med school math requirement

[thebillsfan]

i promise i've used the search function, but my ? is a little different...

most *stringent* math requirement that any med school has is two semesters of calculus. in high school i took calc bc (which is calc I and II) and got a 5 on the ap exam. based on this information, i have a couple questions:

1. should i take calculus at all? i know i probably don't need to, but should i? i mean, by the time i go to med school (if i get in) it would have been 4 years since i did any formal math. so even if i got a 5 on the BC exam, will med schools be down with me not taking any calculus in college?

2. if i DID take more calculus, would it be okay to retake I and II or would that be *weird* since i took it in hs?

3. how does ap score reporting work? if i want to submit a score for one test but not the other, is that allowed? or do i have to submit all or none?

thanks for your help

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[Anotherface]

i promise i've used the search function, but my ? is a little different...

most *stringent* math requirement that any med school has is two semesters of calculus. in high school i took calc bc (which is calc I and II) and got a 5 on the ap exam. based on this information, i have a couple questions:

1. should i take calculus at all? i know i probably don't need to, but should i? i mean, by the time i go to med school (if i get in) it would have been 4 years since i did any formal math. so even if i got a 5 on the BC exam, will med schools be down with me not taking any calculus in college?

2. if i DID take more calculus, would it be okay to retake I and II or would that be *weird* since i took it in hs?

3. how does ap score reporting work? if i want to submit a score for one test but not the other, is that allowed? or do i have to submit all or none?

thanks for your help

I took calc III and linear algebra because I was told I should take other classes in place of the classes I placed out of. Med school requirements should probably not be fulfilled with APs, which is why you should take an equivalent number of Math credits to fulfill the requirements.

 

[gatoradedrinker]

they will want to see that the requirements were satisfied by coursework at the college level... few schools will accept AP credit.

often the requirement is simply that you "take one year of math"
... in which case you can satisfy that by taking an extra statistics class or two, and not necessarily calculus.

 

[thebillsfan]

"they will want to see that the requirements were satisfied by coursework at the college level... few schools will accept AP credit."

but for the schools that DO (and i actually think there are quite a few), will those schools still want to see coursework satisfied at the college level?

 

[TexasPhysician]

Calculus is not required for a majority of med schools and is useless once you get there. I've never taken it, and it has never hurt me. Statistics is MUCH more useful!

 

[jtimmer1]

Calculus is not required by most med schools... however, at many universities, the pre-health committee will not write your letter if you have not fulfilled "their" pre-med requirements. At my school, for instance, you have to complete two semsters of calculus.

Hope that helps.

 

[thebillsfan]

yeah that helps. thanks for your responses. i am still sort of wondering though, for the schools that require math--are they really fine with ap or do they actually want to see work during undergrad (even if they say they're fine w/ AP scores)

 

[sleepy425]

yeah that helps. thanks for your responses. i am still sort of wondering though, for the schools that require math--are they really fine with ap or do they actually want to see work during undergrad (even if they say they're fine w/ AP scores)

In general they really are fine with AP scores if they say they're fine with AP scores. Seriously, because I've been through it and they really really don't care. Most schools will accept AP credit for their requirement. The only exception I encountered among the schools I applied to was Hopkins, which will only take AP credit to fulfill one of the two semesters required.

I never took a math class in college until after I applied, and the only reason I did that was just in case I got into Hopkins or Harvard HST. Harvard NP will accept AP credit for both semesters, but Harvard HST requires advanced calculus through differential equations or linear algebra, which no AP credit could fulfill anyway. I haven't had any problems with the math requirement during the application process, so I don't think it matters at all.

 

[135892]

Calculus is not required by most med schools... however, at many universities, the pre-health committee will not write your letter if you have not fulfilled "their" pre-med requirements. At my school, for instance, you have to complete two semsters of calculus.

Hope that helps.

That sucks...

OP, I think you should be fine, but to make sure, you should look at the individual requirements for schools you may want to apply to. Most schools don't require calculus, and most schools will accept AP credit, so probabilistically, I would say that their aren't many schools that won't take your AP credit for calc, but really, I don't know. If you're good at math though, and obviously you are (a 5 on the BC exam is impressive), it certainly wouldn't hurt to take some more math classes. I mean, even though most physicians don't use too much advanced math, there are still plenty of applications of math in medicine. I'm actually doing some research in radiation therapy right now that uses a decent amount of math. And also, I don't think it will look bad if you retake calcs 1 or 2, although I personally wouldn't recommend it. Calc III and diff eq really aren't that much more difficult (if at all) than calc II, so if you're going to take a math class, you might as well take something new.