<p>okay so i know that the science classes in college make APs look like a joke almost, so i was wondering about my senior schedule next yr...
right now as a jr, i'm taking AP Bio</p>
<p>next yr's looking a little like:</p>
<p>AP calc BC
AP Physics B
AP Psych
English
Auto (maybe)</p>
<p>that got me thinking...since i wanna do the pre-med classes in college, would i benefit a lot if i took AP chem? b/c my only chem experience in HS would be chem 1. so if i added the AP next yr, would it be too much? a lot of ppl at my school take like multiple sciences, so it's not rare for me.</p>
<p>i'll probably drop auto; i'll only take it if i need credits
that way i'll have 2 free periods (would colleges see that as slacking off?)</p>
<p>anyways, a lot to think about, would appreciate any feedback or something
the big thing is whether or not to take AP chem, since i didn't take chem H</p>
<p>if youre looking into premed, ap chem would be a lot more useful than ap physics</p>
<p>Not necessarily true...AP Physics and AP Chemistry are both vital if you want to pursue medicine. With technology advancing and becoming so common in the field of medicine, Physics is becoming more and more valuable, not that it ever wasn't. I may have this wrong, but a good amount of the MCAT is actually physics based</p>
<p>crzy2rite:</p>
<p>I think you're wrong. As I recall, the MCAT had a lot more chemistry than physics. I think BDM made a post about the science breakdown a while back, but I'm not going to look for it.</p>
<p>MCAT science breakdown <a href="at%20least%20the%20last%20time%20I%20paid%20attention">i</a>*</p>
<p>Physical Sciences is 50% Physics, 50% Gen Chem
Biological Sciences is 75% Biology, 25% Organic Chemistry</p>
<p>Let's not get it twisted - Physics and Chemistry are vital - NOT AP Physics and Chemistry.</p>
<p>The overwhelming majority of medical schools will not accept AP credit as having fulfilled their entrance requirements - you need to have fulfilled those by taking courses in those departments at the COLLEGE level.</p>
<p>Personally I would advise you to avoid taking the AP Physics and Chemistry exams. I believe that receiving credit for taking the courses is a bad idea, the reason being that if you are forced to skip out of general chemistry or intro physics, you still must take a year of those courses at the college level to fulfill your pre-med requirements. The chemistry courses you take after organic include Analytical Chem and Physical Chem - both extremely difficult courses, both entirely irrelevant to medical school, and physical chem likely will have extra math pre-reqs above what medical schools require. Upper level physics courses are even less meaningful to medicine than upper level chemistry courses. </p>
<p>Now, some medical schools will allow a years worth of biochem to replace the general chemistry you would have missed by taking the AP credit, but an increasing number of medical schools are requiring biochem as part of their pre-reqs, so they wouldn't let you do this. Further, I imagine that there are very few universities with a 2 semester sequence in biochem in which both semesters have labs attached...which is also an issue.</p>
<p>Finally, I take the position that it's best to avoid having an AP chem or AP physics exam credit with you because some colleges may have an all or none AP credit policy; OR may simply apply all your AP credits without asking you; AND may not allow you to retake courses for which you already have credit for, thus forcing you to take upper level as previously discussed. </p>
<p>Therefore if you have a college (which you'd probably have a good idea about by the time it came to register for the AP exam) that didn't have the policies outlined above, I suppose you could take it, but if you're not going to use the credit anyways (ie you're going to take the intro level courses), then why spend the money to sign up for them at all? Why subject yourself to more stress to prepare and take them?</p>
<p>^EXCELLENT post! It really made me think! :) You've strong points, and I would agree with what you said. At college, skipping intro courses can lead you into some good deal of trouble if you didn't have a REALLY good AP Class (not AP Score). You can make a 5 in a certain AP and forget all about it as you become a freshman, so, yeah, one should be aware that it's important that they know their ability while choosing what chemistry, or physics, or biology they are going to do at college in preparation of MCAT and Med. School.</p>
<p>my purpose of taking AP Chem and Physics is not for potential college credit, i'm gonna be taking the intro classes
i'm only taking the APs b/c i want a good foundation for those intro classes</p>
<p>so would it be better to take AP chem but not take the AP test? what about physics? are the higher-level courses harder/not necessary for med school?</p>
