Is Calc II required for most medical schools?

[xpinchx]

Just curious... I was under the impression that it was a pre-req for most medical schools, but my advisor told me otherwise. Thanks for any help.

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[photo_girl07]

Just curious... I was under the impression that it was a pre-req for most medical schools, but my advisor told me otherwise. Thanks for any help.

most med schools require a full year of calculus. So on a semester system, I would assume Calc II is required

 

[HumbleMD]

It depends on the school. As previous poster said, some require through Calc II (ex. WashU). Most only require one semester of college-level math (Statistics would apply-I've often been told this is the most common requirement), and some don't even comment (ex. Baylor). Check out websites for schools you'd be interested in, think about the "tier" of school you want to get into, and also judge it against how much math you think you can handle. I had to go through Calc III for my major so it was never an issue.

 

[szhao]

i agree most school want calc, but calc is easy its like a free A

 

[Med_Leviathan]

most med schools require a full year of calculus. So on a semester system, I would assume Calc II is required

No, only 4-5 do. Please do not deliberately spread disinformation on the boards.

 

[Projectx]

i agree most school want calc, but calc is easy its like a free A

Lol, Calc=Easy, Free A?

Wow, we must be on different worlds.

 

[xpinchx]

I just realized I mis-spelled "medical" in the title.

Thanks for the quick answers, guys.

 

[szhao]

Lol, Calc=Easy, Free A?

Wow, we must be on different worlds.

lol yea, i TAed honors calc for two semesters and regular calc for 2 semester, haha so yea we probably live in different worlds in terms of academics. look at it this way, u probably murdered me in mol bio, i got into a fight with the prof (who is on the rochester admissions committee, my website making fun of him got like ranked second on google) lol i am so doomed.

 

[BNSN]

most med schools require a full year of calculus. So on a semester system, I would assume Calc II is required

That is simply not true. Almost no medical schools require calculus.

 

[Agent Splat]

Most don't require ANY--check individual school requirements.

 

[szhao]

That is simply not true. Almost no medical schools require calculus.

most of my schools did, but most of them were under md/phd program, so not sure if it is the same for md program

 

[wolfram241]

most of my schools did, but most of them were under md/phd program, so not sure if it is the same for md program

Don't confuse a year of math with a year of calculus. The vast majority of schools allow you to take statistics instead of calculus.

 

[BNSN]

most of my schools did, but most of them were under md/phd program, so not sure if it is the same for md program

MD/PhD programs are different. Most of them need calculus.

 

[Depakote]

Lots of schools require some math or specifically calculus
many schools require a whole year of Math.
a very limited number of schools require specifically Calc I and II

 

[gotmeds?]

Lots of schools require some math or specifically calculus
many schools require a whole year of Math.
a very limited number of schools require specifically Calc I and II

That's a good point. Of the schools that do require a year of math, most will accept either two semesters of calc or one semester of calc and one semester of statistics. As far as I know, most schools (at least the ones that I applied to) do not require any math.

 

[MossPoh]

i agree most school want calc, but calc is easy its like a free A

Obviously you weren't in my calc class where I was the only student who never took it before hand and the exam AVERAGE was a 53 percent for the 4 classes that took it.lol

 

[LifetimeDoc]

[SOAPBOX]
I see this all the time with premeds, and did it myself. STOP TAKING HARD CLASSES THAT COULD JEOPARDIZE YOUR GPA!!!! I see people taking all of these non-medically related courses that are very difficult to do well in, and they end up getting B's and C's (or worse) in these courses. They want to goto medical school, but are shooting themselves in the foot with regards to their GPA. You need to balance the classes you take, and focus on the goal: becoming a physician. That extra class in a graduate-level study of tropical ecology or that Differential Equations course will be of no help to you in medical school. Stick with the basics: Chem, Organic, Physiology, Biology, Physics (basic physics, not calc-based), etc.
[/SOAPBOX]

 

[kingbrew]

[SOAPBOX]
I see this all the time with premeds, and did it myself. STOP TAKING HARD CLASSES THAT COULD JEOPARDIZE YOUR GPA!!!! I see people taking all of these non-medically related courses that are very difficult to do well in, and they end up getting B's and C's (or worse) in these courses. They want to goto medical school, but are shooting themselves in the foot with regards to their GPA. You need to balance the classes you take, and focus on the goal: becoming a physician. That extra class in a graduate-level study of tropical ecology or that Differential Equations course will be of no help to you in medical school. Stick with the basics: Chem, Organic, Physiology, Biology, Physics (basic physics, not calc-based), etc.
[/SOAPBOX]

Probably one of the smartest comments I've read on this forum. True words of wisdom.

