say come back later and so on, but if you would seriously respond that would be marvelous.</p>
<p>Don’t know. My comment is about your AP tests and thoughts on graduating early.</p>
<p>You may get credit for all your AP classes, but more likely, than not, only a handful will be useful. You will take about 40 classes (semester) to graduate. About 5-10 of them are “free electives”. The rest are all required classes of one type or another. Even if you get AP credit (let’s say Calculus), they may still make you take a “math” class in order to graduate (substitute “English” if you are in a STEM field)</p>
<p>I would guess that at most, you will be able to use 1/2 your AP tests towards graduation, but wouldn’t be surprised if it was 6 or less. If you got less than 5 on a test, then even less likely to be helpful.</p>
<p>I know some of my AP classes will be unusable at some colleges, but since policies vary, I have decided to continue on with that. However, I have checked at UVA that I’d graduate in 1-2 years and the same at Texas [At Austin or Dallas, hear they have the top chess program], UConn, William & Mary and Berkley. [I omitted Michigan due to my long-standing Wolverine hate as I am an Ohio State fan]</p>
<p>What you need to consider is whether those AP classes will truly prepare you for advanced classes - look at the requirements for a possible major at the schools you’re considering, and try to block out what you would need to take. UConn may be your best option, since many of your classes may already be on their transcript as ECE classes. Other schools you’re going to have to worry about distribution requirements and residency requirements - particularly within your major. Many schools will give you the credits, but they won’t replace specific required courses - or they won’t truly prepare you for the next class in their sequence.</p>
<p>Then there’s the issue of Medical School. While you will get credit for those AP classes, Medical schools may not look too well upon the AP credits for courses they require - again, you may be OK of they’re on a UConn transcript as ECE classes, with grades. Medical and Law schools will also be looking for maturity and at least a bit of life experience - not for someone who raced through their undergraduate program.</p>
<p>Would it be more favorable if I graduated in 1-2 years and then started working in related fields? Such as shadowing a lawyer, working on medical research and other such related jobs? I’d love to do that as I’d earn money to pay off grad school and have valuable work experience.</p>
<p>Med schools generally do not favor early grads. Med schools do not like AP credit, and will rarely accept it.</p>
<p>Dunno about law schools.</p>
<p>and note, professional schools is primarily GPA+Test. The real question is: how will you fare in upper division bio and chem, without having had the Frosh courses? </p>
<p>btw: Cal-Berkeley has hundreds of students with lotsa AP credit, but the premeds retake Frosh Chem for the ‘easy A’ (or so they think). But at least they are well prepared for taking upper division science courses.</p>
<p>What majors can you graduate in 1-2 years? That will tell you a lot about what to do with your AP Credits.</p>
<p>The typical pre-med is a major in biology or chemistry. Use your AP credits for advanced standing into higher level bio & chem classes. The higher level classes also help to “prove” your AP (that you actually learned what you needed to learn).</p>
<p>I believe pre-law is typically philosophy, political science, history, … Writing helps a lot, so the English AP’s are good for that.</p>
<p>If you want an MBA, the typical route is to work 2 years, and then go for your MBA. No need for a specific major, but you do need a decent job (waiter or sales clerk doesn’t help). Analyst at an Investment Banking Firm is typical. Brand manager at a consumer products company is good. Having had the basic Accounting, Finance, and Economics classes helps. Thus taking the next Econ (after AP Econ) helps. Business Law would also help. Might be useful if you want to try and be a paralegal for a law firm prior to law school.</p>
<p>For all the majors, math through Calculcus II is enough, but you should take Differential Equations and/or Linear Algebra to prove the AP.</p>
<p>Unless there is a compelling financial need to do so, why graduate from college so soon? And why devote your summers to speeding up the process? </p>
<p>Quite a few students graduate in 3 years instead of 4, and that is a realistic goal for someone who has a lot of AP credits and wants to graduate early. If you know at the time when you enter college that you want to do this, talk to the pre-med advisors early, and you can probably work out a plan that would enable you to be ready to take the MCAT early enough so that you could go to medical school immediately after graduation. </p>
<p>If you’re considering a PhD or MD/PhD, it would be a very good idea to get involved in research as an undergraduate – and that isn’t likely if you spend only 2 years in college. Undergraduate research gives you a taste of what the world of research is like. It helps you know whether you love it or hate it, and it usually provides you with an advisor who can give you personalized guidance on the graduate school admissions process. </p>
<p>As for summers, spending them in summer school is not always the best idea. Medical schools want students to have had some sort of medicine-related work or volunteer experience. Summer is a good time to get it. Summer is a good time for research experience, too. And people with an interest in law or business usually find summer jobs or internships valuable. </p>
<p>You sound like a student with many interests. I would urge you to spend at least 3 years in college to give yourself a chance to explore them. College isn’t just about collecting 120 credits as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>bluebayou, I’m confused when you write, “Med schools do not like AP credit, and will rarely accept it.” This says you get a degree from an undergraduate school, then med schools say, “We don’t recognize this degree because you placed out of some classes with AP credits.”
