<p>Hey everyone! I am going into my freshmen year of college at Rhodes with several AP credits. I was originally planning on majoring in physics and pursuing a career as a Physics professor, but I'm sliding more towards wanting to go into medicine. I'm not sure about the physics major, although I do love physics. It's just a very difficult path to keep a good GPA in. If you have advice regarding that, I'd love to hear it! If not, I will definitely talk about it with the school counselor :)</p>
<p>However, my real question is about my math class. I have AP credits from Calculus AB and BC, both 5's. I was considering going into college straight with Calculus 3, however I'm afraid that it might hurt my GPA, considering it's a difficult class. Or, I could go back a level and start with Calculus 2 in college, which is a class I would be very confident in, and take the good GPA. I don't actually know what the math requirements are for the MCAT. Do you think I should take the AP credit and go straight into calc 3? Or should I pad my gpa by taking Calc 2? </p>
<p>If all that's required for the MCAT is calc 3, then I was thinking that taking it straight ahead would open up room for me to later take other courses I'm interested in. But I suppose if all that's required is Calc 2 anyways, taking the third year might be a waste of time. </p>
<p>There is no calc at all required for the MCAT, but if you major in physics you will definitely to take at least calc 3. Whether you should take it or not really depends on your school. At my school, Calc 3 was reportedly easier than Calc 2, but that might not be the case for all schools</p>
<p>My D graduated from Rhodes two years ago and is currently in an MD/PhD program. The health professions advising is quite good at Rhodes, so do make contact with them early on. They generally advise that students do NOT take AP credit for most pre-reqs; however, my D did take the credits in many areas–bio, chem, cal, english, some physics, etc. One of the issues is that some med schools will not accept the AP credits. Another issue is whether you’ve really mastered the material in the same way you would if you took the class in college. Some students feel confident that they’ve mastered and retained the material and would be bored retaking the class–you have to make that decision for yourself.</p>
<p>I skimmed your previous posts, and it looks like you are an international student. If that is true, you will have some additional challenges in the med school application process.</p>
<p>Rhodes has a chapter of GlobeMed–you might look into it as an extracurricular.</p>
<p>D1 was a physics and math double major and is now a MS4. So it is quite possible to go to med school as a physics major. The difficulty of maintaing a high GPA as a physics major is a somewhat over hyped issue. Your ability to do well in physics is entirely dependent on your work ethic and your aptitude for quantitatively challenging material. You don’t need to be a genius to succeed as physics major. Plus if you enjoy your major, then you’re more likely to do well grade-wise. (And there’s research to back this up.)</p>
<p>If you do plan to go for a major in physics or any major in any math intensive field, moving into Calc 3 will free up some space in your schedule for other classes you’ll need to take for med school admission–and that’s an advantage time-wise that should not be underestimated.</p>
<p>Calc 3 is definitely easier than Calc 2 (according to both my Ds–both of whom were math majors and are now both med students). If you feel strongly confident in your math skills, then moving on to Calc 3 won’t be a huge challenge. </p>
<p>(And, BTW, repeating calc 2 will not guarantee you an A in the class. You could have a bad day during an exam or you could get complacent about studying/doing homework and let your work start to slide. (A real temptation when you get pressed for time!) Lots of variables involved and there’s no way to know for certain in advance what your final grade will be.)</p>
<p>Only a handful of med schools require math beyond Calc 1 and statistics. The MCAT only requires statistics and any math needed for algebra-based physics. (So trig/pre-calc maybe?)</p>
<p>Since you really haven’t thought deeply about pre-med and a possible medical career (you’re just starting this process), you should probably do some medically-related volunteering (hospital, free clinic, rehab hospital, nursing home or group home for the disabled) before you make any irrevocable decisions. This will help you decide if this sort of work appeals to you. </p>
<p>Haha, nope, not an international student! Technically born in Pakistan but I’ve lived in the US my entire life, I’m a citizen and whatnot. Though I appreciate the fact that you looked at my past posts, so thanks! </p>
<p>So it’s sounding like I should really only focus on taking the higher calc class if I’m planning on majoring in physics? So I guess that just leaves deciding my major. </p>
<p>“However, my real question is about my math class. I have AP credits from Calculus AB and BC, both 5’s. I was considering going into college straight with Calculus 3”
-Not sure about your plan. However, Calc AB and BC might be sufficient (depending on yout major requirments and if Med. Schools under consideration will accept them for math requirement). My D. had couple questions in regard to her credits for AP Calc and AP English literature. She contacted adcoms of couple of the Med. Schools on her list and got very clear and quick replies (which may be different from Med. School to another). i would strongly advise you to do the same. Overall, if MD is your future, Calc. is useless, but Stats are very useful. Again, both of them are an easy A, but you might not need any math at all in addition to what you already have. So, definitly check with Med. School. Unleass you have personal interest in math, there is no poin to take more than required, it is better to take lots of Bio, upper Bio’s are helpful for MCAT.<br>
As in D’s situation, her AP Calc AB and AP English LIt. were both OK for 1 credit. So, she took college Stats and one more sememster of college English (because she had 4 on exam, if she had 5, she did not need to take any). College English was comlete waste of her time, learned nothing, while Stats were great for understanding Medical Research procedures (and later when she needed to work with statistician for her Research at Medical School, she definitely was greatful that she had college Stats). Stats were also very easy college A. But math was always easy for her, she just never was very interested in it, she liked Bio / Neuro classes and had tons of them in UG.</p>
<p>See if you can find old final exams for calculus 1 and calculus 2 at your college. Try them to check your knowledge of the material based on what the college expects. Choose your math placement appropriately.</p>