FAQ Pre-med courses, AP/IB/etc. credit and college/DE courses, etc

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
21

I have a freshman and very green in understanding the process. I found this post super helpful, but can I please clarify a couple things.

First, I see on my child’s transcript a section that shows the AP classes as “T” with no credit, only used for bypassing intro classes at their school. I know you said you enter all college level classes. Am I correct these are just listed as such with the “T” but grade associated is not factored into gpa? Doesn’t apply to us, but if a student is at a college that does take AP credit then do those students have the classes factored into their gpa?

Second, when you read resources that say xyz gpa to be competitive for xyz med school, is this referring to overall gpa or science gpa? I never see any indicators on that, so wasn’t sure if there was a standard?

Appreciate help!

22

Reading through this thread, i feel as if it is a damned if you do, damned if you do not. If you take AP/ dual enrollment sciences, even if you get A grades, and you then go to a top college, they may not accept the credit, so you have to repeat them. But then med schools will see that as grade grubbing? Yet if you do not take highest rigor in high school, you do not get into those top colleges.

23

One does not enter any AP classes onto the AMCAS or ACOMAS application UNLESS the students has received a credit equivalent to a course offered at the university issuing the transcript.

A “T” means that the student has the option to bypass a class (like one would if they took a placement exam and placed into a higher level class). It doesn’t convert any college credits other than offering advanced standing.

It will not be listed on AMCAS or ACOMAS when entering grades.

AP scores are never used to compute GPAs for med school admission–even if a student accepts credit for the AP.

Generally, these resources are speaking about a cumulative GPA that includes every college level class a student has taken which has generated a grade on a college transcript somewhere, including dual enrollment classes.

However, one’s science GPA (sGPA) is expected to be pretty close to a student’s cGPA.

A sGPA that is significantly lower than the “competitive” GPA listed may raise red flags to adcomms who will wonder of the students has science knowledge and ability to be successful in med school. (Which is all science all the time. The first two years of med school are equivalent to taking 24+ credits of science coursework every semester.)

A sGPS below 3.25-3.3 will get a student screened out of considerations for admission at most med schools (MD and DO) because it’s an indicator that the student is at high risk of failing out of med school

2 Likes
24

It’s not as bad as you think it is.

Adcomms are aware that colleges do not always accept AP or transfer credits, esp for core coursework. There is always a place to explain this issue on the secondary application.

2 Likes
25

I had no idea this would even need to be explained. At my kids’ high school,most who take AP sciences never took them at a lower level, and most top colleges will not accept AP or even transfer credit for these classes.

Is someone really supposed to apply to med school with 10th grade bio and 11th grade chem?

26

Thank you so much, this is very helpful!

27

Med schools really don’t care what high school classes s student took. (AMCAS/ACOMAS/TNDSAS don’t even ask!)

Med schools only care if you have met their admission requirements–and how you do that is something they might care about.

Every med school has its own policies about whether they will accept AP/IB and community college credits–and for which classes.

28

This is what I’m talking about. High achieving HS students might take AP Bio/Chem/Physics all in HS, either as AP or dual enrollment. They’re not thinking about which med schools they might apply to in the future. Many will have to repeat these in college, either because their schools won’t accept high school classes, or because after a two year break, they might not feel ready to jump into upper level science classes. But then they run the risk of med schools thinking that they’re just trying to build up their GPA?

29

Which is why there is always "Anything else you would like us to know? section on the secondary.

If an applicant feels they need to justify or explain one of their decisions, they have a place to do so.

Remember too, that adcomms are not monolithic entities. They are composed of individuals, each of whom has their own unique views and preconceptions.. And the composition of the adcomm changes every year as faculty members take their turn at participating as part of their duties to the school. Indeed, some adcomm members may not even be current faculty. Retired faculty, community physicians and med students often serve on adcomms.

30

Do you have to report the AP classes to the UG college? I mean you self report them for the application process, but once you enroll can you elect to not report or receive credit for the AP classes? Which then the AP classes would never show up on your college transcript and med schools would never know about them or if you “repeated” chem/bio/physics/calc?

31

Your official high school transcript will be required to matriculate so if you took the AP class through your school, your college will know.

32

Sure, but you don’t have to accept credit for the AP classes, right? If you don’t take the credits and just take the main chem/bio/physics, med schools would never know you took AP classes since it would not be on your college transcript, is that correct?

1 Like
33

It depends on the school and how they handle it. At my D’s university, her AP classes appeared on her transcript with the corresponding university class number, but without a grade.

34

But that’s because she sent in her AP scores and accepted credit, right? I’m unaware of any university that will give AP credit based only on HS transcript

1 Like
35

She could have placed out of Calc II but chose not to and the corresponding AP class was still listed on her college transcript.

36

Only if they were dual enrollment and a transcript was issued. So if you took AP sciences, and did not request/get college credit for them, then the med school would not be able to tell that you were taking them again once in college.

37

Not exactly.

AP classes are NOT considered dual enrollment. Ever.

@RookMSU
If you send your AP scores to your college, then any AP classes you took will automatically be reported on your college transcript, regardless of whether you accepted credit for the class or not.

Medical schools will be able to see that you had AP credit and what class at the college it’s considered equivalent to.

If you are a science major, you may not receive credit for an AP class that is equivalent to the required science class for your major. This is a decision that the registrar’s office at your college will make.

Every college will have their AP credit policy written down in the Advising Handbook. (Google name of your college + AP policy)

For example, one of my daughters took AP Bio, scored a 5 and sent the score to her university. The registrar did not give her credit for Bio 201 (intro bio for biology majors), but instead gave her 4 credits for “general biology credits” (no specific class). If she had been a history major, she could have used those credits to fulfill her distribution requirements, but not as a science or engineering major. It also did not provide any advanced standing.

So, first I would look up the advising handbook of your college to see what their AP credit policies are.

Once you know that you can decide whether or not you want to officially report your AP scores to the college.

But, yes, you can self-report AP classes when you apply to a college, then just never send them the AP score report if you don’t want AP credit to appear on your transcript. ( NOTE: Some high schools do not allow students to do that so check with your HS counselor first. Some high schools automatically report AP scores on the transcript that gets sent to colleges.)

If the college doesn’t have the AP score report, then no credit is given and there will be no repeated class issues when applying for med school.

2 Likes
38

Thanks for the clarifications. I know the above summary says that AP classes are commonly not accepted. I found this worksheet that lays out whether a med schools accepts AP, community college, etc., and what classes are required or recommended. In Ohio and Michigan at least, many of the med schools show on this sheet as accepting AP. Does that likely mean they will accept it, but that the look down on it and it likely lowers the quality of your application?

It’s from the AAMC website.

39

If a student uses AP credit to pass out of a low level requirement, can’t they simply take a higher level course in college of the same type (for example a higher level Bio or Chem course), and use that for the med school application, even if the med school doesn’t accept AP for the prerequisite?

My D26 doesn’t think she will want to apply to med school… but she’s also not ruling out the possibility that she might become more interested in med school while she’s in college. She thinks that she would like to use AP credit to give her the freedom / flexibility to take upper level classes in her major.

Edited to add: Hmm, I finally went back and read the first post in this thread, which discusses this. I guess I am a bit late to the party :thinking: :smiley:

40

Yes. The challenge, IME, is you don’t want to take the higher level physics class, unless you’re really keen on advanced physics