Hi, I will be a senior in high school next fall and am planning to take the medical school requirements in college while earning my undergrad in business administration. I’ve taken honors bio and chem (freshman and sophomore classes) and regular physics and earned A’s in them. Because I want to prepare for the bio, chem, and physics courses in college, I want to take two AP science classes next year. All three sounds pretty daunting because of my other AP classes/ec’s. Which do you think I could go without taking until college? (I’m not planning on claiming any AP credits in these classes; I just want to be ready for the courses in college) Thank you!
AP Physics and AP Chemistry seem to be the hardest for most students to excel at, so you could get a better foundation by taking those in high school first, and then repeating in college as you describe. You can view the AP score distributions on the college board website. https://apscore.collegeboard.org/scores/about-ap-scores/score-distributions
Depends what you like the most. I’d say definitely Physics since I assume that is your junior science, and the other one is your call, depending on whether you like Bio or Chem more.
Are you talking about Physics 1/2, C-Mechanics, C-E&M?
Many medical schools won’t accept AP for pre-reqs so you may need to repeat coursework in college or take upper level classes to replace the intro credits. I’d probably lean toward biology and chem since its easy to take an extra biochem or something like microbiology to fill the gap in credits. Unless you lean toward physics and would like to take more.
^OP wisely indicated s/he doesn’t intend to “skip” any level in bio/chem/physics. Med schools tend to be more forgiving for AP English Language (requiring one Humanities/English/Composition class on top of that) and sometimes Calculus BC if OP takes Calc 2 at the university level.
AP Physics 1 is the course offered at my school; thank you for all of your helpful replies!
Only a handful of the top med schools require calc any more. About the same number now require stats. I’m not sure one of the AP science courses has more benefit than another if student is taking them as a preview and intends to retake the in college. Obviously, the ones you find hardest if that’s an assessment you are able to make.
Hey, just curious, how hard is it to major in business while doing pre-med?
I know several people who are business/engineering majors who made it to med school. It’s not that bad, especially with AP credits and summer school.
Actually all med schools require one semester if calculus and one semester of statistics and/or biostats. 15 require 2 semesters of calculus and all consider that 2 semesters of stats is better than that.
Engineering majors are appreciated because their major is very rigorous, however no (or very little) leeway is given to the fact engineering majors tend to have lower GPAs than other majors, and med school selection remains GPA-driven. A 2.9 is actually not bad in engineering, but you need a minimum of 3.6 for med school…
As for business, it’s the opposite: there’s no shortage of good GPAs, but it’s widely seen as not very rigorous (studies have shown that business majors have the shortest reading assignements, the fewest papers, the shortest papers, spend the least time on homework, etc - this is outside of schools such as Mendoza, Stern, or Wharton, where students basically double major in business and liberal arts). So, for the purpose of med school, you may be better served doing an Economics major, unless you’re admitted to one of the high-level business schools.
“Actually all med schools require one semester if calculus and one semester of statistics and/or biostats.”
Nope. Not true. There are about 140 med schools and only about 10% require calculus. About the same number (12-14) require statistics. Some require “math” but don’t specify calc vs stats vs some other college level math. Many require no math at all. Your undergrad school may require calc as a pre-req for physics but unless you are shooting for Hopkins or Wash U or similar, most med schools won’t require it. A class in stats may make the new MCAT easier (and I think it’s good class for every major, honestly) but not every med school is requiring it at this time. You can purchase access to the online Medical School Admissions Requirements compiled by the AAMC and determine which math/stats the schools you are interested in require you to complete. Or look on the admissions websites of schools in your region.
I think the ease of combining a pre-med track with a business major is going to depend on how the major is structured. Sometimes at large schools it’s not easy to move between business school and STEM or music conservatory and STEM. There are a large number of science classes required as pre-reqs for med school as well as additional courses to prep for MCAT (which are not currently required at every medical school in the US). It’s going to depend on how the major is structured, how many free electives are in the curriculum, etc. We have a lot of pre-med STEM majors who minor in business or econ, for example, but it’s less common for people to major in those areas simply because the pre-med courses take up a large fraction of their credits.