AP Credits
Some medical schools do accept Advanced Placement credit to satisfy pre-med admissions requirements, many do not. Nor are the individual schools entirely clear or consistent on this matter. Even if a certain medical or health professional school does accept AP credit, you will be a much stronger candidate for admission if you take your science courses in college.
A good rule of thumb is if you can present an official transcript from a four-year U.S. college with a grade for these subjects, you are safe; if not, you may have difficulties. Each subject has its own peculiarities and we will consider each separately.
AP Biology
The vast majority, if not all medical schools require one year of biology with labs taken in college.
College, SFS, and MSB students with a 4 or 5 on the AP exam can receive credits toward their degree but are still advised to take BIOL 1203 and 1204 (if you are a biology major) or BIOL 1203 and another biology lab course if you are a non-science major. You should speak with a pre-med advisor about choosing the second course.
Nursing and Health Studies students should enroll in HSCI 1030 and 1040. If those classes are not required for their major, they can choose to enroll in those courses or they can enroll in BIOL 1203 and another BIOL lab class. You should speak with a pre-med advisor about choosing the second course.
AP Chemistry
Pre-med students, regardless of major, with a score of 5 on the Chemistry AP exam will receive 3 credits at the level of an introductory one semester course for non-majors. These credits do not count toward a science major/minor or pre-med requirements.
AP Physics
The only way to satisfy the two-semester physics requirement with AP credit is to score a 5 on the Physics B exam, or to score a 4 or 5 on both of the Physics C exams. Even if you can meet this high standard, you will be a much stronger candidate for medical school if you take physics at Georgetown. Most medical schools prefer that you take physics in college, and some have been known not to accept AP credit. Physics majors do not need to worry about using AP credit since they will take advanced courses in their degree. The safest thing for non-physics majors to do is to forfeit their AP credit and take General Physics I and II. Alternatively, you could opt to enroll in higher level courses. Using your AP credit to skip over General Physics and go into a more advanced course is not advisable for non-science majors.
AP Mathematics
A large number of medical schools have no formal mathematics requirement. Some require one semester of mathematics in college, and some require two semesters of mathematics in college. A few medical schools require statistics, in addition to calculus. Our advice is to take at least one semester of math at Georgetown, and having two terms of math on your transcript may make you a more competitive candidate.
If you have Advanced Placement credit for Calculus AB, you will receive 3 credits for Calculus I (MATH 1350). You may forfeit the AP credit and take Calculus I or skip ahead into Calculus II (MATH 1360), depending on how strong your mathematics background is and how confident you feel. Alternatively you may take Probability and Statistics (MATH 1040).
Students with credit for Calculus BC face a similar decision: Take Calculus II and forfeit AP credits or place ahead into Calculus III (MATH 2370). Self-assessment of your math skills is important, and many students opt to take Probability and Statistics as their alternate math class.