<p>I received 5's on both Physics C Mech and E&M, so I can't take Phys 2A and 2B. The only required physics class for my major would be 2C, but I'm thinking of premed. I know most medical schools don't take AP credit and require that you have 1 year of physics. Would it be best to retake 2A and 2B without it counting towards my GPA (I'm not allowed to retake for credit), or would I have to take a higher level physics class because I skipped those two?</p>
<p>You could just do refreshers and just walk in on some lectures and see how it is.</p>
<p>You have two choices:
Take the 4 series or take a year of physics at your neighborhood community college.
If you can come up with a creative reason, you can also try to petition to have the AP credits dropped.</p>
<p>I actually thought of taking the 4 series, but apparently my AP credit passes me out of 4A and 4C, so I’m not allowed to take those for credit.</p>
<p>You can take 4B, 4D, and 4E, but that means you have to take math 20C, 20D, 20E, and 20F. The UCSD policy on AP credits is a bit absurd.</p>
<p>i thought you can just choose to not count your APs for credit? i could be wrong tho…it jus doesnt make sense that all kids who passed their AP tests aren’t able to take classes for grades. dont a lot of premed kids do that for bio?</p>
<p>
Not unless they approve your petition. Also, AP credit destruction petition is not in the rule book, and so you’ll likely have to talk to more than one person to get any kind of a response. </p>
<p>
Since most premed kids major in biological sciences, the inability to take BILD 1,2,3 is not as big a problem as they will have plenty of bio classes to fulfill the one year bio requirement.</p>
<p>UCSD is one of the very few schools that has this backward policy that assumes AP classes trumps college classes.</p>
<p>^so as long as we dont send in our AP science scores, we wont need to deal with the petitioning that goes with not using AP credits?</p>
<p>@mini
I originally thought about this, but decided that being able to retake physics wasn’t worth it, considering the rest of the classes I’d pass out of. Also, if you reported any AP tests on your application from junior year they’ll be expecting you to send your report.</p>
<p>So, pretty much everyone thinks I should talk to an advisor or something? The policy seems very backwards, but I’m not sure how easy it would be to get around it. Considering the E&M curve was around 50% = 5 I could definitely use a college physics class.</p>
<p>YOU CAN take any Physics class you like, hell you can even take 1 series. You just won’t get credit for it. So 3 class x 4 units = 12 units. Big deal. You’re fine, you’re probably coming in with like 40-60 anyways.</p>
<p>@Longdaysahead
You need one year of college physics taken for letter grades in the premed game.</p>
<p>^ You’ll get a letter grade.</p>
<p>But is that acceptable to all med schools to have classes with zero unit?
The explanation of the zero unit situation will also beg the question of why the applicant didn’t take the more advanced classes.</p>
<p>Well sunfish, are you a medical school admissions officer? You seem to be making a lot of assumptions as to what medical schools will think.
Will a medical school even know that you didn’t get credit for a class? Presumably, when you apply, you put down your grades. If it is anything like college admissions, you don’t send your transcripts in until later. And who knows if they’ll even indicate the # of credits you got for each class on an official transcript. I honestly have no idea. It is something you should look up.</p>
<p>Long, you’re the one making a lot of assumptions. I merely raised some questions. You suggest taking Physics 1 or Physics 2 series by assuming that med schools don’t care whether the classes are taken for credit or not.</p>
<p>Do upper div physics. That would look very good.</p>
<p>
No, it won’t look any better or worse to med school adcoms.</p>
<p>Get a MSAR, pick some schools, then contact the advisors at those schools.</p>
<p>That aside, how strong are you in physics? Just make sure you’re strong enough in physics to be able to handle the MCAT.</p>
<p>I did pretty well in high school physics, but I basically bs’d my way through the E&M AP test and kind of regret getting a 5. I know I will need to relearn some stuff in order to handle the MCAT. Right now I’m looking at retaking Physics 20B (maybe 20A) without getting credit or moving directly to upper division, which I am worried I may not be able to get an A in. Do you think upper division will help me with the MCAT at all or will it just be really specific stuff I don’t need to know (for the MCAT)?</p>
<p>For the MCAT all you need to know is Phys2A-C. You might be rusty but I’m sure if you do a MCAT refresher course, you should be good to go.</p>