Is Biostats in the bio dept preferred or required? Does it matter?
This can make a difference for someone trying to complete a minor in psych, even tho major is in Bio.
At least in OU, based on the sheet they have provided to Pre-Med students ‘Prerequisites & MCAT course work for success’, it does not matter. Interestingly the Stat is listed under the Behavioral Science section and it lists to take any one of the 4 variations of the stat course offered in Psy or Bio or Math or Econ. Except for math all other 3 are lower level and it is just little more than the AP Stat and the examples are related to the respective domain area. But the Math is higher level and it expects R programming knowledge and learning.
It makes no difference for AMCAS and the MCAT so long as the class covers the appropriate topics.
(For statistical topics on the MCAT-- see [Scientific Inquiry and Reasoning Skills for the MCAT](Scientific Inquiry & Reasoning Skills - Skill 4: Data-based Statistical Reasoning | Students & Residents))
For specific med schools–you need to check MSAR or the admissions page of a specific school. Some schools don’t require stats. Some specifically require a course in stats taken in the math dept or a biostats class.
For the student in question–s/he may be able to substitute math dept stats or biostats class for psych stats. The student should check with their academic advisor.
The examples and applications will be different, but Stats for Psych would be important for a psych major and still provide enough to be helpful for the MCAT.
However, for a “regular” premed, Biostats or chem/science-related stats is considered better since the examples apply to the sciences. Depending on the colleges, the greatest difference is between stats for econ, stats for math majors, and biostats/stats for stem.