**Calculus** Is it a necessary ? *&^%%&%

Yep. Sorry. Most places want a year of calculus and/or statistics. Some will settle for pre-calc, but if I were him I would not want to be closing any doors at this stage. Far better just to get it over with now! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

 

Most schools are happy with precalculus and a majority of them wants one year of college math, permitting statistics to fill the gap. I know that Harvard requires one year of calculus.

But if you can, take it anyway. Calculus is a useful tool when you want to get into research and data handling. You may not use it directly, but it will give you a comprehensive grip on formulating theories out of the data you've gathered. Differential equations for example is extremely good in understanding the study of drug dispersal and buffers in the blood.

 

Most schools only require that you have a certain number of math credits. Not necessarily cal. He wouldn't be any better off in the appl. process if he took cal over stats, or something like that.

 

most schools want calculus at least one semester. Pre-calculus won't do for most schools.

From a premed site:
In general, doctoral level health professions schools expect that applicants will have completed the following courses before applying to a professional school:

-one year of college mathematics (with at least one semester of calculus)

-and other stuff

-chemman

 

I think his decision on whether or not to take calculus should depend on how certain he is about which schools he wants to apply to. There are many schools out there that don't require calculus. For example, none of the Texas schools (with the exception of the University fo Houston) require it, although most of them do want you to take a semester of statistics in its place. And there are many other schools in other states that allow you to do something similar. If your brother knows where he wants to apply, he should contact those schools' admissions offices directly to find out exactly what they require (school Web sites and med school admissions books provide info, too, but I've learned from experience that they're not always totally accurate). Will he be limiting himself? Somewhat. There are schools that won't consider him without it. Someone already mentioned Harvard, and I believe Dartmouth and Duke are two others that also require calculus. There are definitely more. However as I said, there are many schools that don't require it.

Also, keep in mind that while some med schools may not care whether or not he takes calculus, his undergraduate college may. For example, my school's physics sequence for premeds is calculus-based, so I don't really have a choice. He might want to talk to his undergraduate advisor before deciding one way or the other.

 

UT-Houston does not require calculus. The literature might still say they do but they don't really. If you have a choice take statistics. Calculus is useless in medicine. A basic understanding of statistics is necessary for all of the evidence-based medicine crap. I can't remember using even basic calculus even once since college physics.

 

taking calculus and beyond is also more impressive to adcoms. Problem solving my good man. Analytical thinking capabilites and all that jazz.

 

UT-Houston doesn't? Wow! I guess this just proved my point about the Web sites and admissions books being wrong. That was the one Texas school I didn't email about it because my premed advisor had assured me that they did require it. Thanks for the update!

 

dmd,
I'm from UM too, and I'm applying to medical school this year. If your brother wants to go to medical school, he's going to have to suck it up and take Calc I and II. It sucks I know, but almost every school requires it (including all Florida schools).
Cane

 

I would take a year of calculus over a year of stats any day!!! If he wants to keep his options open, he should probably just suck it up and take a semester of Calc because many schools require it. The first semester is really pretty easy and very few schools require an entire year of Calculus anyway. A lot of schools do require a year of math, which can include stats. One semester of stats isn't so bad and will be helpful in the future (including on the MCAT).

 

Most Schools, but I know for sure that P&S does not.

 

dude, i loved calculus. give me more math.

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by oldman:
<strong>dude, i loved calculus. give me more math. </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah calcs fun <img border="0" alt="[Clappy]" title="" src="graemlins/clappy.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Clappy]" title="" src="graemlins/clappy.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Clappy]" title="" src="graemlins/clappy.gif" />

 

can someone sneak by with AP credit in calculus? Or do u have to take the whole year while you are in college?

 

i think you need a year, so you could get by with 1 semester of calc and AP calc.

i took a full year of calc (integral, and multi variable) and had my AP calc too. so i had the equiv of 3 calc classes..
did i mention i'm an engineer?

 

If your AP credit translates into actual course credit on your transcript then that is fine. As long as your transcript shows that credit was earned for one of your college's calculus courses it doesn't matter if it was from AP. In that case just go for the statistics for the variety.