Honors Pre-Med vs. AP Stats?

Hi,

I just have a quick question about course selections. I am currently a senior interested in doing pre-med in college, but I just had something I was curious about. I wanted to take AP stats this year as I thought it would be helpful for pre med in college, however, it was during the same period as my premed class so I chose premed over stats. Because of this, I am only taking 3 AP courses my senior year. Although I cannot change anything now, would it have been wiser to take ap stats, or was taking the premed class a good choice?

What is a premed class? Is that as science related class or is it more of a class to learn about what doctors do? Really curious as we don’t have that at my kids high school.

What classes are you taking ?
What is a “premed class”?

Being premed in college is just an intention, not a major.

You will probably have to take statistics in college for pre-med purposes anyway, and acceptable statistics courses are likely to be more rigorous than AP statistics and have more advanced math prerequisites (e.g. calculus-based statistics).

It is an honors level course that teaches basic anatomy and physiology. It is a mix of a science and health class.

I’m intrigued-what is a HS “pre-med” class?

By doing pre-med in college, I meant majoring in a medical related subject and taking classes in order to get into medical school, I was not referring to pre med as a major itself. I am currently taking honors pre calculus, honors pre med, ap literature, ap biology, ap French, and symphony orchestra (counts as an honors course and weighted on a 5.0 scale)

I’m not sure if that’s what you mean, but just in case:
The premed pre-reqs have nothing medical about them. Being pre-med means taking the General Biology (weedout) class with future biology majors and ranking better than 80% of them, taking the General Chemistry (weedout) class with future chemistry majors and ranking better than 80% of them, taking calculus with future math majors and doing better than 80% of them. You will also take English Composition, Sociology, Psychology, Biostatistics, one more English class (communication, writing for science, comparative literature…) and get A’s. Once that’s done, you will take General Physics (not with Engineering majors though) and there too you’ll need to do better than 80% students as well as organic chemistry, known as a killer class. If you survive and still rank in the top 20% in each science class taken, then you’ve done the hardest (the vast majority of would-be premeds never make it that far). You can take neuroscience, a diversity-focused class, classes in a language other than English spoken by people in the US, biochemistry, bioethics. All general classes with nothing specifically medical or premedical about them, but solid foundation in the sciences along with necessary intellectual and practical tools for doctors.
In parrallel, you will also choose a major that will serve as your plan B if you don’t get into med school. It can be Economics, Bioinformatics, Biological Anthropology, Spanish, Biochemistry, Philosophy… Music majors have the highest rate of success (but obviously that’s because being a topnotch premed AND a talented musician at the same time is almost impossible, so that those who manage it are exceptional).
What is medical is what you do outside of class: volunteering at a women’s shelter or with refugees, patient contact at a clinic, being an EMT or a CNA, helping with Remote Area Medical, etc.
At this point, the students who survived the weedout, balanced ll these time-consuming service activities, and managed to rank in the top 20% everywhere, apply to med schools. 60% of them don’t get into a single med school.
@Creekland posted these profiles on another thread, read them carefully.

Your schedule is okay: Honors PreCalc, AP Lit, AP Bio, AP French, that’s solid. Honors Premed is more of an elective (sounds like Honors A&P, which is very useful for nursing school and can’t hurt) so it’d be your “personal pick”. It’s good you’re not taking it instead of AP Bio as some might have feared, but as an additional class. Does your HS not require a 4th year of social science/history? Have you taken US history and World or European History?
Since you have both AP Bio and Honors Precalc, you have the core STEM classes you need.
Taking Honors Premed or AP Stats makes no difference, since both would be considered electives. :slight_smile:
In short, you’re good for this year, but choose the major you apply to carefully, map out your 4 years by NOT stacking too much 1st semester (my recommendation: Calculus, General Chemistry, English Composition, and Psychology form a great 1st semester schedule. Add General Bio in the Spring only, when you’re taking Biostatistics rather than Calc, making it a more balanced schedule.)

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Should have no impact on college admissions.