<p>OK, this is an odd question. My daughter will be a pre-med freshman next year. This year she’s taken AP Calc AB and AP Stats, and took the tests. Assuming she scores over 3 on both, her college *will not let her take Calc 1 or intro Stats for credit. * But some California med schools require a year of math, including calculus and statistics, as a prerequisite, and expressly don’t accept AP credit as satisfying that requirement. I don’t see her taking advanced calculus or advanced statistics classes, so if her scores come in above the pass level (which I assume will happen) it looks like her college won’t let her take the “regular” classes the med schools require. Quite a conundrum. </p>
<p>Should my daughter cancel her scores so she can take the classes and satisfy the prerequisites (assuming she continues in pre-med)? This is such a bizarre scenario I’m having a hard time thinking about it.</p>
<p>Personally, I’m a big fan of Calc 2 and 3 and intermediate Statistics. But if your daughter wants to avoid them, sounds like cancelling the AP’s is the way to go.</p>
<p>When I took AP tests, I had the option of not sending a score to colleges. I still got my score, but I was able to fax whoever administers the tests (ETS?) and request that one score not be sent. At the time I requested my score not be sent, it was actually because I thought I had done horribly on the AP test and I didn’t want my college to see the score. So you could look into that as well (keep in mind that this was four years ago, and their policy may’ve changed entirely).</p>
<p>However, I agree with BDM. I also took AP stats and AP calc. in high school and got credit for them at my university. I took calc. 2 and 3 at my university (I stopped before multivariable calc.), and I took an upper-level applied stats course in another department for fun. The stats. course, especially, was one of the most useful courses I could’ve taken, and I got a ton out of my calculus courses as well.</p>
<p>It should be noted, though, that before scheduling conflicts prevented me, I was going to minor in math.</p>
<p>as a student may not know which med school he could possibly be accepted to i would think this could be a problem for alot of students. is there a list anywhere of which med schools dont accept ap? or would you just have to check each individual school policy?
is it common for an undergrad school not to allow credit for a 1st year course if you score well on an ap BUT choose to take it anyway as Kluge’s daughters school >>
“Assuming she scores over 3 on both, her college will not let her take Calc 1 or intro Stats for credit”
that could mean that a hs student that took a tougher load of ap courses would again have to take higher level courses while still trying to acheive a gpa acceptable to med school while others who didnt take ap in high school get to take “easier” courses to get that gpa?</p>
<p>That’s another good point, parent56. My son scored a 5 on the Calc AB AP test, which put him into Calc 2 as a Freshman, and he only got a B+. (He could have jumped to Calc 3 with that score. I’m glad he didn’t!) On the other hand, intro Statistics (which he didn’t take in high school) was an easy A for him. For students worried about hitting that magic 3.7 GPA (or whatever) for whatever grad school plans they may have, having to jump ahead to a class that they may not be well prepared for might not be a good thing. </p>
<p>I had never heard of a “can’t take for credit” policy like this before. I just stumbled across it. I don’t know how common it is.</p>
<p>I guess I’m going to have to ask around some more. It looks like the deadline for canceling or withholding AP scores is a couple of weeks away still.</p>
<p>when do colleges ask for ap scores? during the admission process or after acceptance? my son hasnt had his scores sent to any schools as he is just a junior, but reading this and some other posts maybe we should just not mark down to send them and then decide later??</p>
<p>Re Post #4: You’re exactly on the money. It’s an extremely thorny, confusing, non-standard, and difficult-to-find issue. This is why we usually tell kids not to take AP exams in the sciences if they’re going to a public university.</p>
<p>if they dont know which university they will be accepted to… i’m sure my son will apply to both public and private, in state and out of state… and the high school he attends encourages the students to take ap exams (all courses are ap or honors… its a school for math and science) , that only leaves the option of not reporting? but wouldnt that look odd to admissions to see a student that took all ap courses in chem, bio, physics, math etc and not have any scores from ap exams?
earlier this morning i was thinking why am i even posting or asking questions right now as it is so early on the path to college…now i’m glad i am!
he wants medicine but unsure of clinical vs research/academics… i would perfectly happy if he did something else (both of us are medical…father physician)</p>
<p>Which AP courses is he in, right now, as a junior? He should probably take those and just deal with the consequences if they cause problems. AP courses as a senior should be taken without regard for this problem, since he can just skip the exams. And once he’s a senior, he’ll know what college he’s attending, their AP policy, and he won’t have to impress them.</p>
<p>actually i’m 2 weeks ahead of myself. he finishes 10th grade in 2 weeks. he has already taken the ap exam for chemistry (scores not out yet) he has submitted his schedule for next year and if i remember correctly: ap bio and ap calculus are next year (junior) and i think he put off ap physics til senior year. not sure about economics? or whether he will have ap french in senior year or just take that 2 years.
i’m sure he could handle advanced sciences undergrad but it just seemed somewhat bizarre to have a potential disadvantage re core courses and gpa for med schools vs the common perception to take the hardest/most challenging courses you can for admission. Knowing him he will just deal with it and carry on.</p>
<p>Well, Econ and French are non-issues. I’m a big fan of Calc III and Statistics anyway, so I think calc will be fine. Intro Bio is frustrating anyway, so skipping over those is nice; unlike Chem and Physics, advanced bio is premed relevant, where he can take things like Physiology, Genetics, Microbiology, etc. Physics will be in his senior year. So really, it’s just Chem. A little annoying, perhaps, but not a major obstacle.</p>
<p>thanks bdm!!..just checked and he signed up for organic chem next year so if he has to take advanced chem in undergrad due to the ap exam (of course that pre-supposes he scores well) he may be ok as he will have had 2 semesters of organic in hs (perhaps an edge)and dont know what chem he will choose for senior year. He does well in biology and math so “advanced” courses hopefully should be ok
ps thanks for all the help and suggestions/insights on the various posts of yours that i have been reading this weekend. personal question: (saw you dont post what school you go) to but where are you on this path re med school/mstp process? ie what year, how did you get there ?</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, the problem seems to be limited to calc, stats and physics C at my kids’ college (it’s a public school.) Physics B, Biology and Chem AP’s only keep you out of the intro survey courses for nonmajors in those sciences. I suspect this varies from college to college, though, and the significance would vary from student to student. (Some might prefer to jump over the intro courses, others not.) “thorny, confusing, non-standard, and difficult-to-find” would seem to sum it up pretty well.</p>
<p>thanks bdm, good luck to you as you go through med school…seems like you have an incredibly good grasp on the pros and cons of medicine and the politics and policies of the various institutions and overall process…can i rent you to advise my son later on LOL !
and kluge, good luck to your daughter. I’ll try to remind my son to check policies re physics b or c (or just not take the ap exam) .</p>