I am currently in Honors Precalculus and I sadly am expecting to end with a B (I am doing my best to not let that come to terms, but in this situation, let’s pretend that happens). At the same time, I really want to be a biomedical engineer with a pre-med focus, specifically because 1) I have dreamed about being a surgeon since I was in 8th grade (I mean the pre-med focus part), 2) it is a field with a constant need for people, as well as a great community to bond with others, and 3) I freaking love the idea of coming up with new concepts, figuring out answers to situations, and what kind of technology will prepare us for the future. I am likely only going to take CP Calculus next year instead of AP Calculus AB, mainly because I don’t want to tank my GPA only to waste $94 on the AP exam.
Is this still all possible? I have not taken Physics, but I will be taking AP Physics I next year, something I am excited about.
Math is all about figuring answers to situations, so I wouldn’t trust my life to an engineer who says he’s not good at math. That said, there are many possible reasons for having not-so-perfect grades, so maybe you should try and figure out whether you’re really not that good at math or maybe just need to improve your study skills.
You are going to have to do calc 1 and 2 at a minimum and in your first year of college for any eng. The reason why many eng undergrads quit is because they are not successful in weed out classes. BME as premed is risky for a weak math student. Many kids drop out of eng and most kids never get through pre med despite their high school plans, just make sure you know that now.
First: biomedical engineering is not ideal for a pre-med because it suffers from the same grade deflation as engineering in general and requires a master’s if you use it as a plan B. It IS a great major - based on what you said above, look at Mechatronics too.
Second, honors precalculus with a B/B+ is not bad and you should try and take Calculus AB unless you attend a very competitive high school. It’ll help you get through Calculus, whether it is the much harder calculus for engineers or the weedout calculus for science majors and premeds.
Third, what else are you taking? What’s your plan for junior and senior year?
The type of math you learn in high school isn’t contemporary math, but yes. You may actually fare better in higher level courses where the focus becomes more on processes. How good are you at proofs?
@waterborne: not sure where you went to high school and college, but US students may not see proofs till sophomore or junior year in college (if they are stem majors), if at all.
@MYOS1634
My course schedule for next year is something like this:
Honors College Writing (0.5) (Hoping to take a semester online to be able to only get away with 0.5 credit of English for senior year)
AP Comparative Government and Politics
AP Physics I
Calculus (Maybe AP, but not too sure; From what I heard, you rarely use calculus as an actual engineer and when you do, most of the time it is just plugging in numbers on a computer)
AP Computer Science A
Law II (0.5)
Honors Choir
Internship for AP Bio
By the time I graduate, I’ll have 5.25 Social Studies credits (AP Gov Online was 0.75) and 4 Lab Based Science credits (I will have 6 credits of science total; The only reason I have so many social study credits was to fill electives, where our school does not offer any competitive semester courses for science).
But first you have to survive Calc 1-3, Differential Equations, and sometimes Linear Algebra during your first two years of undergrad, and then lots of your upper-level classes will apply those mathematical concepts. (I switched from BME to ChemE after freshman year, but I just looked up the four-year plan for BME at my school and we share many of the same types of classes: physics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, mass transfer, etc.)
Not trying to dictate your class choice, just trying to emphasize the point that calc is important, at least for engineering undergrad, and should be taken seriously.
After you learn the laws, logic comes into play. This is a review lecture for a Real Analysis class. Are you having trouble coming up with an intuition for math or are you just bogged down by the notation and memorization? If it is the latter, you will eventually be fine.
@BiologyMajorHere:
All colleges will want to see a full year of English senior year. Only exception is if you take another Humanities class such as comparative literature or philosophy.
AP Comp Gov is typically a half class with US Gov: is Law II the other half?
AP Physics 1 and AP CS make sense considering your interests.
Honors Choir and Bio internship are personal picks.
Calculus may not be used directly when you’re an Engineer, but to become an Engineer you have to take a LOT of really hard calculus classes. It frames all your thinking and is assumed. Many selective colleges will only consider applicants for engineering without calculus if they couldn’t take it (ie., senior year precalculus was the track they were on or their high school doesn’t offer calculus). In short, your taking precalculus junior year without the follow up of calculus senior year considering that it’s offered at your school will indicate a choice that will impact your admission results very negatively. Basically if you can’t take a slow paced intro to calc class in HS, what business do you have with engineering, where you’ll have to take at least 3 calculus classes in a sequence, and often more than that, and where physics is calculus-based, in other words, either you take calculus in HS or you run the risk of understanding nothing in your first semester Physics class.
Even if you don’t want to be an engineer, most premeds who survive the weedout calc class have taken calculus in HS.
So, think about what you’re able to do, why you’re so afraid of calculus. If you don’t feel able to handle calc AB, that’s fine, take honors calculus but think about your major choices and how your choice will impact that.