I am currently a high school senior who is going to college in the fall. I was lucky enough to gain admission to a BS/MD program, which I will be attending in the fall. I have looked at my college’s website and I meet their required AP scores for credit. When I asked my parents about sending scores they said that I should refrain from sending them as I would be put in tougher courses which would make it more difficult to keep my GPA up, I am required to keep a 3.5 GPA to stay in my program at the college. They won’t budge and I would like the credit, due to the fact that I will be taking placement exams and most likely place out of introductory courses through those placement tests, so doesn’t it make a lot more sense to get credit for a class I will most likely place out of? Any input is greatly appreciated.
If you’re going to place out of them anyway, what does it matter?
I would like to get credit for the courses I am going to skip as that would allow me to take more classes that interest me as the program I am in severely limits my abilities to take courses outside of my bio and american studies double major
If your college is reputed for being difficult, don’t skip introductory courses. If it’s a college that’s not going to be very hard, get credit for them.
What college is this?
If it’s Youngstown State’s BS/MD, sure you can skip Level 1 of each class (but not more than that).
If it’s UChicago, even without taking the credit you’re going to suffer because the difference isn’t who took AP and who didn’t, but who took AP and scored a 4, and who took AP and scored a 5.
Also, this is assuming a score of 4 or 5. DO NOT attempt to skip a college class for which you got an AP 3.
Remember also that colleges each teach following a specific sequence, with specific methods and approaches AP may not teach (an AP class is not exactly a college class - first, it’s very slow-paced compared to a college class, and, second, while it’s uniformized for advanced content, not all colleges teach exactly what you learn in AP, so that you may end up with “gaps”.) The best way to see if you can skip one semester is to ask the professor for a retired final exam for the course you’d like to skip. If you score 90%+, you can skip. If not, take the class.
You’re going to prepare for med school. Med schools don’t care what you did in high school. They want you to take biology, physics, and English in college; you may be able to skip one level of calculus but unless you actually got college credit for a math class taken at a college, don’t skip more than that.
You CAN request credit for AP CS, AP Art History, AP History (Euro/World/US), AP Econ, AP Gov, AP Foreign Language.
For English, it means you’ll need to take 2 higher-level seminars - see if you can take Honors Composition and something interdisciplinary.
A good rule is use AP credit for courses out side of your major. If in your major, look at each course individually. Talk to students who are rising sophomores and see what they say.
Students are confuse because the College Board makes a lot of money by promoting the idea that a AP class and a college class are the same. They are not. Even if your college gives credit for the AP, don’t confuse that with the idea that you probably have a college level understanding of the material; You don’t.
I tend to side with your parents on this.
As do I.
The program is the 8-year Leadership in Medicine Program at Union College and Albany Medical College. Which means that in addition to being required to do an interdisciplinary major I also have to get my MBA in Healthcare Managment in the first four years.
MA, I Assume, not MBA ?
Ask for 'retired’final exams to see if you can skip calculus and take credit for gen ed’s unrelated to your major(s).
Thank you to everybody for your advice and to clarify my program does include MBA in Healthcare Management.
People don’t actually know this program well, but it’s very interesting. Congratulations for getting in, it’s highly selective.
So, you need to
1° major in chemistry (easiest route based on other requirements)
2° Get an interdisciplinary major
What AP tests did you get a 4 or 5 on? Which did you take this year?
Based on the info provided by Union, this is your schedule:
FRESHMAN YEAR
FALL
Introduction to Health Systems
If you scored a 4 or 5 on your AP Chem exam, you’ll have Chem 110H
If you took Calc AB and scored a 4-5, or BC 3, you’ll have Math113; if you took Calc BC and scored a 5, you’ll have Math 115
WINTER
FPR 100: First year tutorial
Bio 110 + 102: First Year Bio + lab
Second Major Class#1
SPRING
PHY 110
Second Major Class #2
Bio 225
SUMMER
( required classes)
There’s not much leeway. You can’t just skip whatever class. And because you need to maintain a high GPA, I would seriously consider taking Math 113 rather than Math 115 - Math 113 is already a math class for students who took AP Calc and covers in one semester what regular stem students cover in 2, and what students who never had calculus cover in 3.