DS took AP Bio and AP Physics C (taking the physics exam next week, got a 5 on the bio last year) He is undecided engineering in the honors program. He is also considering medical school in the future. Should he take the credit for the AP classes (assuming he gets 4 or 5 on physics exam), or re-take these classes and, we hope, get a better than average grade. Provided he gets the scores, he will take credit for Psychology; Calculus (at least Calc I, maybe take Calc II); Govt.; Macroeconomics; and Stats. Any current engineering or pre-med students (or parents) out there who want to chime in?
My son is an engineering freshman. He had 5s on AP Bio, both AP Calcs, both AP Physics, and Computer Science. He took all but his Physics credits and wishes that he had also taken those. He kind of blew off freshman Physics and got a B. He also took his six non-science AP credits. BTW, he really likes Miami and just learned he was selected into Miami’s Lockheed Martin Leadership Institute.
Thanks @Beaudreau He will probably see how he feels after taking the Physics C tests next week.
@jandhmom - Good luck to your son with the exam and at Miami! I hope your son will be as happy there as mine is. We weren’t sure that an Arizona boy would like a small town in the Midwest.
D is a freshman at Miami with a pre-med co-major. During orientation, it was suggested to not use the AP Chem credit because grad schools often won’t accept it. (I don’t remember what they said about AP Bio since my D wasn’t able to take it.) There were several meetings during orientation that addressed these issues and we found the scheduling advisors to be very helpful.
Thank you @Violinviolamom. He couldn’t squeeze AP Chem into his schedule, so we’ll see what they say about AP Bio at orientation.
Med schools are really weird about AP credits in the sciences. I’d research that fully.
I’ve gone out to read a bunch of different med school admissions pages, specifically looking for wording about AP credits. Of the dozen or so I’ve checked (mostly well-known med schools like Harvard, UWisconsin, etc) I recall that most of them said that they don’t like to see AP credit for Chemistry. However, they were fine with AP credit for APBio, but they all suggested upper-level bio courses to replace the same credits. Another thing I picked up on is that although they don’t require biochemistry, anatomy and physiology or microbiology for med school admission, they “strongly recommend” those courses.
All that being said, my son (pre-med, engineering major at another university) talked to his “pre-health advisor” who said it would be fine if he takes his APBio credit and substitutes in other courses. He did not, however, have an APChem class in HS, so there is no issue about those credits.
@Violinviolamom Just returned yesterday from orientation. At the premed session, they didn’t say much about AP’s, except that it would probably be helpful to re-take the sciences (Chem and Bio). Since DS didn’t take AP chem in HS, he is taking Chem 1st semester. The advisor did stress that you pretty much had to take chem 1st semester to stay on track. DS is actually retaking physics (that will be his honors course) and only taking credit for Calc I, even though he could’ve taken credit for I and II, with a 4 on the AP exam. Wanted the refresher and will probably be more beneficial to GPA
@jandhmom Sounds like a good plan. Hope you found orientation helpful and informative. August will be here before you know it!
@Beaudreau I am very interested in learning more about Miami’s engineering program. What went into your S’s decision to go there? What type of engineering is he majoring in? What does he like so far? What is the overall vibe of the engineering program? My S is looking at either AE or ME. S’s school doesn’t offer AP Physics C. He took AP Physics 1 and plans to take AP Physics 2, but I got the impression these AP courses don’t really “count” for towards the engineering requirements because they are not calculus based (or something like that). Do you know how this works at Miami? I was under the impression he would have to retake Physics in college as an engineering major. This was the case for my older son. At that time he was in HS there was only one AP Physics class (one year of it, not broken into Physics 1 and 2). He got credit for the course as a general elective, I think, but he had to take other physics courses to complete requirements of his major.
@4getit. So far I have been very impressed with the Miami engineering department. For comparison, I have another son at Texas A&M studying Aerospace Engineering. The TAMU engineering college is a very highly ranked, but compared to Miami seems very disorganized with very little student support. It is also huge! Now for bookends, my third son is heading to Iowa State for engineering. ISU is also huge, but so far to me seems much more organized and supportive than does TAMU.
Overall, my son just felt very comfortable at Miami. It’s about one-third the size of many of the other colleges he was admitted to and focuses almost exclusively on undergraduate education. Professors are not training PhD candidates or focused on research as much as on teaching.
@4getit S moves in this week. Glad to hear from @Beaudreau that her/his son is happy with Miami engineering. Our son has not decided on a major, just undecided engineering so far. He decided between Ohio State and Miami. Ohio State has bigger name recognition, nationally, but he liked the smaller feel of Miami. He got 4’s on both AP Physics tests, and still decided to retake physics. I would think that it wouldn’t hurt to take the Algebra based physics courses, even though they don’t count for engineering. My son has quite a few AP credits that will just count as elective, because they overlap in the requirements for the Global Miami Plan (liberal arts requirements). Did your son take AP Calculus? Again, our son could have taken credit for Calc I and II, based on his AP scores, but is retaking it first semester. (Math 249, covers Calc I and II). Best of luck to your son. 
@jandhmom Thanks for your reply! I hope your S’s move in and first week are going well. It’s hard to believe a year from now I’ll be in your shoes. S is a senior and is taking AP BC Calc and AP Physics 2 this year. He also has the opportunity to apply for dual credit for a couple of classes with a local university (things that might meet English and other LA requirements) which Miami will accept for transfer credit. The Engineering advisor who gave the presentation we attended at Miami suggests that each student evaluate where he or she is comfortable starting in Math. We’ll see how the year goes and where he lands school-wise. There is a lot of interest in Miami amongst his classmates from what I heard at back to school night (and we’re OOS). With so many highly qualified applicants, I expect the school is raising the bar for admissions.
"He is also considering medical school in the future. " - my D. was a pre-med at Miami, she was Zoology major as most pre-meds at Miami. She had 2 Bio classes in HS, one Honors and AP - A / 5 on exam. Her pre-med advisor recommended taking the first Bio class in her major - BMZ. She was very glad that she did, despite the fact that it used the same book as her HS class. BMZ went thru the AP material in the first 2 weeks and then they moved on to the new material. It was very challenging weed out class that forced good number of HS valedictorians to fall out of the pre-med track. D. was happy that she took the class, she said that the next classes were built on BMZ.
I would advise talking to pre-med advisory, which is very good at Miami. Other than that, all D’s AP credits were accepted which enabled D. to have 2 minors in addition to Zoology major.