My son will be starting as an undergraduate freshman this fall. He intends to go to medical school but major in a a subject which doesn’t require the full two years of chemistry that med schools want (one year of general and one year of organic). I am aware that there is no universal set of criteria for medical schools when it comes to accepting AP credits. However, I can’t seem to find any information on the websites of various med schools (mostly in our home state) about whether they accept students that tested out of general chemistry altogether and only took organic chemistry. For example, one school lists the following under their prereqs:
General/Inorganic chemistry: 2 semesters/3quarters with 2 semesters of lab. AP/IB credit accepted.
Organic chemistry: 1 semester with 1 semester of lab. AP/IB not accepted.
I would like to assume that because they accept AP credit that they would also accept testing out, but that’s probably not a wise assumption, and I really don’t want to have to try and contact all the possible med schools my son may apply to in three years in order to get answers before he starts school in a month. Because I honestly don’t think he would prefer to have to take another two semesters of advanced inorganic chemistry later rather than general chemistry now.
Thoughts? Anyone have personal experience with this? We will also ask his new advisor but they may not know and he hasn’t been assigned a specific pre-med advisor yet.
I’m not a big fan of parents contacting colleges on behalf of their undergraduate-bound students. But definitely for post-bachelor’s work, your son should do the work.
That’s the answer. My guess is unless the med school does not list specific course requirements (e.g. Stanford, Michigan) then no, testing out is not an option, particularly if it does not result in credit being awarded. Regardless, if I were your son, and not knowing exactly how he gained the knowledge to presume to test out, I’d be worried if I had the preparation to deal with organic chem.
Additionally, he has not taken the placement exam yet, right? So the question will be moot if he does not pass the exam.
Addendum - sorry I forgot to mention that the testing results are NOT mentioned on the transcript, not like the AP credits. So the med schools won’t know unless we inform them. At least it’s not on it now.
The requirements for specific classes need to be met on a transcript. When a college gives you credit for APs, they list it on the transcript.
The fact that one person tested out of a class at their college is irrelevent to medical schools who want to stick to the requirements. Only way to meet the requirement - have it on transcript.
@Choski94 Here is my suggestion to address your question.
First get your son's school pre-med office requirement sheet. He needs to meet that in order to get the LOR and approval from pre-med office. In that sheet they will clearly state, which course can be substituted with AP or specific course number etc., For example, even if they give a course number for AP Stat, the pre-req STAT may need a higher number. So you may end of doing STAT there.
Need to do courses, in order to take MCAT exam, which need some basic knowledge. For example, even if there is no need to do Inorganic chemistry just because if they give AP Chem (even for say grade 4), if he is not solid and feel it may benefit him, then do the course.
Trying to find every medical school req, is tedious. That is exactly the pre-med office has done and mapping to what courses in that UG school you need to do. The few variations is some schools expect Calc and most of them are recommending STATS. Another one is doing a Physics course with calculus, not every school expects. Also AP Physics has many variations and your son may have to some course related to Physics.
To get a feel this is what my D did and took MCAT exam. Though a equivalent course for AP was given for Psycho, Stat, she had to do 2 higher courses to meet pre-med reqs in that school.
She had 5 in AP English, Psychology, Chem, Bio, Calc, Stat, Physics-1.
She took OChem 2 semesters & 2 labs, BioChem, Physics one semester & 2 labs, Stat again (higher number), BioChem 1 sem, Genetics, Molecular, Physiology, 2 bio labs, Psychology (higher number).
She did not do any course for Inorganic and Calc. (though it may be recommended / required in some medical school)
My guess would be testing out will not satisfy the requirements. Most schools do not really require “intro and organic chem” they require “2 years of chemistry including and/or beyond the material in intro and organic chem.” AP credit is course credit, testing out of a course is not.
With how important GPA is, even though I personally think it’s academically lazy, I think you’re best off not skipping ahead and taking the easy As unless your son actively wants to take more advanced courses in that area (which given his major’s requirements are less than pre-med, I’m guessing he doesn’t) in which case there is an argument for not wasting time on intro courses.
@skieurope - yes he was required to take the placement exam at orientation since he was planning on taking chemistry during his college career. He scored 95% and said it was easy.
When my son was researching the same question he was informed by the Med Schools they wanted to see the courses taken at the college level since they had an accompanying lab class with it.
Best way is to reach out to the med schools you are interested in.
I’m always very hesitant about testing out-- or getting AP credit-- in a course related to your major.
Even if it’s acceptable for the school, I can’t help but think that you’re getting the abridged version of a class containing material you’ll need to know.
One test-- be it an AP exam or a placement test- really can’t hit all the nuances.
Medical schools will not accept “testing out” of a course (earning advanced standing) as a substitute for actual course credits. He needs to have the actual credits **recorded on his transcript–either from AP/IB or by taking the actual class. Partly this is due to the variability in both course content tested and differences in minimum passing scores at different colleges. Adcomms like to be able to compare apples-to-apples when it comes to student performance. Also advanced placement by exam does not award any lab credits and med schools require lab credits for admission.
Even at med schools like USC and Michigan that have adopted competency based admissions policies that don’t list specific course requirements, the purpose is to encourage students to skip lower level classes in favor of taking higher level classes in the same dept/field. Simply put, without either having actual course credit for gen chem, ochem, etc on his transcript OR without higher level chem coursework with labs (which some schools will allow as a substitute and some won’t), he won’t be competitive applicant.
Two things to keep in mind–
many (most?) medical schools now require or strongly recommend (read: require) that students who use AP credit to fulfill admission requirements supplement those credits with an equal number of additional credits in the same dept. if they want to be considered a competitive applicant. Even if a med school should agree to accept a placement exam in lieu of actual coursework, the same expectation would apply.
medical schools do not audit an applicant’s transcript to see if they have fulfilled admission requirements until AFTER a final transcript has been submitted post-graduation/pre-matriculation. It’s entirely possible to apply to med school, receive interviews and be accepted then have that acceptance rescinded due to not having fulfilled admission requirements. (It’s happened before…)
** There’s a really long winded explanation for this, but the tl;dr version is that in the past some medical schools have admitted un- or under-qualified applicants as political favors. The LCME now audits the admission records of all med schools to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