 

[Law2Doc]

Don't confuse a year of math with a year of calculus. The vast majority of schools allow you to take statistics instead of calculus.

Agree -- only a small handful require calc and most are okay with a year of any math. However FWIW, most of the folks you come across in med school seem to have had calc.

 

[CTSballer11]

Agree -- only a small handful require calc and most are okay with a year of any math. However FWIW, most of the folks you come across in med school seem to have had calc.

I have taken calc and I doubt it will be of much use in the future.

 

[DoctorPardi]

According to the MSAR, only Washington U, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins require Cal II, but also it turns out Duke requires it as well. So to my knowledge there are only 4 schools.

Also, only 16 schools (including the 4 mentioned above) require even cal I.

So you can certainly get into medical school without Cal I or II, and I probably will do it without Cal I.

 

[HumbleMD]

I have taken calc and I doubt it will be of much use in the future.

I'm no math-major, but I do have to say that I constantly see where Calculus is helpful in other courses. I didn't take calc-based physics but I still found Calculus principles VERY helpful in understanding concepts. Also, it's pretty much required if you plan on P. chem, and will help out with the MCAT to boot. I'm shocked someone can graduate from a University without Calculus nowadays. Back on topic though, don't bother with Calc II if you don't have to, it's really not much fun.

 

[Law2Doc]

I have taken calc and I doubt it will be of much use in the future.

You will not use any of the prereqs in med school. I don't know that that is the point of them .

 

[szhao]

You will not use any of the prereqs in med school. I don't know that that is the point of them .

so true so true

 

[CTSballer11]

You will not use any of the prereqs in med school. I don't know that that is the point of them .

Fair enough.

 

[CTSballer11]

I'm no math-major, but I do have to say that I constantly see where Calculus is helpful in other courses. I didn't take calc-based physics but I still found Calculus principles VERY helpful in understanding concepts. Also, it's pretty much required if you plan on P. chem, and will help out with the MCAT to boot. I'm shocked someone can graduate from a University without Calculus nowadays. Back on topic though, don't bother with Calc II if you don't have to, it's really not much fun.[/QUOTE]

I have taken calc I and II and I did not make it clear that I felt that a year of calc is a waste. Calc I has its benefits but I still think that it will not do much for you in medical school (This probably explains why the majority of medical schools do not require it).

 

[LifetimeDoc]

I'm surprised med schools don't require anatomy, physiology, endocrinology, and others.

 

[Law2Doc]

I'm surprised med schools don't require anatomy, physiology, endocrinology, and others.

Huh? Why have prereqs of subjects you are going to teach people again anyhow????

 

[CTSballer11]

I'm surprised med schools don't require anatomy, physiology, endocrinology, and others.

If they did that then a considerable amount of people would not be able to complete these requirements and you would really only have science majors in medical school. It would also make it difficult for the nontraditional applicants to apply to med school.

 

[Law2Doc]

If they did that then a considerable amount of people would not be able to complete these requirements and you would really only have science majors in medical school. It would also make it difficult for the nontraditional applicants to apply to med school.

Yes, and the goal of med schools is not to push the teaching back to college. Med school will teach you all they want you to know, and then some. The trend has been to be more open to non-sci and nontrad folks who presumably add more much needed diversity to the profession.

You will use none of the prereqs and are not supposed to. They provide a basic foundation for studying the more useful sciences, but more importantly provide adequate hurdles by which med schools can separate the wheat from the chaff. There are no gold stars for showing up knowing medicine already.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

If they did that then a considerable amount of people would not be able to complete these requirements and you would really only have science majors in medical school. It would also make it difficult for the nontraditional applicants to apply to med school.

Granted, I'm a science-major non-traditional myself: I've already taken all of these courses. They weren't difficult and made me even more interested in pursuing medicine.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

Huh? Why have prereqs of subjects you are going to teach people again anyhow????