<p>This is an interesting discussion, about the possible pitfalls of taking AP science courses in high school, that could potentially force a student into higher level classes at the university too soon... Would it be a good idea, instead, to avoid the AP course route, but still emphasize the subject-learning, and use summer programs/classes to learn more, but not take the AP exam? And yet, how would a college evaluate such a student's application, if he/she did not take AP science classes in high school...</p>
<p>The simple answer is to just take the AP courses but avoid the exams.</p>
<p>Or, better yet, attend a university which won't force you to use them.</p>
<p>bluedevilmike, do u know of which UCs that don't "force" u to take upper division courses b/c of AP scores? and yeah i'm probably gonna take all 3 AP sciences, but probably only take the AP Bio test</p>
<p>1.) I assume all of them do.</p>
<p>2.) Friend of mine. Mother is a nurse, father is a computer engineer. Dual-income, both professional jobs with reasonable incomes. After financial aid, sending their daughter to an Ivy is cheaper than sending their son to a UC.</p>
<p>what are the upper division bio courses? how hard are they, and are they necessary for med school?</p>
<p>1.) Too many to list.</p>
<p>2.) Vary.</p>
<p>3.) No -- just one year of lab is "required." Upper div bio courses are a good idea, though.</p>
<p>but out of the 3 sciences, upper division bio would be the only one that actually helps w/ MCATs/med school admissions?</p>
<p>I'm assuming your question means that of the three - upper division bio vs. upper division chem vs. upper division physics - is only bio useful?</p>
<p>Yes, that is treu. Bio is useful for the MCAT - but you have to avoid getting sucked into the line of thinking that you have to be a bio major - certainly not the case. There are lots of upper division bio courses which are completely irrelevant to the MCAT. Zoology, Ecology, most of evolution, botany, etc, are of no use. But things like anatomy, physiology, and genetics are certainly very useful for the MCAT or for medical school classes to a limited extent (don't think that just because you had a full semester course on a subject in college that it's going to be easy for you - medical school courses are aimed at how these subjects play a role in the practice of medicine so an intro course will be much broader in scope and much shallower in depth of certain concepts than a med school class will be).</p>
<p>None of the classes will help in med school admissions per se, unless you are in a situation where you are reapplying because you didn't get in the first time with a low GPA and as such are hoping to demonstrate your competency by getting A's in upper division science courses. In a general sense though no school is going to give you an advantage over another applicant because you took genetics and the other person didn't.</p>
<p>Finally, as sort of a technical note...I don't count Biochem as an upper division chemistry course, though other posters on this board might. Part of this has to do with the fact that my undergrad, which produced George Beadle (1 gene, 1 protein hypothesis), has a separate Department of Biochemistry - not all schools do. Further, my medical school requires at least a semester of biochem as part of their admissions requirements (and it was a full year of biochem when I was applying but things have been altered slightly). Because of those things, I consider Biochem it's own separate entitiy.</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>also, u know how like a-chem, p-chem, etc. are a lot harder than genchem? i was wondering if the genetics, physiology, etc. are a lot harder than intro bio?</p>
<p>BRM answers your question thoroughly and correctly. I agree wholeheartedly ith BRM that upper level biology is more MCAT-relevant than chemistry or physics.</p>
<p>However, vastly more useful than upper-level biology will be English.</p>
<p>how is english, it's the same course as anyone is any other major would take right? so if i've only taken regular english throughout HS i'll be ok?</p>
<p>I have no idea what you just said, so I'll just repeat my last post less efficiently.</p>
<p>Medical schools require you to take one year of English as an undergraduate. Your school might have some requirements in this area as well. Taking only high school English will most certainly not suffice to meet this requirement.</p>
<p>Beyond that, however, my point is that an "extra" year of chemistry or an "extra" year of physics would be courses which are simply not relevant to premeds -- things like physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, or quantum mechanics. An "extra" year of biology would include courses that probably would be a little more relevant: physiology, genetics, etc. Of course, courses on evolution or diversity would not help.</p>
<p>However, if you're going to take an "extra" year of some subject, and if your only goal is to pick courses based on how much they're going to help you on the MCAT, then an extra year of English -- no matter what the subject matter -- will be far more helpful than an extra year of biology.</p>
<p>yeah my post was a bit confusing, what i meant was how difficult is 1st-yr english in college? would taking the regular route in english during HS be enough prep to get an A?</p>