<p>I'm a current senior in hs and have taken ap bio. i slacked off a bit and got a 4 on apbio but i wish to start from general bio in college. since i took ap bio in my junior year, i feel i forgot most of the curriculum. is this okay? i hear everyone aps-out in the general courses but i don't think i'm too comfortable for that yet. i also wanted to know how important is calculus? I feel calc is my worst subject by far and am currently doing poorly in my ap calc class. do i have any hope of becoming a medical student or will calc bring me down?</p>
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<p>You need to find better sources bcos what you “hear” is 100% incorrect. Since med school is (almost) all about gpa+mcat, many/most? AP’ers retake the course in college for the “easy A.”</p>
<p>I was one of only a few pre-med students (besides those in the BS/MD program) to accept credit for AP bio and skip the first introductory course in the bio sequence. I did so because I was comfortable with the material and knew I could handle the upper level courses in an attempt to get ahead. However, many of my friends chose to take the introductory course, even if they could have opted out. When entering college, it is nice to have at least one course with familiar information that you might not have to study as hard in to get an A. If you are not completely comfortable with the material in AP bio then I suggest you forgo the credit and take the introductory course. I do not think that this will be looked down upon. Build a strong foundation and use it in upper-level bio courses. </p>
<p>As for calculus, it will be included in your BCPM GPA, so you should try your hardest in the class. Since you will probably end up taking calculus I again in college, maybe the material will be easier since it is already semi-familiar. If you need help, contact a tutoring service or ask some friends.</p>
<p>D’s school recommend taking very first Bio no matter what you had in HS. D. had both Honors and AP Bio (“5”) and by her opinion, she would not be able to take next Bio classes if she skipped first Bio (weed out killer taught by 3 profs simulteniusly). I heard from others that pre-meds are either required or highly recommended to take first Bio. D. had to work extremely hard for her grade in this first Bio class despite that the textbook was the same as in her HS Honors Bio class.</p>
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<p>Not necessarily true. As MiamiDAP said, many schools use the intro classes as weed out classes with very strict grading curves etc that require lots of work and many "good’ students often end up with less than an “A.”</p>
<p>Then you have the TA issue for labs where many TAs are disgruntled former pre meds…one TA can be an easy grader and the next can be truly unreasonable. </p>
<p>The school I attended for UG was a big pre med /pre dent school and the prof for intro Chem was legendary for grading pre meds far differently than others. He passed out 3x5 cards the first day of classes and asked for basic info on each student including major/career path.</p>
<p>Those that said pre med were held to a far higher standard…his grading was far more difficult and he seemed to love giving out Cs (or worse) to pre meds. A number of years later he eventually was found out and was moved to upper division classes that only chem majors would take. There’s no telling how many careers in medicine or dentistry he impacted or altered.</p>
<p>Which part is not true? </p>
<p>The fact that AP kids are re-taking (which was my point)? </p>
<p>Or, that the class is “easy”? (I put it in quotes bcos it is a belief of 18 year-old Frosh, not bcos it’s necessarily true.)</p>
<p>Of course, the simple fact is that a student with an AP-5 background in Chem will be waaaaayyyyyy ahead of the matriculant who shows up on the front door with a standard HS Chem curriculum. And those well prepared kids in general, will set the curve. </p>
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<p>Huh? Did your college have a separate course just for premeds? (It’s been my experience that grades in the intro courses are curved by total points, not intended major.) Yes, Frosh science courses can be graded more ‘harshly’ (with more low grades) than are upper division courses, but that is also true in the humanities courses.</p>
<p>eadad,
Yes, "and many "good’ students often end up with less than an “A.” - I will take it much further. Good number of HS Valedictorians in first Bio class have changed their carrier plans from pre-med to something else. </p>
<p>D. also discovered that AP is less important in comparison to one’s HS. She did not have AP Chem., was not offered at her school. She was much better prepared for college Chem. (one of her easiest classes) than others by their AP Chem. classes, having all tests graded at over 100% and ended up being hand picked by Chem. prof. for Supplemental Instructor position, the best job on campus. The point is - AP class will not assure the best preparation for college course, do not rely that "AP-5 background in Chem will be waaaaayyyyyy ahead of the matriculant who shows up on the front door with a standard HS Chem curriculum. " - it might not be true at all.</p>
<p>Miami:</p>
<p>your HS is not likely “standard”, (which would be the middle of the road of the 30,000 high schools out there, where the graduation rate maybe less than 70%). :)</p>
<p>And, you even confirm my post…about “well prepared kids”…which should include also IB, and not to mention top prep/HS schools (not to offend those who attend).</p>
<p>^D. went to tiny private K-12 school (33 seniors in her class) that always places 100% of graduates in 4 year colleges. It offerred very few AP classes and kids were not allowed to take classes outside (colleges) while in HS. D. mentioned that her science teacher who she credits a lot for her Chem. and Physics preparation for college, refused to call any HS classes “AP”.</p>
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<p>This may be the most unpleasant aspect of being a premed. If only 10-20% of the TAs are this kind of TAs, a premed will consider himself lucky. I also heard some horrible story that at some school (not at my child’s school), some TA may apply to the medical schools in the same application cycle as the students he grades. Some TAs have a lot of control over a student’s grade. At one school, a professor even asks his TA to come up with all the tests – and students complained that they could not understand the questions.</p>
<p>At DS’s public high school, students compete on how many AP courses they take before graduation. If a student do not graduate with at least 8-10 APs (mostly with the 5), he will not be considered by college adcoms as a competitive student. This does not mean that most of the AP teachers are good or the AP classes are demanding though. I heard that at some competitive private high schools, a higher percentage of teachers tend to be better. The students from these high power private high schools do dot need tons of AP 5’s (and sometimes they may not even need very high rank) to validate themselves, like students from a large public high school have no choice but do it. Some small private schools routinely send much more students to top colleges than most large public schools. The fact that these students have been admitted to these high power private high schools is a validation of the student’s academic strength.</p>