Just wondering its impact and anything one can do to better their chances of getting into a college with good pre-med program.
Thanks
You also don’t have to report any of your AP scores- only the ones you want to show colleges. However, a 4 is more than passing, so do include it!
there aren’t “top premed colleges.”
What are your stats? What is your home state? How much will your parents spend each year on college?
<<<
Keep in mind Ned schools don’t accept AP credit so for General Chem you will need to take it at your college anyways. So don’t stress at all.
<<<<
@10s4life
This needs clarifying. Someone who has AP credits can skip those classes and then take the next higher classes…so they don’t need to retake them in college.
My son used his AP Bio and AP Chem credits, in other words, didn’t take Bio I and I and Gen Chem I and II in college, went onto Ochem, BioChem, Genetics, and other science courses, and med schools were fine with that.
An med school applicant can’t just use the AP credits and say, “Ok, now I’m done.” Med schools are fine with you getting the AP credits, but then you have to prove yourself by taking the next level up with labs.
What I really meant is more of how this score will affect me if I want to go into a top tier college or possibly an ivy (and major in a science/do pre-med classes. And how much will the score affect my chances of getting college credit
If you want to go to med school, then why do you want to go to a top tier college?
What are your stats?
I just finished 10th grade so I have not yet taken ACT/SAT but still have a 4.0 (unweighed). So far I have taken 9 honors courses and 2 APs (5 in World History and 4 in Chemistry) and will be taking 6 next year. I have also placed top 5 two years in a row at an International Competition for the event Biomedical Debate and qualified for the International competition of another organization- DECA. I also was apart of leadership committees for multiple clubs.
Perhaps to maximize the opportunity of learning the most, to maximize MCAT score? Is this unwise? Is there no difference in colleges in this regard?
Going to any particular school, unless it’s truly a pathetic school, will not affect MCAT score. Undergrads do not prepare students for the MCAT. That’s not their job. Premed prereqs are just REGULAR low-level bio, Chem, physics and math classes that other STEM students are taking as well…just regular old classes. Because there are other STEM students in those classes, there wouldn’t be any sort of MCAT-prep going on. Nothing special about those classes.
The MCAT isn’t a test of high level sciences.
If the goal is simply to maximize learning and there’s no goal for med school, then go where you want.
However, the higher level the school, the more tippy top premeds there will be in the premed prereqs. And all schools weed. So…where would you be less likely to get A’s in those prereqs? Where would you be more likely to get A’s in those prereqs?
If the goal is med school…well…the opportunity to “learn the most” will happen in med school.
Are you an int’l student?
No I am from US and go to school here
- you report the ap class, not the AP score. College adcoms don’t care about scores anyway. So, or won’t affect your application one way or the other.
- any reason why you want to be a doctor? Why not a PA, nurse, OT?
- being premed only means taking chemistry classes with chemistry majors and doing better than 80% of them, taking biology with biology majors and doing better than 80%pf them, while being a top student in your own chosen major (philosophy, Spanish, music, Neuroscience, statistics, etc.)
- going from 2 to 6 AP 's is madness and a recipe for disaster. As Stanford puts it "this is not a game of who has the most AP 's, wins ". Elite schools want to see 6-8 AP 's, total. They want proof of intellectual curiosity and an activity you’ve chosen and pushed to a national level. One more AP doesn’t make a difference to them, as long as you have 4 years of English(ap language or de/ib equivalent) , 4 years of social science/history(one or two AP’s), 4 years of science including one each of bio, chemistry, physics, plus one AP, math preferably to calculus (or higher), foreign language up to level 4 or AP. An art class is seen positively. Everything else is up to you.
Large numbers of colleges give college credits for a 4 in AP chemistry. High ranks have varying rules in that some, e.g., Harvard, do not give college credit for AP courses but use the AP scores for placement into courses, while others, like Stanford, give college credit for AP courses, but you need a 5 in chemistry to get it.
Getting college credit for AP courses after you have been admitted and use of AP scores to determine admission are two different things. No college actually requires you to submit AP scores to determine admission. The vast majority of colleges give no or very little consideration to AP scores even if you submit them as part of your admission file. Others, such as a number of high rank colleges will consider them if submitted along with everything else in your file but they generally do not have the samer importance of SAT, ACT or SAT subject tests. For those, submitting a 4 in Chemistry is unlikely to do any harm and may help a little. If you want to submit AP scores for determining admission, you need not incur the cost of sending official scores but can self-report them in your application or an essay.
Pre-Med is not a major. It is an advissory program that vast majority of colleges have and most are decent programs. Anyone who applies and is admitted to a college can get into that advisory program which is there to provide you advice on such things as college courses to take, med schools to consider, possible summer employment to seek, preparation for the MCAT (the entry test for med school like SAT is for college). Designating that you want to be part of the college’s pre-med program in your application for admission to a college will have no impact, one way or the other, on whether you are admitted to the college or to the actual major you do apply for, e.g., many pre-med’s choose a science major like biology or chemistry, but there is actually no requirement for any particular college major to be able to apply to med school – there are college course requirements you need to meet but not any particular major requirement.