Math Credit for Pre-Med

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

I am currently a high school senior, and I plan on pursuing pre-med in the fall at one of the top liberal arts colleges. As a senior, I am currently in AP Calc BC and not doing so well. I took AP Calc AB as a junior and found it to be much easier. I know that pre-med requisites usually include one semester of calculus. Would I be able to use my AP credit from Calc AB or should I retake AP Calc AB at the college level as my credit (that way it is an easy A)?

2

Unfortunately there is no straight-forward answer to your question. Math requirements and AP credit policies vary widely by med school.

  1. There are medical schools that do not accept AP credit for fulling pre-reqs .

  2. There are medical schools that do accept AP credit for pre-reqs, but expect the student to take an equal number of UL credits in the same department in order to be considered a “strong” applicant.

  3. There are medical schools that do require both Calc 1 and Calc 2 for admission and will accept AP credit for both.

  4. There are medical schools that do require both Calc 1 and Calc 2 for admission and will only accept partial AP credit toward this requirement.

  5. There are medical schools that do not require calculus at all, but require " one year of college level mathematics"

  6. There are even some medical schools that have no math requirement at all.

  7. Medical schools are free to change their policies/requirements at any time. Some have even changed admissions pre-req requirements midway through an admission cycle after students have applied.

So what should you do?

I suggest that you start by checking the admission requirements page of all of your state’s public medical schools to see what they require. Also check the admission requirements for any med schools you hope to target for admission.

Why your instate publics? Because those schools are every pre-med’s best hope for an admission.

If you retake Calc 1 after having submitted your AP Calc AB score to your college (and your college gives you credit for the class)–then retaking class for grade at college mean that class will be marked as a “repeated/re-taken” class on your AMCAS application for medical school. This looks like grade-grubbing to adcomms --something that adcomms doesn’t especially care for in applicants.

Also depending on the policies of your undergrad, you may not be permitted to re-take classes for which you’ve already received credit.


My personal advice:

-- if you are truly struggling in Calc BC, drop the class. (Unless by "not doing do well," you mean you may get a B or B- in the class--then don't be ridiculous and just finished the class. AP coursework grades are not be included in GPA calculations for medical school.) 

-- consult with the health profession advising office when you arrive on campus to see what your school recommends/requires w/r/t mathematics for pre-meds. Your school will have guidelines in place that you'll want to meet so you can get a strong health profession committee recommendation from your school. 

-- at college make sure to take a math dept based stats class. Many medical school now require stats and statistics is tested in all 4 section of the MCAT. If you want to cover all your bases, take a second course in biostatistics. (Counts as a second "college level" math class even if offered through the Biology Dept. and is immensely useful in medical school.)