How many AP's should I take if I am planning on a career in medicine? Should I just take science AP's? Answered
I'm an incoming Sophomore, and I am taking two AP's next year. I'm taking APUSH and AP Chem. But I'm not sure how many AP's I should take over the next few years if I want to pursue a career in medicine and hopefully attendance at a prestigious school. I definitely don't want to push myself in the math areas, as I have always been weaker in math.
Earn karma by helping others:
2 answers
If you're aiming to be accepted to top universities—like let's say the Top 50 on USWNR's rankings—you should aim to take as many APs as available to you at your high school and that you can reasonably fit into your schedule. That doesn't mean you have to push yourself super hard in math, but you should definitely replace any AP math courses you might take with APs in other areas, if available. (It's important to note though that most med schools will require you to have taken intro-level Physics courses in undergrad, which will in turn require you to take Calc I and either Calc II or Statistics—so you won't be able to avoid those courses forever if you do want to pursue medicine.)
As for medicine, remember that you still need to go through the entirety of college before you'd actually begin studying medicine. As a pre-med in undergrad, you can actually still study whatever you want—most people do biology or chemistry, but I've also known pre-meds who were English majors or history majors. A lot of people think a broader liberal arts education is a benefit to studying medicine because it makes you more well-rounded. So as a high school student, I think taking any APs you're comfortable with—whether that's Chem, history, English, etc., would be a good idea. That said, the only one you absolutely should take, if available, is AP Bio, because that's one is immediately relevant to studying medicine and will help demonstrate your passion for the subject.
Hope that helps!
Hi, I was also wondering the same thing. I did notice that you said you were weaker in the math areas, I believe that you should take tutoring classes to strengthen that area because it does play an important role in pursuing a medical career. I'm not saying you should become an expert in math, but you should definitely try to improve and practice your math skills so you're able to continue pursuing your medical career.
As for how many AP classes you should take, I think as many as possible but also keep in mind how much stress and studying you're going to have to take on. So make sure you don't take so many classes to the point where you're going to wear yourself out and get tired, and might want to give up.
Good luck, I hope this helped and you continue to pursue your goals and dreams!
Your chance of acceptance
Your chancing factors
Community Guidelines
To keep this community safe and supportive:
- Be kind and respectful!
- Keep posts relevant to college admissions and high school.
- Don’t ask “chance-me” questions. Use CollegeVine’s chancing instead!