<p>Yes, this is a shocking question. Today I found out that the school I'm most likely going to (UC Davis) doesn't accept AP's for general ed. Furthermore, I want to apply to Medical School in 3-4 years, and most medical schools apparently don't even take AP credit for some classes!
Can someone clear this up for me? I am really confused.</p>
<p>The point of AP classes isn’t to use them as credit for college, but to show you are a talented and smart individual. You can handle nearly college level material during high school. It is to be competitive.</p>
<p>I concur with LimitlessRx.</p>
<p>Additionally, it’s a fantastic way to master introductory college material, so that you can familiarize yourself with the concepts. For anyone who wishes to enter the pre-medical field, it has become almost essential to take AP science classes, because you will be in a room with 300-400 other people, at least 50 of them having earned a 5 on the subject you’re taking and the other 100 having passed the exam.</p>
<p>Since the classes are curved, those who are more familiar with the material have an advantage when it comes to grades. And remember, GPA IS important to medical school adcoms.</p>
<p>You are basically out of luck. For most (at least it was for my D.) it made a sense taking APs for very time consuming and difficult (for her classes). To clarify, AP US History and AP English Lit. were the most meanningful as she avoided taking them at college (she still had to take i semester of English instead of 2, because of “4” on exam). Another useful class was AP Calc. Again, that reasulted in taking just one semester of college Stats, which was one of easiest college “A”.
However, in your case, when you will not get any credits for AP’s, I do not see any reason for taking them.
Talented and Smart will not get you thru college anyway. You will have to work very hard in UG and even much harder in Med. School, no matter genius or not.</p>
<p>The point of taking them is to get in the top colleges. They look to see if a student has taken the most challenging and rigorous course load available to them. If you are not concerned with getting in a top college than you don’t need to bother, although the lower level colleges are the ones that usually give college credit for taking them. ;)</p>
<p>yes, I guess that you will have to take the GE’s if you attend Davis. Or, choose a different UC campus that will accept the AP credit</p>
<p>The acceptance of AP credits should be one of your UG selection criteria. For pre-meds, it is especially advantageous to be able to concentrate on the pre-med prerequisites now since you need to take so many extra courses for the new MCAT.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That is just incorrect. Moreover the logic fails as well. The OP can take the two 'extra courses" (psych/soc) to fulfill his/her General Ed requirements. It’s a two-fer.</p>
<p>If you skip freshman calculus with AP credit, major in math, and take real analysis, would medical schools accept that as “calculus”? If so, then the AP credit would still save you a a slot or two in your undergraduate schedule that you can use for other courses you are interested in.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP, Did your D only take one sem of Eng in college and her Eng AP credit transfer for the other semester was good enough to count for med school appl?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>OP, the UC system is a notable exception to the nationwide consensus on AP policy. IF you plan on attending a UC school, then you should understand what their rules are and weigh that against possibly attending a different school. </p>
<p>For almost all other UG colleges in the nation, AP credit can be a wonderful thing. It has enabled me to dual major in areas as different as performing arts and chemistry, while also taking all my pre-med classes. I could do all this (without taking any summer classes) because my institution awarded me 55 college credits for my AP work. I am only in my 4th semester, but already an academic senior (with all the perks this designation brings) :)</p>
<p>krug,
"MiamiDAP, Did your D only take one sem of Eng in college and her Eng AP credit transfer for the other semester was good enough to count for med school appl? "</p>
<p>-Correct. She had to take one semester of college English because of “4” on AP exam. It was unfortunate, she learned nothing, wasted time reading novels that she did not care about. I bet, if you get “5” on AP, then you do not need to take any college English. D. could not graduate earlier any way as her program required her to stay in UG for full 4 years. Her senior year was a breeze though, which was planned because of traveling to Med. School interviews.</p>
<p>Thanks. Premed advisor at school told S that he still needs Eng even though he got 2 Eng courses credits on transcript (5’s on Lit and Comp). I guess she was wrong since it worked out great for your D. Some advisors like GC in high school give advices that are questionable.</p>
<p>@krug, keep in mind that the Eng requirements at many universities around the country, <em>exceed</em> those at medical schools. I must take a min. amount of upper division (junior,senior) level Eng/writing courses (which include professional writing for specific areas of study) These courses are required to graduate, not by medical schools.</p>
<p>^Well, requirements are changing. They even might change AFTER you S. apply to Med. School and he will have to make huge changes to his senior year registration. It was the case with my D. as one of her Med. Schools has added requirements (but not English or math). So, I would encourage to listen to advisor as my D. has been doing, they know the best. Even when everything was finalized with pre-med advisor at D’s UG, D. still contacted adcoms at several of her Med. Schools to clarify specifically requirments for math and English. I would strongly advise your S. to do the same. Med. Schools adcoms are great, they responded very quickly. BTW, D. also took only one semester of college Stats for math as she had one credit for Calc. AP</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>English is one of those special cases which is med school specific. Some/(many?) of the requirements are two semesters in English and/o rwriting intensive courses.</p>
<p>Thus the requirement may be satisfied by many writing-intensive courses, even though they may not have an English label to them. A course that the college uses to satisfy a Frosh writing course will generally work, for example, even if offered by a non-English departmetn. Or, upper division philosophy/history courses with a lot of readin’ & writin’.</p>
<p>btw: UMiami Med accepts AP credits for if they are listed on the college transcript.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Small nit, but is just one campus of the UC system. The other campuses are extremely liberal with AP/IB credits.</p>