Dd is a high school senior and is taking Calculus 1 at the community college this semester. The plan was to have her take Calculus 2 next semester, but we looked at a couple of premed requirement plans today, and it seems that they showed Calc 1 and Statistics as the only math requirements.
Does she need Calc 2 for med school? Would she be better off taking Statistics next semester?
I’m way off to the side of premed (engineering degree), through I did help a BU first-year med student make it through her Statistics coursework.
I took four semesters of community college Calculus while in high school, and would recommend Dd take Calculus 2 next / Statistics sometime during undergrad. Calculus is very much a perishable skill. So once you’ve got your head into the learning of it, best to keep going rather than start and stop and then start again. Many premed programs will require a lot more than Calculus 1. Most Brown first-year premeds have had a year of it in HS, and then take another 1-2 years of Calculus plus related math at Brown.
A good grounding in Calculus is important for success in the science courses comprising the undergrad premed program, but then you may never use it again after med school unless involved in research (or even then, in many cases). Meanwhile, Statistics figures into a lot of medicine-related things throughout one’s career, such as making sense of studies presented in medical journal articles.
So it’s not necessarily an either/or thing when considering Statistics vs more Calculus, especially over the next 4-5 years. But in terms of the coming year, once one has started in Calculus it’s probably best to keep going.
I’d continue on with Calc at some point just for the reason @Brown79 discussed, even if some med schools don’t require it.
Also beware that at least some med schools aren’t at all happy when they see pre-req classes taken at Community Colleges, esp without more in depth classes at a 4 year afterward. I’d say “target” a med school, but you can’t do that. Admissions are quite difficult and most students apply broadly to get one. It’s usually best to “plan” for the most requirements even if you end up not needing them.
And one more note from experience. If taking Calc 1 at a Community College (or anywhere in high school) with plans to take Calc 2 at a 4 year school, see if there’s a math placement test at the 4 year school. Not all Community College math classes are up to snuff compared with 4 year counterparts even if they say they are. It’s better to test and know one is fine than go into a pre-med class woefully unprepared.
Calc 2 is only required by a handful of medical schools. (WashU, Carle-Illinois, Harvard, JHU and a few others).
Statistics is much more important for med school and the MCAT than Calc. There are no calculus problems on the MCAT, but there are plenty of questions that involve the application of statistical methods.
In med school, the only math most students will use is statistics/biostatistics. (Both my daughters were math majors in undergrad and they used to lament: There is no math in med school.) Calc/advanced calc is useful for certain specialties–anesthesiology, cardiology, radiology, radiation oncology–but for most others, it’s not needed.
Also pre-med are not required to take calculus-based physics. Most pre-meds take an algebra-based physics sequence. (Full disclosure: both my Ds took calc-based physics and thought it was easier to understand physics concepts explained by using calculus. After all calculus was invented–several times and independently-- to solve certain classes of physics problems.)
Should your D take calc 2 next semester?
What is her planned major? Some common pre-med majors require Calc 2 as part of their major. (Chem, BME, ChemE, biochem at some schools, CS, data science). If your D is planning on one of those majors, then she should absolutely go ahead and take Calc 2 at her CC next semesters. If she’s not, then she can take stats or no math at all.
How much does she enjoy math? Most students find Calc 2 more difficult than Calc 1 (and Calc 3!). If she’s not a math-y person, she doesn’t need to take more calculus.
NOTE 1: I have reservations about your D taking stats next semester since it will be at least 3 to 4 years post class before she takes the MCAT. That’s an awfully long time and she may not retain enough stats knowledge for the class to be useful on her MCAT. She may be better served by taking a stats class later on during college
Also be aware that all stats classes are NOT created equal. Different stats classes have different foci and teach different methodologies/ techniques. Many aren’t useful for science majors/premeds.
NOTE 2: be aware that there are a number of medical schools that simply will NOT accept CC credits. Also be aware that CC coursework is considered weaker and less competitive by most med school adcomms and the expectation is that any CC coursework will be supplemented by additional upper level coursework in the same field during college.
Note that some colleges’ “physics for biology majors and pre-meds” courses do require some calculus, though not as much as their “physics for physics and engineering majors” courses.
Agree that a student who is good at calculus may find physics with calculus easier than physics without calculus. But note that a physics course grading curve against physics and engineering majors may be more difficult competition than against biology majors.
Many non-calculus-based statistics courses are for students needing to fulfill a math-type general education requirement. Students who need or want a stronger statistics knowledge may want to take calculus-based statistics courses (which are uncommon at community colleges).
I agree that it will depend on the major. Med schools usually don’t require it as mentioned above but many majors do. At my son’s school where his gf was premed and a chemistry major she had to take Cal 1, 2, 3 and statistics. He, who was pre-vet didn’t need calculus at all but took most of the other premed sciences his gf did. He never took past Cal 1 in high school and had a 4.0 all the way through his first year in vet school. Biology majors only needed Cal 1. Look closely at the requirements of the degrees she is applying for at the schools she is interested in.
Overall both my son and his gf feel that statistics is more relevant to med school work than calculus (that is the one undergrad class my son wishes he had taken).