Math in Med School

[Anna1732]

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I was speaking with someone who is planning on applying to med school and they told me that you have to take the calculus sequence in med school. Their premed advisor is the one who told them this and advised for him to take calc now to get prepared for it. I have not heard this before, is this true? I am taking calc 2 and did not think it was required in med school at all. Thank you.

 

[Goro]

I was speaking with someone who is planning on applying to med school and they told me that you have to take the calculus sequence in med school. Their premed advisor is the one who told them this and advised for him to take calc now to get prepared for it. I have not heard this before, is this true? I am taking calc 2 and did not think it was required in med school at all. Thank you.

I'm trying to say this in the nicest possible way, and I hope I don't get Banhammered for it, but whoever told you that was an absolute ****ing *****. OR an extremely sadistic person trying to discourage you.

Do not talk to that person again. If needed, tell them you've changed your major to Fine Arts.

I also suggest that you go to some med school websites and look at their curricular schedules. There you will see what is actually taught.

 

[puahate]

Is This the new engineering med school?

 

[allantois]

People will tell you all sorts of things.

In my undergrad there was a group of pre-meds who were convinced that they need to take P Chem 😵

 

[deleted938090]

Unless you're applying to Harvard HST, you'll probably not see calculus again.

 

[deleted888443]

Lol, no calculus. The highest math I’ve seen so far is probably logarithms (easily done on calculator). There is alot of math in cardio/respiratory/renal, but from what ive seen its mostly all basic arithmetic. Keep in mind I’m only 3 months in so I don’t know if it’ll get harder later in 2nd year. I think if you had a stats class that would be pretty helpful.

 

[Osteosaur]

I've maybe used the calculator function once on an exam so far. there was a collective gasp and lots of complaints during the mid-exam break. A relational understanding can be important. How might hypokalemia impact membrane potential know what you know about the nernst equation? More of that.

Or maybe its all crammed into the second half of M1 and I didn't look ahead.

 

[CyrusHabs7695]

Maybe the MD/PhDs have to use calculus sometimes, but definitely not the regular MDs

 

[LM75]

On the subject of math, what kind of math do you see in the cardio, renal, and physiology?

Some people are telling me physics is important but others are saying all the math is basic.

I was also told that statistics is very important when STEP1 comes around.

 

[puahate]

On the subject of math, what kind of math do you see in the cardio, renal, and physiology?

Some people are telling me physics is important but others are saying all the math is basic.

I was also told that statistics is very important when STEP1 comes around.

You can obviously apply basic physics to a ton of physio and cardio-pulm blocks if you wanted. Idk how deep the physics goes. There is indeed biostatistics in STEP though.

 

[eteshoe]

Maybe the MD/PhDs have to use calculus sometimes, but definitely not the regular MDs

Nah, I ain't really used calculus (at least seriously) since I was an UG chemical engineering major. Lol I didn't even really use it when I worked as an engineer.

Basic arithmetic, algebra, and a decent amount of bio stats is mostly what I've used/using.

 

[Anna1732]

How did you manage to do well as a chem E major? Do you think it helped you get into med school?

 

[sunshinefl]

On the subject of math, what kind of math do you see in the cardio, renal, and physiology?

Some people are telling me physics is important but others are saying all the math is basic.

I was also told that statistics is very important when STEP1 comes around.

Physics for sure. Way more than I wanted/realized. A lot of physics equations and concepts.

Other than physics, stats is important for licensing exams and boards. Slightly used in preclinical.

Other math includes dimensional analysis in pharmacology.

 

[MyOdyssey]

Physics for sure. Way more than I wanted/realized. A lot of physics equations and concepts.

Other than physics, stats is important for licensing exams and boards. Slightly used in preclinical.

Other math includes dimensional analysis in pharmacology.

Where have you encountered physics equations in medical school or practice?

Does a specialty like radiation oncology require a lot of calculus or physics?

 

[sunshinefl]

Where have you encountered physics equations in medical school or practice?

Does a specialty like radiation oncology require a lot of calculus or physics?

Cardiac, renal, and respiratory physiology all have physics. I’m an M2 so I can’t speak to practice. I have not seen any calculus.

 

[hebrewBAMmer]

Where have you encountered physics equations in medical school or practice?

Does a specialty like radiation oncology require a lot of calculus or physics?

Someone correct this if I'm wrong, but there is a physics board exam they need to take: ABR

 

[CherryRedDracul]

You use calculus if you're heavy in the research side or hardcore (bio)statistics. Otherwise, you don't actually need to solve calculus problems in med school.

The most math you will need to know are algebra and its application in basic biostatistics.

Someone correct this if I'm wrong, but there is a physics board exam they need to take: ABR

This is true and it's a huge chuck of our radiology boards and for radiation oncology. No calculus as you don't have time to do multivariable integrations.

But it's a LOT of material to learn per my seniors who took the boards.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

You use calculus if you're heavy in the research side or hardcore (bio)statistics. Otherwise, you don't actually need to solve calculus problems in med school.

The most math you will need to know are algebra and its application in basic biostatistics.



This is true and it's a huge chuck of our radiology boards and for radiation oncology. No calculus as you don't have time to do multivariable integrations.

But it's a LOT of material to learn per my seniors who took the boards.

The rad onc guide I read for funsies had a good amount of calc in it. Not sure how often it is used in practice though. Might be one of those things where you plug the numbers in and the computer does the calculus for you lol.

 

[CherryRedDracul]

The rad onc guide I read for funsies had a good amount of calc in it. Not sure how often it is used in practice though. Might be one of those things where you plug the numbers in and the computer does the calculus for you lol.

Like specifically differential and integral calculus? I mean, some of those problems on the exam could be solved that way, but AFAIK, they're often easy to work with numbers and calculus should not be a necessity. But you do have to memorize a ton of numbers and a fair number of equations.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Like specifically differential and integral calculus? I mean, some of those problems on the exam could be solved that way, but AFAIK, they're often easy to work with numbers and calculus should not be a necessity. But you do have to memorize a ton of numbers and a fair number of equations.

Integral calculus, yes. Pretty straightforward integration though. It wasn’t a guide for the exam though, it was a practice guide.