Calculus for medical school?

[mj7868]

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I recently made my schedule for my upcoming freshman fall semester at college. I got a 3 on the AP Calculus AB exam so I was ready to take Calculus 1 in the fall. however, my advisor said that I was given credit for the 3 and so now I just have to take Statistics. Is it true that medical schools do not need 2 semesters of calculus? Also, I am planning on transferring to UVA for sophomore year and I know they don't grant credit for 3's. Does this mean if I do get accepted there for sophomore year, i will have to take calculus 1?

 

[Radon XP]

Very few schools require even 1 semester of cal, let alone 2. I think some of the top schools (Harvard med?) require it.

 

[Jimsy]

There are schools that require calc 1&2 and do not accept ap credit. I suggest you take the class for calculus 1. This will cover your bases and better prepare you for calc 2.

 

[Radon XP]

There are schools that require calc 1&2 and do not accept ap credit. I suggest you take the class for calculus 1. This will cover your bases and better prepare you for calc 2.

Is there a list of these schools somewhere?

 

[The Buff OP]

Yup. Like the other people said before me, research what medical school's you will like to apply and see what are their requirements. Some schools want you to take cal 1 or statistics.

 

[Jimsy]

Is there a list of these schools somewhere?

http://www.cse.emory.edu/sciencenet/additional_math_reqs.pdf

 

[mvenus929]

Medical schools are rather diverse in their requirements, and I imagine that will only get worse when the MCAT changes. UVA, for instance, doesn't have any pre-med requirements, beyond the MCAT, for which you don't need calculus. There are schools, though, that require a year of math, and some will require calculus. Your best bet is to look at the schools you're interested in and go from there.

For now, you won't go wrong either way if you take calculus or statistics.

 

[EyesOfTheWorld]

I wonder why my premed advisor asserts that calc 1 & 2 are required...

 

[Radon XP]

http://www.cse.emory.edu/sciencenet/additional_math_reqs.pdf

I didn't see any that explicitly forbid AP/IB credit for Cal.

 

[VictorAlpha]

my school is not like T10 or anything but it does require calculus and does accept AP credit for it.

 

[Jimsy]

I didn't see any that explicitly forbid AP/IB credit for Cal.

Ohh I thought you meant the math requirements. The AP credit stuff can be seen on MSAR for each school.

 

[Radon XP]

Ohh I thought you meant the math requirements. The AP credit stuff can be seen on MSAR for each school.

Darn, don't have access to that. Are there that many? Any notable ones?

 

[A7X]

Actually, no Medical School requires 2 semesters of Calc anymore. They've turned it into one semester of Calc and stats each. Most of them also accept AP credit, but this varies greatly by school.

 

[Jimsy]

Darn, don't have access to that. Are there that many? Any notable ones?

I'm not sure how many there are that don't accept AP credit; you can check the websites for the schools that you're interested in. One school that I remember that doesn't accept AP credit for calculus is ucla.

OP, now that I've looked closer at several school's math requirements, it does seem like you can get away with just one semester of calculus at many schools. In that case, I recommend that you take calc 1 and substitute a statistics class for calc 2 to fulfill the 2 semester math requirement. I highly recommend you not jump into calc 2; it's not an easy class.

 

[Essene]

I've been concerned with a similar matter. Presuming a med school requires x semesters of math and of those x semesters calc is required which calc should I take? Concepts of calc, analytical geometry and calc, applications of calc, or the calc engineers take? I'm attempting to balance increasing how competitive I am and practicality. Why take a more difficult course when I don't need to?

 

[Anastomoses]

I thought all schools require 1 semester calculus. While we're at it...can someone tell me one time in med school when we use calculus? hah.

 

[hunterjumper14]

I think the combination of math classes that will apply to the most schools is calc 1 and statistics (no AP credit). I am not a fan of math, so I definitely avoided calc 2!