Should I take Calculus?

[drbsn]

I'm a post-baccalaureate student who decided to do medicine a little later in the game than others. I graduated this past May with a 3.8 GPA, but I will be spending the next few semesters getting the prerequisites out of the way. This semester, I'm taking chemistry 2 and, for now, calculus. Unfortunately, I haven't had any sort of math, such as precal, since my freshman year, and my calculus professor is drilling into our minds that we will not succeed without mastery of precal and earlier math courses. Math in general does not come easily for me, so I was hoping I could gather some advice about how to proceed.

My current plan involves dropping calculus and picking up a biostatistics course. I've already had a regular statistics course (in which I made an A), and this biostats course uses the previous stats course as a prerequisite. I've looked at the math requirements for medical schools, and only a handful outright require calculus, while quite a few require stats. Would it be a red flag if I did not take calculus 1 at all? My college math history includes Pre-Cal 1 in which I made a B-, Pre-Cal 2 in which I made an A, and statistics, in which I made an A.

Another plan involves taking calculus with a different professor next semester. She is known for being a better teacher although being a harder grader on exams. In the mean time, I could freshen up on previous math skills while I volunteer and continue to work in a hospital.

Any advice will be appreciated immensely!

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[weezynation]

I'm a post-baccalaureate student who decided to do medicine a little later in the game than others. I graduated this past May with a 3.8 GPA, but I will be spending the next few semesters getting the prerequisites out of the way. This semester, I'm taking chemistry 2 and, for now, calculus. Unfortunately, I haven't had any sort of math, such as precal, since my freshman year, and my calculus professor is drilling into our minds that we will not succeed without mastery of precal and earlier math courses. Math in general does not come easily for me, so I was hoping I could gather some advice about how to proceed.

My current plan involves dropping calculus and picking up a biostatistics course. I've already had a regular statistics course (in which I made an A), and this biostats course uses the previous stats course as a prerequisite. I've looked at the math requirements for medical schools, and only a handful outright require calculus, while quite a few require stats. Would it be a red flag if I did not take calculus 1 at all? My college math history includes Pre-Cal 1 in which I made a B-, Pre-Cal 2 in which I made an A, and statistics, in which I made an A.

Another plan involves taking calculus with a different professor next semester. She is known for being a better teacher although being a harder grader on exams. In the mean time, I could freshen up on previous math skills while I volunteer and continue to work in a hospital.

Any advice will be appreciated immensely!

Don't take it. You already fulfilled your math requirement. Unless you just want to take it or know you will do very well in it, there is no need to take the biostats course either.

 

[drbsn]

My main reasoning for thinking about adding the biostats course is due to how it looks to only have taken precal in college. The "college level math" requirement seems a bit vague to me. I'd like to take calculus, but I'm not confident enough in my math to know I could pull off an A.