Advanced Placement Credit, Previous College Credit, and Foreign Credit

One question that frequently arises is, “How do colleges and medical schools view students who have earned Advanced Placement credit, foreign transfer credit, and/or college credit while in high school?” These situations may sound very similar, and undergraduate colleges treat them all in the same way.

However, most medical schools do not treat these credits the same way a four-year college does.

Upon admission to the freshman class, NYU will grant credit towards the bachelor’s degree for most Advanced Placement test scores of 4 or 5, and for courses from an accredited Foreign or U.S. College. For full details, consult the current College of Arts and Science Bulletin.

How Medical Schools View These Credits

Here, the situation is different: although some medical schools do accept Advanced Placement credit to satisfy pre-health 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 all of your science courses in college (rather than resting on your high school laurels).

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. With most U.S. college credit, therefore, you have no problems, although students are warned that science courses taken at a local college while in high school may not be as rigorous as NYU’s science classes, and therefore may not prepare you well for the MCAT or for upper-level science if you choose to take it. Students in this situation may need to repeat science courses here.

With Advanced Placement credit and foreign transfer credit you may experience difficulty with medical schools, and it is therefore necessary to approach the topic with some caution. Each subject has its own peculiarities and we will consider each separately.

For all of these situations, please keep in mind that skipping over an introductory-level science class has led to poor grades in the more advanced courses for more than one student in the past—even for those who were A students in high school science classes and had AP credit. That is why you are often advised to forfeit your AP credit or previous college credit in the sciences and begin with introductory courses.

AP Biology

AP credit in biology is considered preparation for Principles of Biology I and II (V23.0011-0012) at NYU. The vast majority of students forfeit their AP credit and take Principles here. This is a good thing, because all medical schools require one year of biology with labs taken in college.

Potential biology majors with a 4 or 5 on the AP exam are the only students allowed to take the Biology Department's Placement Test. Many students who take the test will place into regular Principles of Biology, but a good chunk usually place into the honors track of this course. Only a tiny number of students are allowed, based on their score, to use their AP credit to skip Principles of Biology altogether. They place into Molecular and Cellular Biology, which they are not allowed to take until sophomore year. Prehealth freshmen in this situation are strongly advised to take Honors Biology during their freshmen year. This is the case for two reasons:

1) Principles of Biology will give you a superb foundation for the Biological Sciences section of the MCAT, much better than your AP course ever could.

2) Medical schools require one year of biology with labs. Molecular and Cell Biology does not have a lab component. If during and after taking the Molecular and Cell Biology sequence, a student elects not to continue with the biology major, he or she will still need one year of biology coursework with labs.

AP Chemistry

Students with Advanced Placement credit in chemistry forfeit their AP credit and takes the subject here. All students that plan to register for Gneral Chemistry sit for the Chemistry Department's Assessment Examination. With a high enough score, the Department may place you into the General Chemistry honors track.

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 NYU. Many medical schools prefer that you take physics in college, and some have been known not to accept AP credit. The safest thing for non-physics majors to do is to forfeit their AP credit and take General Physics I and II (V85.0011-0012) at NYU. Using your AP credit to skip over General Physics and go into a more advanced course is not advisable for non-majors.

Note that the Physics I–II-III sequence, with labs for II and III only (V85.0091, 0093, 0095, and 0094, 0096) is only recommended for physics majors; other students should take General Physics. If you start this three-course sequence, you must finish it, to ensure that you have the two labs that some medical schools require and the background you will need for the MCAT!

AP Mathematics

Some medical schools require one or two semesters of college math, and most of these schools will accept AP credit. See the "Medical Schools with Math and Calculus Requirements" link under the Prehealth Courses tab on our website.

Foreign College Credit

If you have foreign college credit in the sciences and do not want to retake the corresponding course or take one of the higher-level alternatives, please reconsider. Medical schools strongly advise or require that all of the required prehealth science courses be taken at an American institution.

However, you may opt to have your foreign transcript evaluated by a reputable evaluation agency. You would be well-advised to call early to several medical schools to which you plan to apply to obtain a consensus on "acceptable" evaluation agencies. Do this early as many agencies have to get information from the foreign schools you attended, and these schools may take months (even years) to respond.