It would serve to gauge the student's interest in pursuing medical school and working as a physician. If you hate anatomy and physiology, you'll hate medicine.

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

I'm surprised med schools don't require anatomy, physiology, endocrinology, and others.

This might apply to only one medical school but a faculty member of that school advised me not to take Biochemistry in undergrad because she saw a trend where students tend to do worse when they've taken a subject already because they feel like they already know it and don't study as much.

 

[Law2Doc]

It would serve to gauge the student's interest in pursuing medical school and working as a physician. If you hate anatomy and physiology, you'll hate medicine.

Actually if you've already taken anatomy and physiology you will be deadly bored during them again in med school. New = interesting for many.

 

[Law2Doc]

This might apply to only one medical school but a faculty member of that school advised me not to take Biochemistry in undergrad because she saw a trend where students tend to do worse when they've taken a subject already because they feel like they already know it and don't study as much.

I got the same advice. Probably not from teh same faculty member, though.

 

[szhao]

It would serve to gauge the student's interest in pursuing medical school and working as a physician. If you hate anatomy and physiology, you'll hate medicine.

its to my memory that anatomy and physiology are not required, though i took both.

 

[DoctorPardi]

I got the same advice. Probably not from teh same faculty member, though.

I like this thinking! I was considering taking biochem next semester, but because ultimately it will hurt me, I better put it off for my own good !!

 

[Law2Doc]

I like this thinking! I was considering taking biochem next semester, but because ultimately it will hurt me, I better put it off for my own good !!

If you hit the ground running in med school and are ready to study insanely hard, it doesn't matter either way -- you will do fine if you took the course, or even if you didn't. If you are the type to wait until something seems hard before delving deeply into the material, than having already previewed the material can sometimes lull you into a false sense of security. The stuff comes at you fast and furious, and the worst thing you can tell yourself is "I already know all that".

 

[Depakote]

It would serve to gauge the student's interest in pursuing medical school and working as a physician. If you hate anatomy and physiology, you'll hate medicine.

medicine is a lot more than parts of people and how they work... not liking a specific class or two in med school is not necessarily an indication that you're going to hate being a doctor.

 

[szhao]

medicine is a lot more than parts of people and how they work... not liking a specific class or two in med school is not necessarily an indication that you're going to hate being a doctor.

so true so true, but getting a md has a lot more applications than just becoming a doctor

 

[Law2Doc]

medicine is a lot more than parts of people and how they work... not liking a specific class or two in med school is not necessarily an indication that you're going to hate being a doctor.

I would go so far as to say that you could even dislike much or all of the basic science years and still become a very happy doctor. Medicine is, at its heart, a patient service industry, and those that are good in the patient intensive clinical years tend to go places.

 

[CTSballer11]

I would go so far as to say that you could even dislike much or all of the basic science years and still become a very happy doctor. Medicine is, at its heart, a patient service industry, and those that are good in the patient intensive clinical years tend to go places.

If basic scienes float your boat you are probably better off with going the MD/phD route or just doing basic science research.

 

[novawildcat]

you should take a full year of calc regardless. calc is a prereq for many many other undergraduate courses from economics and finance to the hard sciences and engineering. what if you don't get into medical school on your first try and want to get a master's in something first? you never know what could happen in the future, but being prepared would be the smartest thing to do. pretty much an entire undergraduate education is worthless in medical school....but so what? medical school want to admit educated individuals not just people who want to be doctors.

 

[HumbleMD]

you should take a full year of calc regardless. calc is a prereq for many many other undergraduate courses from economics and finance to the hard sciences and engineering. what if you don't get into medical school on your first try and want to get a master's in something first? you never know what could happen in the future, but being prepared would be the smartest thing to do. pretty much an entire undergraduate education is worthless in medical school....but so what? medical school want to admit educated individuals not just people who want to be doctors.

Annoying but true. Look at the number of English Majors in a med school class. I guess they don't want a ton of people locking into med school and then not getting in and being screwed.

