Is Calculus a Necessary Pre-Req for Med School?

[Vince411]

Hello all, does anyone have any thoughts on whether it's necessary to take calculus for med school? Is it needed/helpful for the MCAT? I will have completed through college algebra so I'm wondering if I should take calculus while math is still fresh?

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[el_duderino]

Not necessary at all for the MCAT. Some schools have math prerequisites, but not many. Check the individual school's requirements before applying.

 

[el_duderino]

Here's a potentially helpful list, but don't trust it implicitly. Verify before applying:

http://www.brynmawr.edu/healthpro/documents/MedSchoolMathReq2014.pdf

 

[Vince411]

Here's a potentially helpful list, but don't trust it implicitly. Verify before applying:

http://www.brynmawr.edu/healthpro/documents/MedSchoolMathReq2014.pdf

Thanks! that is helpful, it definitely varies by school, but the schools in my state seem to require one semester of college math, which I've got covered.

 

[Vince411]

Not necessary at all for the MCAT. Some schools have math prerequisites, but not many. Check the individual school's requirements before applying.

Good to know---interesting that for pharmacy schools, it appears that calc is more often required as a pre-req. I'll stick with college algebra then.

 

[Jewels86]

Here's my thoughts...

I started calculus but had to drop it due to personal life circumstances. I am retaking it in the fall.

I really liked Calc. I got through the first three chapters before dropping it and really enjoyed it. I liked how it helped me understand the graphs better. I liked how it made physics look doable and uncomplicated it. I look algebra-based physics and was in hell from day one. Calc, from my experience, made sense of physics. BUT...I'm not an intuitive learner.

I found Calc is not as difficult as it sounds. Is it required for med schools, not really. But it can't hurt.

 

[QofQuimica]

Calc used to be on the PCAT (and may still be), so the situation is a bit different for pre-pharm students. Pharmacy is also a lot more mathematical than medicine is. Anyone who is pre-pharm should probably take calc. For pre-med, it depends. A few schools do require it. If you want to attend one of those schools, you will need to take it prior to matriculation. Likewise, if you're going into medical research (MD/PhD or MD/MS programs), you should probably take it. Otherwise, trig should be sufficient math background for the MCAT and med school. And I would argue that biostats is a much more useful math class for the average future clinician than calculus is. So if you're only able to take one math class as a premed, go with biostats.

 

[wholeheartedly]

I'll second biostats being more useful/relevant.