Q about JHU med school req'ts...

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p>SPECIFIC COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1.
BIOLOGY - College biology with laboratory, one year (8 semester hours).
The student should have an appreciation for the diversity of life, such as viruses, prokaryotes, plants and animals, and a familiarity with the life cycles and metabolic activities of these organisms. The student should attain a basic understanding of the structure and function of the mammalian cell. Included should be a basic understanding of mammalian genetics.
The laboratory portion of this requirement is expected to equip the student with practical understanding of the process of scientific inquiry, discovery, and application especially as related to cell and molecular biology.
A separate course devoted to the principles of genetics (4 semester hours) is strongly recommended.
**Credit for advanced placement is not acceptable as a substitute. Individuals who have completed their studies in biology more than 4 years prior to their application are strongly advised to take a one semester advanced mammalian (molecular) biology course.</p>

<p>Since the req't doesn't specifiy WHICH bio classes must be taken, if a student has AP credit for general bio, can he just take the next levels with labs or must he retake Gen Bio I and II?</p>

<p>COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Required course work will include at least two writing-intensive courses, which can be in the humanities or the social/behavioral sciences and may be counted as part of the 24 semester hour requirement for the humanities and social sciences. It is expected that the student will have demonstrated precise and fluent communication in spoken and written English. It is strongly recommended that the student achieve basic conversational skills in a foreign language.</p>

<p>Is AP credit ok for this? My son's school does require 6 credits of upper division courses that include a "writing" designation, but not sure if that would count.</p>

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<p>Basically, you’ll want to avoid “using” AP credit to satisfy requirements, especially at top schools like JHU. </p>

<p>Yes, you can use any biology class to satisfy that bio requirement. I came in with AP Bio credit for freshman bio and ended up taking genetics, cell biology, animal physiology, and a few senior seminars before I applied, and developmental biology this semester. All advisors and adcoms I’ve talked to have assured me that I meet the biology requirements for every school I’ve talked to.</p>

<p>The writing-intensive courses JHU are referring to are likely the same type of courses that your son’s school requires. It doesn’t seem like JHU is specifying that these courses have to be in the English department–rather, they CAN be in the humanities fields and can also beused toward humanities credits. It doesn’t say they MUST be in the humanities fields, which leads me to believe whatever non-humanities writing intensive classes your son takes to fulfill degree requirements would suffice. Check into those degree requirements too–it’s likely that one of the writing intensives has to be in a field other than his major and he may choose a humanities for that one anyway.</p>

<p>Also, admissions offices are usually really friendly and helpful. If you have a specific question, you could always just call and ask!</p>