<p>For the undergraduate years at Pitt for the pharmacy program, do you recommend opting out of classes with AP credits or retaking the classes?</p>
<p>Remember that a solid understanding of chemistry, especially, is essential to success as a pharmacy student. If you think you understand the sciences well enough from high school courses you are permitted to use AP credits for Pitt Pharmacy admissions. In general, however, it’s recommended to take those science courses in college. Most schools where D1 toured and applied recommended taking the college science courses, especially for medical fields and those who expected to go on to grad school level. High school AP courses just don’t go into the same depth and difficulty. IIRC Pitt undergrad and Pharmacy still require certain English and other Gen Ed courses, even if you come in with AP credits in those areas. (D1 did apply her AP credits to get out of a couple of labs i think, although she took all the science classroom courses again. She could have used AP credits for bio, chem, physics and math.) By the way, many other pharmacy/medical/graduate nursing programs/etc don’t recognize AP credits in their admissions process.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to the Pitt Pharmacy policy on AP credits:
<a href=“Advanced Placement (AP) Courses and Credits | PharmD Student Handbook”>http://www.pages.pharmacy.pitt.edu/pharmdhandbook/the-pharmd-student-handbook/admissions/advanced-placement-ap-courses-and-credits/</a></p>
<p>@rlw329 Here’s what my DS did (currently P1). He took 7 AP’s in high school (Chem, Bio, 3 history, English, Calc AB). He took Honors Bio 1 and 2. It was challenging, but he enjoyed it and learned a lot. He did skip Chem 1 (using his AP credit) and went right to Chem 2 and had no regrets. He used some of his other AP credits for one or two other courses, but did challenge himself by taking Neuroscience and Genetics which he feels will help him along the way in Pharmacy studies.
This is just one way to do it…</p>