Questions about Bryn Mawr or Goucher (regarding a deficiency in math-knowledge)

[BW1991]

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Hey, folks. I intend to apply to Bryn Mawr, Goucher, and several other postbac programs in a few months. Based on what others have posted here, I think I should be a competitive candidate (though nothing is certain, of course). However, I have at least one major concern:

I'm terrible with math and science. I have not had a real math class since basic high school algebra, and I've forgotten virtually all of that in the years which have since passed. Even in high school, I did the bare the minimum, never taking anything advanced (I've never taken trigonometry, for example). The only reason I did well on the SAT's math-section was that it seemed to have required more basic intuition and logic rather than an advanced knowledge-base about math.

Thus, I'm terrified about taking physics (and chemistry, in part) at any of the postbac programs. The post-bac programs I'm most interested in happen to be the ones which have algebra-based (as opposed to calculus-based) physics, but even so, I feel like I just won't ever be able to keep up with the other students and the demands of the courses.

Did anyone in these programs have similar concerns? If so, how did things turn out? Do you have any advice or insight? I greatly appreciate anyone who would care to opine!

--BW

 

[deleted248403]

I'm terrible with math and science.

Should you be going into medicine if you are terrible at what is the core of it?

 

[smiley27]

You definitely need to take algebra two and trigonometry before taking physics. You should take a college algebra class or skip to pre-calculus before starting a postbac. You don't need a background in science before taking bio/chem/physics but you need to have the math background first.

"I'm terrible with math and science." big red flag ...

 

[Goucher2013]

I never got above a C in maths in middle school, didn't take maths in high school, took intro to algebra and trig in college back in 2006 (aka Maths for *****s), and didn't do any maths from then until last May. Even after studying a bit, I only got a 157 on the GRE maths section back in January. Personal bottom line: I'm not very experienced with maths (which is not to say "I'm terrible with math" - don't box yourself in).

And I'm still going to a fantastic med school this fall.

Goucher has a mathematics boot camp, but frankly it's way too advanced. I missed most of it, yet the only thing I had to do later on was spend a few hours teaching myself vectors (vector addition, SOHCAHTOA, that's about it). Fall semester physics was my easiest class of the entire postbac, because the teaching was good and the topics easy to model in my head. Spring semester has been more abstract, but the maths hasn't gotten any harder. Your bottom line: unless you talk yourself into failure, you can do just fine without lots of math knowledge, and if you did well on the SAT by understanding the logic, that works just as well for physics.

Still, you've got time. Take algebra and physics. You can only gain from that.

It's not rocket science.

 

[thn1401]

Can't say that you're bad at something when you haven't dedicate time to it. It takes 10,000 hours to be good at something!

Learning college physics without knowing what an infinitesimal is ... is isn't quite learning physics and more like memorizing physics.