Apollo11, Marian is right. It’s great that you are super smart and motivated. But there is something to be said about the college experience, life experience, and maturing before entering the post-graduate world. Sure, you might be a great surgeon or attorney, but if you can’t relate to your co-workers because of a lack of worldly experience or immaturity, you will not enjoy your workplace.</p>
<p>About the only AP score most med schools will accept is a 4 or 5 on AP Calc BC. You will need to take the rest of those classes, have those classes ON your college transcript. It’s just not possible to do that in 2 years AND take the MCAT. Many of those classes are pre-requisites for other classes so you can’t double up on them in the same semester. If you are taking that many AP classes and scoring 4-5 on those tests, you should be looking for a school where you can get significant merit aid so you can complete your 4 years at minimal costs. There are also several colleges that have medical schools affiliated with them that have a 3 year UG program. If your goal is to get out of UG faster, that might be a good option. If the school accepts your AP’s in non-major classes (non-pre-med courses too), you can easily get done in 3 years that way. Normally you would have to take 18 credits/semester to do that, but with that many AP’s you might be able to get it done on 16 credits.</p>
<p>It sounds like you are counting your chickens before they hatch. What year are you in high school? There is NO WAY to guarantee that you will even be accepted at all the colleges you are listing.</p>
<p>The vast majority of colleges will NOT allow any AP course scores to be used to satisfy course requirements in your major…UConn included.</p>
<p>Agree with others, you will likely need more than two years to complete your bachelors degree anyway.</p>
<p>Look up a few med school admission web sites. It will be less confusing that way. :)</p>
<p>But the short version is that, for example, if you have AP credit for Physics B and C, which provides college credit, med schools still expect you to take a year of physics in a real college, and not the high school equivalent. That means you can take one year of next higher level of physics, or repeat the the AP equivalents (which most premeds do). My broader point is that, since you still have to take most of the required premed courses in college, you may not be able to graduate too early.</p>
<p>Note some med schools will accept one or two AP credits, such as in English or Calculus. But if you have AP Bio credit, plan on taking another bio class or two while in college (or physio, or something similar) to demonstrate your readiness for the rigors of med school.</p>
<p>Not in my experience. For example, my daughter, an economics major at Cornell, used AP credit to satisfy both the economics and math prerequisites for her major and was allowed to take junior-level econ courses as a first-semester freshman.</p>
<p>Marian–some schools will use those classes for placement but the pre-req class won’t be on their transcript, it’s subtle but makes a HUGE difference for med school applications. They want to see Bio 101 on that actual college transcript----and, it’s a GPA booster, which is equally important since the first round of med schools screening is all computerized by GPA and MCAT. Our son will be a math major. His BC Calc test score could test him out of Calc 1 and 2, but he won’t get credit for those classes.</p>
<p>Your focus (medical? law? business?) or lack thereof says that you’re putting the cart before the horse here - you’re focusing on how to graduate early and get most quickly into professional school, as opposed to - what is it that you really want to do?</p>
<p>At plenty of places, the AP credit just means that you can go into higher-level classes early on or that you can take an elective in place of a distribution. If it were so easy to graduate in 2 years using umpteen AP credits, kids would be doing that en masse. They don’t.</p>
<p>It is good advice to go to specific school websites to map out potential majors and AP acceptance policies. Some posters on this site will over-generalize based on their limited understanding of a couple of schools. A quick search of medical schools admission sites will show that most will accept AP credit for required courses provided higher level coursework proves competence. Harvard Med specifically cites several they will accept. GPA protection is another issue altogether.</p>
<p>Virginia and W&M give class credit for many APs, general credit for others, many that will fulfill prerequisites for majors AND show on transcripts.</p>