A Few Questions

[13132]

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Basically I have two options;a B.A. in Biochemistry or a B.S. in Biochemistry. I know that the B.A. will be easier but I really want to take some more humanities classes. Do medical schools prefer to see a B.S. degree?

Also, I took AP Calculus my junior year and I tested out of it in college. Technically I need no more math. Should I take Calc 2 though? The advisors here are very wishy washy on what I should do.

Thanks!

 

[TexasPhysician]

BA or BS. Up to you. I'd go with whatever you feel like doing.

I'd say no to Cal 2 unless it would be an easy A for you.

 

[Catalystik]

There're just 5 AMCAS schools that require more than one term of Calculus. I'd just avoid applying to them.

Adcomms won't care if you get a BA or BS.

 

[Morsetlis]

A B.S. sounds cooler.

 

[J ROD]

 

[Ischemic]

B.A or B.S ---> Bull**** (BS). Adcoms don't care if you have one title over another. Can you handle the coursework for med school is what they wanna know. Whichever BA or BS that will give you that answer is what you should do, with a high GPA of course.

Plus in the end no one gives a **** about BA or BS ... it's that MD that's gonna matter

 

[Tutmos]

I thought I read something that schools would no longer allow AP courses to fill prereqs of any kind. That would mean you likely need to take Calc 1 for most schools regardless of testing out of anything.

 

[roseglass6370]

Doesn't matter. Do the easier one.

 

[Kb041]

Also, I took AP Calculus my junior year and I tested out of it in college. Technically I need no more math. Should I take Calc 2 though? The advisors here are very wishy washy on what I should do.

Thanks!

I am new to this forum, but I thought I could give you some advice because I was in your situation:

Be very careful about the calculus situation. Many medical schools require a math credit and many do not accept AP credit. Some even require two semesters of Math (Penn State COM). You can avoid Calc 2 and take a bio statistics class though.

As for the BA BS route...I have a BA in biochemistry. I went to a swanky liberal arts school that only had BA degrees. In the end I ended up taking 17 science courses for my BA, and managed to minor in Classics. You'll have plenty of opportunity to take interesting classes no matter which course you select.

Make sure you take time to look at the requirments for each degree. Orgo 2 and Physics 2 are rarely required for the standard BA (unless you go to a school like mine), but you will need to take them anyway for med school reqs. You might end up having most of the classes for the BS anyway because you might find yourself taking genetics because it is helpful for the MCAT, and Biochem because it is great prep for med school.

You might find that if you have to take all the extra classes you might as well just take one or two more and get the "harder degree"