A lot of schools tell me the intro classes are the hardest, since classes are 100/200+ and professors aren’t incredibly helpful or easy to connect with outside of class.
In my school, the higher the class, the better the curve and the quality of the professors. I took honors chemistry in high school and AP Bio, doing well in both. Is it ok to skip “Chem 101/102” intro courses (same with bio) and take the next level? I’ll still be doing 1 year (2 semesters) worth of the subject with lab. I feel like I’d do better and be more interested in the material, but just want to make sure it still counts for med school.
@AcaiFrosh,
You can not advance in math/science courses unless you have credit/placement for the prerequisite classes. Your university catalog will give you this information. If you don’t have credit or advance placement for general chemistry then you can not enroll in any class that has general chemistry as a prerequisite.(such as organic chemistry)
@Gumbymom the courses I’m taking aren’t exempting me from the course, but simply placing me in a higher level than intro (but below AP-required course). They’re courses for people with high school knowledge of the course, as opposed to learning chem from scratch. Smaller class size=better learning for me. It would still be a full year of the subject with lab, just a step above intro. It seems to focus more on math, but still has the major chem concepts. I just looked and to take Orgo, i must do either that course or the gen chem one, so I’m good in that regard!
If gen chem is what med schools want, I also heard it would be an easy A since I have background in it. The other course has great reviews on professors though, and the topics covered are much more interesting (skips the basic fundamentals, goes into actually using them from the start). Some say always take intro, others say skip to smaller classes for better grading and learning. Don’t know which would be better in this case.
I think it depends on your undergrad. My son took AP bio and chem in HS and got 5 on both. He skipped one of the intro bio course but was told that he shouldn’t skip chem. he took one year of honors chemistry and was really happy that he did. It was still level 1 and 2 but on the honors level. Classes were much smaller and professor was great. All the kids in the class ended up with great research opportunities at the end of the year through the class. Also, he said that they covered AP material in the first few weeks and then went much more in depth. ORGO was a easy for him after that class.
D got 5 in ap bio. But the college she went requires one year of bio, they have an advanced bio class specifically for those with ap 5 bio students. It turned out to be the weed out class for premed! Hardly any one got all As in all three quarters.
So, you may have surprises if you skip the real “intro” classes.
@momworried The course I’m looking into is just like that! Not designated “honors” but it’s for people with background in it and so many people said the professors are much better (important for a school with grade deflation!). What school did he go to?
@artloversplus Was the AP placement class the normal pre-med intro class? I though most schools place you in the real intro class to meet the pre-med reqs and many AP students qualify but don’t skip out since they need it for med school. The intro I’m referring to is the most basic class, but I heard it’s heavily graded as a weed out course, so I’m trying to take a slightly more advanced class to avoid that.
In my D’s college, the students in “biological sciences department” invariably all took AP 5 bio or equivalent, they are not allowed to take the real “intro” courses. The real intro series are for non-science majors.
IMHO, there is no easy way out for med school, the college will have some weed out classes, if it is not into bio, it will be chem or orgo or calc… and med school will not be forgiven if you try the easy way out any how.
It heavily depends on the structure of the classese at YOUR college.
There is NO general rule about it.
At D’s UG, it was not advasable to skip a first Bio, some did, but D. was very happy that she did NOT. She had Honors Bio + AP Bio (5 on exam) in HS, but she started Bio with the very first class. This class went thru AP material in the first 2 weeks and then it moved on to the new material. It was used as a base for all higher level Bio classes. D. said that she would have gaps in her background if she skipped the first class.
It is NOT so at other colleges, from what I have read here on CC.
You need to ask your pre-med advisor, not here. He is more familiar with the details of the program at YOUR college.
One thing is true, the first Bio was a killer weed out, taught by 3 profs at every lecture, each teaching his sub-specialty. Many Honors kids did not survive. But it is a good idea to figure out that early in a process if pre-med is for you or not.
On the other hand, Cen. Chem was the easiest of D’s classes, very easy A andshe landed a great job in this class as a Supplemental Instructor and she never had AP Chem. in HS.
Again, it all depends on the specifics of your HS and college. No general rule!
You do not need to take any intro classes to meet pre-med requirements. If the med school you want to attend does not accept a certain AP class to satisfy their requirement(most do accept AP credit), you can take higher level classes instead. For example: instead of taking intro bio I/II, take genetics, cell bio, micro, etc. If you have taken an intro AP science in high school and scored a 5 on the exam, it would be silly to retake the class. Move on and take higher level classes. This is what I did. I took no intro classes in college.