<p>Hi, I'm a highschool freshman and I'm hoping to become a Doctor. (obviously) I Have been concentrating on my grades way more then I ever did in junior high. I know that highschool is when things like grades really count, anyways, I have got straight As for this first quarter, but my school is very small and is the poorest in the district. So, it doesn't offer any AP classes. Will this effect my chances of getting into a good University? And if i did get into a universtiy do you think this would cause me to fall behind? </p>
<p>I live in Washington State, so I was hoping if I'm still interested in a medical career to getting into The Universtity of Wahington. Our school does offer college bound from a local college in our area, do you suggest do this in replacement to AP? And are there any other options I could consider (besides moving to another town)</p>
<p>I can't speak to college admissions, so please don't take my advice as the complete picture, because it's not.</p>
<p>But when you are applying to medical school, if you do this "college bound" thing, you will be obligated to report all the coursework you took from any college. Occasionally, this can make it difficult, since you will have grades available from a school which may or may not be very strong. It's unclear whether this will hurt you or not - I personally am of the belief that it's a no-win situation. Either you do well, where of course you did well since it's a school far beneath you; or you do poorly, which will very much stand out since it's at a less well-reputed institution. (Especially in comparison to UW, which is very well reputed indeed.)</p>
<p>I would be wary of taking college courses at a college for this reason.</p>
<p>With that said, if taking these courses will help you expand your options for undergraduate studies, then that might well be worth a tradeoff, so please don't think of this debate as being settled. I can only speak to the distant half of it.</p>
<p>First of all, college admissions for undergraduate will look at your transcript from your hs and judge it according to what was available to you AT THAT HS. In other words, if they don't offer AP classes, then they will look to see what you did take and as long as you take the most challenging classes that were offered, that will be good enough. </p>
<p>Plus, AP is science in HS is great, but med schools won't allow you to use the AP credit to satisfy their science requirements for med school admission. </p>
<p>As far as the local college. If you want to take a few courses there, fine, but make them things other than your pre med requirements. </p>
<p>i dont think it will affect u 2 much since ur school doesnt offer AP classes. u could go 2 a college, get good grades, and then go 2 med school after that.</p>
<p>IMO, you want AP classes. I think the AP classes that my school has offered has helped me alot in preparations for college. I've been stuck in "normal" classes b/c of numerous schedule conflicts, and let me tell you the difference is amazing. I go to a fairly competitive school in Cali., and my in bro's graduating class the Valedictorian that never took AP classes only got into the Cal State System. </p>
<p>Seriously, seriously speaking, I would transfer to a school that is fairly competitve and offers AP courses. Also don't forget those ECs. And if your afraid of making new friends, join a sport. Sports always help with friends.</p>
<p>A purportedly "fairly competitive" school that only sends its valedictorian to the CSU system probably has problems other than lacking AP credits. (Was he an engineer who wanted to go to Poly? Was he abnormal, and the salutorian went off East? Etc.)</p>
<p>If that happens to be the case at your school, BEG, then by all means look around. But I don't think that's by any means a normal situation.</p>
<p>In terms of acceptance into college, colleges will see that your school does not offer AP courses, and they won't hold it against you. Does your school offer honors courses or academic courses? If so, try to schedule some of these upper-level courses in place of AP classes. Taking AP courses does not guarantee success in college, nor does it guarantee you a spot in a more prestigious school (especially if your school doesn't even offer APs). Although it's nice to receive college credit for doing well on exams, most colleges will recommend that you retake any AP science classes for which you may have received credit. This is recommended because it helps you to prepare for the MCAT. Also, it can boost your science GPA because you will have already taken and done well in basically the same class in high school. Therefore, it's not absolutely imperative that you take AP classes. A plethora of students go into college without having taken any AP classes, and they do quite well (even in comparison to students who have had AP classes). In fact, many other schools do not offer AP classes. AP classes aren't the panacea for everything. With that being said, do well with what you have. I firmly believe that you do not need to transfer. With that being said, I would recommend taking difficult classes that interest you. Perhaps you could take a college course or two over the summer? Also, look into medicine or science-related programs that you could participate in during the summer. I'm sure that your state has some equivalent of governor's school, though you probably can't apply as a freshman (just something you may want to look into for the future). Maybe you could also double up on a science or math class to get ahead. Like, for instance, take algebra II and trig in the same year or something, or physics and chem during the same year. Additionally, try to become involved in a variety of extracurriculars. Is there a local hospital at which you could volunteer? Colleges love volunteer work, and it would be great if you started as a freshman because they would see a lot of dedication if you kept with it. Does your school have clubs? If so, try to become involved in clubs that appeal to you. Also, you could even start a club for students interested in pursuing a career in medicine. You could extend this club for students interested in nursing, physical therapy, etc. Hopefully you'll find this helpful. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask and/or message me because I'm currently applying to college, and I'm interested in going pre-med, so I consider myself to be somewhat knowledgeable on the topic.</p>