Should I Accept AP Science Credits?

ucbalumnus
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 18:39:24 +0000

There are two issues to consider:

a. If your college allows AP credit to skip an intro course, and you plan to take a more advanced course in the subject, try an old final exam of the course that you are allowed to skip to see how well you know the material from the college’s point of view. Note: UPenn does not allow advanced placement in biology for AP biology scores lower than 5, according to http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/freshman-admission/precollegecredit .

b. Medical schools often do not accept AP credit to fulfill pre-med course requirements, although more advanced courses in the subject area can be substituted. As a biology major, you will have lots of advanced biology courses, but may have to take additional more advanced non-organic chemistry, math, and/or physics courses if you use AP credit to skip the introductory courses. Note that if you are not sure on pre-med, you may be able to defer the decision on these courses, in order to avoid “wasting” schedule space if you decide not to do pre-med.