<p>I am confused about what kind of statistics course I need to take. There are many different types offered at my school, shelved under math and also business. Does it matter which one I take?</p>
<p>preferably one in the math department. Any college stats will do for premed. Of course, you may have to take a specific level for your major (if Stats is required).</p>
<p>Stats with math department designation and certainly not with a business designation.</p>
<p>Would you guys recommend taking a STATS course at all? I’m going to have to squeeze it in to summer quarter if I do take it …</p>
<p>ALSO, there is a STATS course that in the Psych department … is that a viable option?</p>
<p>RE: Stats</p>
<p>It depends on how much math you have or will have by graduation. And how comfortable you are with calculus concepts. You will be taking stats during your first year of med school. D1 (math & physics major) reported that those students who had less than 2 semesters of calculus and/or who had not taken stats in college had more difficulties passing than those who had more math exposure or had used stats extensively in their research.</p>
<p>(One other consideration–if you are using your AP credit to fulfill your math requirements, will you remember enough math by the time you start med school?)</p>
<p>Re: psych stats</p>
<p>It depends on what material the course covers. Does it cover material equivalent to the stats offered by the math dept? </p>
<p>IME, stats in softer disciplines are sometimes “dumbed down” for students with less math exposure/aptitide. (And I say that advisedly because I was required to take a stats class for grad program and it was the “dumbed down” version which mostly taught me how to use statistical software but not anything about what my results–confidence intervals and the like-- meant.)</p>
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<p>That doesn’t make any sense to me, unless the MS requires Calculus; most do not. Thus, for most med schools, any Algebra-based Stat class will suffice.</p>
<p>fwiw: IMO, the reason that students to struggle with Stats is precisely because the concepts appear simple. Thus, it is easy to not focus as much as one does in a more ‘rigorous’ class.</p>
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<p>Both covered in AP Stats (and more!).</p>
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<p>Preferably, the course offered by the math department. But, if you are a Psych major, your Dept. may require that you take the Stat course offered by the Psych dept.</p>
<p>the amount of stats covered in med school is highly variable. The amount of stats on step 1 is minuscule so some schools (e.g. mine) teach literally just enough. Although because of that, you’re right, the kids who had stats before thought it was a joke and the ones without were really confused.</p>
<p>Is statistics REQUIRED as a credit? </p>
<p>For example, can I just teach myself over the summer by looking at MIT’s open courseware class?</p>
<p>Requirements vary by school. Please consult the MSAR to see which, if any schools, require stats.</p>
<p>I know many schools “strongly recommend” a semester of statistics.</p>
<p>Stats can be great preparation for any research you might do, it seems like an excellent option to take 1 term of stats and 1 of calc to fulfill math requirements, but as stated above, take it with a MATH department designation</p>
<p>The advice I gave my son is look at the courses that would allow you to apply to the most schools. That would include Stats, Writing, Calculus, Biochemistry and Genetics. His major requires a few of them but he will not be limited by courses not taken when it comes to applying to medical schools. If you want to only apply to a few (i.e. limit your choices) then look at the requirements of the schools you are interested in. The new MCAT may require courses in Humanities and or Social Studies but his distributional requirements will take care of that if needed.</p>
<p>Is there any way I could appeal to the med schools and show them that I self studied statistics? Or somehow take a test to get credit? (or is this not like AP?) xD</p>
<p>No. </p>
<p>Anyone can claim anything. Med schools want objective verification.</p>
<p>Some colleges may offer credit by exam. However, that’s not terribly common. Most will only allow ‘advanced standing’ without credit.</p>
<p>^ I agree 100% with WOWMom on this.</p>
<p>The gist of the med school admission game is to enable med school to have a chance to evaluate you objectively. This can also be seen by the requirement (I think I learned this from norcalguy) that the required LORs should be from the INSTRUCTOR (not a professor you met in other context) who teaches you in a class setting, gives you exams/grades and therefore he could provide an objective evaluation in this context. (Additional LORs do not need to be from your instructor.)</p>
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<p>However, some concepts may be easier to understand with calculus if the student is comfortable with calculus.</p>
<p>So, I’ve never taken a stats class in my life, and literally all I know about stats is what I learned during an epidemiology course during my first year of med school (basically–enough to critically read/interpret research papers and various studies). I think it would be good to gauge how much you currently know about stats by finding a free full text article about a current randomized-controlled trial and comparing its results to results from other studies done about the same topic. As far as I can tell, if you’re not going to be personally spending a lot of time conducting research, having a solid understanding of stats as they apply to trials and treatment strategies is sufficient.</p>
<p>while I personally find algebra based stuff easier, I agree with ucbalumnus. I have plenty of friends who say things are easier with calculus.</p>
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Here is what Harvard says regarding the number of schools requiring Stats/Calculus:</p>
<p>ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
• Over 50 medical schools require one or two semesters of mathematics
(college math, calculus, and/or statistics).
• About twenty medical schools require a semester of biochemistry;
an increasing number will require biochemistry in the future. As of
2015, biochemistry will be a topic on the Medical College Admissions
Test (MCAT).
• Seventeen medical schools require more than one year of
biology. These include many of the Texas and California state medical
schools.
• A few medical schools have requirements such as psychology or
sociology</p>
<p>I clearly indicated calculus required. </p>
<p>The “50” that H references on its website, includes Algebra-based Stats as well as College Algebra and any other number of acceptable college math courses, which may not have calc I as a prereq… </p>
<p>The point is that those 50 medical schools do not require even calculus I (although many do recommend it). And since they do not require Calc I, one does not need to take calc-based Stats for admissions to their MS. And the same is true for physics – lotsa undergrads offer Alg-based physics for pre-health majors. (And yes, calc-based physics “concepts may be easier to understand”, but it is not required.)</p>
<p>Of course, calc-based stats and physics would be highly recommended, if not required, for MD/PhD programs, however.</p>