According to Courses for Biological Sciences | University of Alabama , the honors general biology courses BSC 118 and 120 include the labs, so you do not need to sign up for separate lab courses like with BSC 114(lecture)/115(lab) and 116(lecture)/117(lab).
This is exactly what I’d be doing. Not sure how I get out of the labs though since it’s combined unless they push us all into regular bio? Which would be weird. I’ll see next week I guess!
I agree!! I just didn’t want to my very first semester when I will have a lot of things to adjust too and possibly later nights than I am used to.
My only comment about 8am lab is that an 8am lab is way better than 6-10pm lab.
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Ugh so apparently, even though every advisor at orientation told me to retake the lecture, it does show as a repeated course on my transcript/degreeworks portal. My friend at another college who is premed is using her AP bio credit and moving on. I’m a little irritated because I’m not 100% sure that they told me to retake it because they looked at my academic profile and though that I needed to, not because that’s the general advice they give to everyone. They said that med schools want a letter grade on the class so they tell everyone to retake it. Hopefully that’s more correct/important than med schools not wanting to see a repeated class 
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Have you started college yet? It doesn’t sound like it. If that is the case, perhaps you can get this straightened out before classes start…like…now.
I haven’t. I’m just not sure what to do since all the advisors told me to repeat the class. But by advisors I mean people walking around a room approving classes who had no knowledge of our individual academic backgrounds.
Have you spoken to a pre med advisor, not just an academic advisor ?
Anyway - I’m not med school admissions - but will they care u took a class in hs and now in college?
You are in year one. Seems a bit out there to me that they would but…
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I did speak to a premed advisor, but in the same sense of a premed advisor walked around and made sure everyone was enrolled in chem I, bio I, and a math if they needed it. There wasn’t much one on one advising. I emailed a premed advisor prior to orientation and they basically said we tell everyone to retake the lecture; you’ll talk to a premed advisor at orientation, and seemed like they were irritated that I emailed before orientation. Idk.
That is my question
There is so much to learn with all this it’s overwhelming sometimes!
My son a pre-med and also starting in Fall. He is using his AP Bio and Chem to skip intro classes, but they don’t give credit. He is taking a bio lab but it’s genetics based, just chose another bio lab class. Before he takes that though he’s doing chem as I guess it’s only way to set him up for no gap year. May not be possible, but wants to set himself up for it to be an option. I think he said AP Calc class could fulfill pre-med requirement but is still taking the next class in college.
Seems like the issue sometimes is going beyond what college requires to do what looks best for med school admissions.
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The issue is not taking the course in high school. It’s getting college credit for the AP class/score.
@elise123 did you already request college course credit for that AP bio course?
@wayoutwestmom….your thoughts?
but will they care u took a class in hs and now in college
It’s going to depend on who is reading the application–which is something the applicant cannot control.
Some will see it and ignore it, especially if the rest of the application is strong; others will give the applicant a ding for fluffing their GPA.
There’s no way to know in advance.
@elise123 Sometimes you just have to accept you can’t control everything and just move on. Repeating one course isn’t going to keep you out of medical school. It may get you a ding, but that’s about all. If the rest of your application is good, then one will care.
But, that said, if you don’t get an A in this repeated bio class (and lab)–that looks way bad and it could end up being something you’ll need to explain on your secondaries.
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Elise- you are about to get a great lesson for a prospective physician.
Patients don’t always tell you what you need to know. Other professionals (pharmacists, RN’s, phlebotomists) are not always forthcoming with the information you need. Patients families are notoriously “unreliable narrators” (“Grandma was doing great until Sunday when she got food poisoning” and it turns out that grandma has been in acute liver failure for a week).
Take the brush off you are getting and turn it into a teaching moment. Email the advisors that you need to ask the SPECIFIC question- in YOUR situation-- not the generic “does my schedule look OK”. Be polite and persistent.
You will need to learn these skills to be a competent physician-- and now you have the opportunity to learn them now. The fact that someone was irritated is irrelevant. You actually have a legitimate question (unlike “Isn’t there a more convenient lab, I don’t like waking up at 7 am most days” which is NOT a legitimate question since the answer is online-- labs start at 8 or 9 am period). So be polite and persistent! You can do this. You are asking for five minutes of someone’s time to focus on you which is not unreasonable.
Good luck.
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If you take honors bio, it’s not considered a repeated class. More importantly, you’ll learn more and you have the background to be successful in the class.
They automatically gave it to me when my AP score report got sent and I don’t think they can get rid of it.
Have you contacted the registrar to ask (if you can not claim the credit via AP) - ie unwind the submission ?
Thanks! I had asked the specific question and they just said we’ll do advising at orientation, then I asked at orientation and they said retake it because med schools want to see a letter grade. Oh well, hopefully it ends up being insignificant in the long run when I apply
Every section of honors biology is now full, so I don’t think I can switch. I can check back later because they often open new seats for the next sessions of bama bound. If they do, I’d have to redo my entire schedule because none of the labs fit in my schedule, and I’m not guaranteed that the other classes I’m taking will still be open if I redo my schedule. It looks like the only thing I’d have to switch is chemistry and there is another time that it will work.
Welcome to college registration problems. If you really want to make it work, talk to the professor. There will be lots of add/drop movement the first couple of weeks.
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This is causing so much stress in my house right now. @wayoutwestmom can I PM you for advice for my D24 and/or are you available for hire as a pre-med counselor?
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