 

[DoctorPardi]

you should take a full year of calc regardless. calc is a prereq for many many other undergraduate courses from economics and finance to the hard sciences and engineering. what if you don't get into medical school on your first try and want to get a master's in something first? you never know what could happen in the future, but being prepared would be the smartest thing to do. pretty much an entire undergraduate education is worthless in medical school....but so what? medical school want to admit educated individuals not just people who want to be doctors.

I just don't think anything I am going to do would require a full year of calculus, and if it did, I could take calculus. I might take Cal I next year just so I can apply to some of those few schools which require it.

If you don't get in this year to medical school and you decide to do something else, spend next year taking cal I and II while applying for grad school or whatever else you're doing.

While, calculus couldn't hurt, I don't think anyone has to take it to excel as a med student or have any other real purpose in having it.

 

[honker]

Having graduated med school some years ago, the most helpful classes you can take outside of the minimum required classes are biochemistry (by far the most useful), genetics, and embryology. Knowing the principles and jargon in these subjects was a life saver. I never regretted being a bio major in terms of prep for med school. The first year of med school was crushing for nonscience majors, and biochem caused the most misery.

 

[45408]

It would serve to gauge the student's interest in pursuing medical school and working as a physician. If you hate anatomy and physiology, you'll hate medicine.

No, it just means you'll hate anatomy and physiology, again. Try shadowing a doctor to see if you'll like being a doctor.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

Huh? Why have prereqs of subjects you are going to teach people again anyhow????

For the same reason that some schools require Biochemistry nowadays. Based on these boards and some of my friends who are in med school, I think that Biochem and Anatomy are the two subjects that med students overwhelmingly tend to do "not so great" in. Many pass, but many, many struggle with it just to pass. Requiring Anatomy, even if it isn't cadaver-based, would probably cut down on that because at least they'd have the terminology down. Think about it. What if you at least learned all the muscles, their actions and insertions before med school and could find them on models. Once you got to med school, you'd have to locate them on cadavers which isn't the same, but at least you'd know the general area. Imagine if you already knew all the veins and arteries or the cranial nerves or if you knew the physiology of the urinary system, if you knew the lobes of the liver and that the cystic duct comes from the gallbladder and meets the common bile duct from the right and left hepatic ducts. If you knew the basics of the head and neck (which seems to be really hard for many first years) before even setting foot in med school. I'm not saying you wouldn't have to study or that you'd fly by, but at least you'd have a basic understanding of how the body works and what's where. It would probably make MS 1 Anatomy less stressful.

 

[45408]

For the same reason that some schools require Biochemistry nowadays. Based on these boards and some of my friends who are in med school, I think that Biochem and Anatomy are the two subjects that med students overwhelmingly tend to do "not so great" in. Many pass, but many, many struggle with it just to pass. Requiring Anatomy, even if it isn't cadaver-based, would probably cut down on that because at least they'd have the terminology down. Think about it. What if you at least learned all the muscles, their actions and insertions before med school and could find them on models. Once you got to med school, you'd have to locate them on cadavers which isn't the same, but at least you'd know the general area. Imagine if you already knew all the veins and arteries or the cranial nerves or if you knew the physiology of the urinary system, if you knew the lobes of the liver and that the cystic duct comes from the gallbladder and meets the common bile duct from the right and left hepatic ducts. If you knew the basics of the head and neck (which seems to be really hard for many first years) before even setting foot in med school. I'm not saying you wouldn't have to study or that you'd fly by, but at least you'd have a basic understanding of how the body works and what's where. It would probably make MS 1 Anatomy less stressful.

Have you taken med school anatomy yet? Because I disagree heartily. Taking A&P beforehand didn't really seem to help anyone out much at all.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

Have you taken med school anatomy yet? Because I disagree heartily. Taking A&P beforehand didn't really seem to help anyone out much at all.

I'm not in med school yet, but I have two friends who are. One took Anatomy (not A&P) in undergrad and said it helped because she went in knowing things like the muscles, their insertions, and actions, arteries, veins, etc. She also said a few people she's gotten to know in her class also took undergrad Anatomy or A&P. Some found it useful, some didn't, but the ones who didn't admitted they really didn't remember anything from it. My friend took it in the Spring right before med school so she remembered most of it. I guess it depends on the undergrad program and how much of it you can retain, but I 't have trouble believing that going in knowing, at the very least, where everything is or at least being familiar with the cranial nerves can't help a little.