Is Calculus necessary?

<p>I am a freshmen in college. I have taken a semester of 5 hour credit Precalculus. I was wondering if I should take Calculus I? I talked to my advisor and he recommended that I don't need it because not many med school requires that you take Calculus. What should I do? I have to sign up for classes soon.</p>

<p>Consult the MSAR* thru your college library to see if your state med schools require Calc. You might also check the requirements at any of the med schools you think you might want to apply to.</p>

<p>(But aware the admission requirements can and do change from year-to-year.)</p>

<p>Most med schools require one year of “college level” math. I’m not sure that pre-calc qualifies as “college level” so consider what other math classes you ought/want to take.</p>

<p>You should definitely enroll in stats (will be included on the 2015 MCAT)</p>

<p>*MSAR = Medical Schools Admission Requirements. It’s a fee-based website produced by AMCAS that’s updated every year.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.dartmouth.edu/~nss/nav/pages/advice/MedSchlMathReq08rev.pdf[/url]”>http://www.dartmouth.edu/~nss/nav/pages/advice/MedSchlMathReq08rev.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.cse.emory.edu/sciencenet/additional_math_reqs.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cse.emory.edu/sciencenet/additional_math_reqs.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>These two links might be quite helpful!</p>

<p>^Keep in mind that those two links shown above use information that’s 5+ years old. You’re wise to check out the MSAR that WOWmom suggested if you really need to know.</p>

<p>The best is to check with adcoms of specific Med. Schools that you eventually planning to apply. My D. did it and received responses very quickly. She was specifically concerned with Math and English requirements, which may be slighly different from one Med. School to another. For reference, D. had hald of the requirements in both Math and English completed in HS thru taking AP’s. Then she had one semester of English and one semester of Stats at college. That was enough. But requirements are changing every year. Information that is not current might be misleading.</p>

<p>There are only a couple of med schools that require calculus for MD admissions. There are a bunch that recommend it, however.</p>

<p>Besides checking msar, which itself is always at least one year old, just google Admissions at your instate med schools – and a few privates of interest – as a quick validation of your counselor’s comments.</p>

<p>(MD/PhD programs most assuredly require calc.)</p>

<p>* I have taken a semester of 5 hour credit Precalculus.*</p>

<p>Is that college-level math or pre-college?</p>

<p>Take Calculus while Pre-Calculus is still fresh in your mind. A LOT of schools I want to apply to require 6-8 semester credits (9-12 quarter credits) and at least 1 statistics course. You don’t need the math to score well on the MCAT but because quite a few medical schools actually do require it, I would recommend it strongly if you want to be a strong applicant, especially considering most applicants have completed Calculus.</p>