<p>I am thinking of self-teaching myself calc 3 or linear algebra this summer before my freshman year of college at UW-Madison. I will be a Pre-med and will major in either biology, chemistry, or mathematics. I would buy books or get some from the library. Is this a good idea, or just a waste. I took calc BC this year. I could also do this but with biology and chemistry to help me get more knowledge and hopefully have less stress in college. I would do this partly because I am interested in the subjects and it would pass time. Which subject should I do? I am leaning more towards math for the self teach, but leaning more towards biology for my major.</p>
<p>Anyone have any input?</p>
<p>I would see if textbooks have been posted already, buy them, and read them. Might be the best use of your time. But really just relax and prepare yourself for college.</p>
<p>I’ve always found Linear Algebra to be more useful than Multivariate Calc, so if you do decide to self study I’d go with linear… might help you out in your other classes. If you’re a STEM major you’re probably going to need to take these classes for credit anyways though, so self studying everything could make class a bit boring.</p>
<p>If you’re going to be premed I’d retake Calculus I and II to boost GPA. </p>
<p>I’d say it’d be better use of your time to learn a lot about chemistry because I feel like those are the courses (especially organic) that will weed you out easily from becoming a doctor if you get a C. A B is even bad.</p>
<p>Yeah if I redid Calc 1 and 2, is easily get A’s I’m guessing. But if I end up majoring in math, I’d like to get as high as possible, like linear algebra, fractals, topology, etc. I am aiming for top med schools such as Harvard and Johns Hopkins, so I am not sure how they look upon Madison. I’m guessing I would need to take the hardest classes possible. And if I decide to self study some science, would chemistry be a better option than biology?</p>
<p>Well, I’m a math major and linear algebra is a sophomore course. Topology can be taken after a bridging course for proofs and fractals kind of came under my study of nonlinear dynamics and chaos. I actually attended a seminar yesterday that was preparing us for a talk about how fractals are related to the Riemann Hypothesis. </p>
<p>I don’t think you’d necessarily need to take the hardest classes possible, you need to just ace all the prereq’s for med school and do some good research in your field. Get good recs. I’m sure there are some good forums online targeted at premeds and med students like studentdoctor. Google it.</p>
<p>Are you at UW-Madison? I’d be interested in hearing your course sequence you would recommend for me. I took Calc BC this year and am anticipating a 5 on the exam. I will be a premed no matter what. If I will be majoring in math, I would like to go far, obviously. And I I major in bio, what math sequence should I take instead?</p>
<p>Nah, I go to Cal Poly Pomona in California. I’ve just been through a similar experience being pre-pharmacy and my girlfriend was pre-med before we dropped it. You gotta be able to handle stress very well, so she didn’t quit because of grades (she got an A in Advanced Organic Chem). I just did it because it was employable…so I wasted a lot of time doing all of those classes and taking honors classes to beef up my transcript until I decided that wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life. If you’re hell bent on becoming a doctor, good luck to you. People typically go into STEM fields as incoming freshmen and drop like flies. </p>
<p>My Partial Differential Equations teacher actually made a joke about how the average for our class is a bit low for his standards of a senior level class, but it’d be perfect for failing a huge portion freshmen/sophomore calculus 1-3 students. Being good at calculus is not really indicative of being good at math. It’s kind of expected that you’d be great at calculus if you’re a math major.</p>
<p>What job outlooks are available for a bachelors in math? How about after grad school?</p>
<p>I don’t know. I think it’s generally good (if you’re not doing pure). It depends on what you want to do. My official major is Applied Math & Statistics so I take some statistics classes and most of those people are trying to get insurance jobs with a bachelor’s. After grad school I am pretty sure you could go into most things. I was told most good jobs require a master’s in math at least if you’re going to major in it. I know one of person as a math major who interned at JPL as a modeler, did her master’s at my school while working for an electric company doing data mining, and then works at Oak Ridge Lab now. Having a good knowledge of stats does seem the way to go for a job straight out of college, I think. </p>
<p>Most people do have grad school on their mind I noticed in my major. Some people have heavily supplemented their degree with computer science classes or double majored in that. I know a few people jump into engineering after a master’s after they do a math or physics degree.</p>
<p>For computer science classes, how good do you need to be with computers? I am no where near being a computer whiz.</p>
<p>If you need a calc textbook:</p>
<p>[Textbook</a> | Calculus Online Textbook | MIT OpenCourseWare](<a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-001-calculus-online-textbook-spring-2005/textbook/]Textbook”>http://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-001-calculus-online-textbook-spring-2005/textbook/)</p>
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<p>Computer Science is all about math. If you want a look at the beginning stuff, have a look at</p>
<p>[Readings</a> | Mathematics for Computer Science | Electrical Engineering and Computer Science | MIT OpenCourseWare](<a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-042j-mathematics-for-computer-science-fall-2010/readings/]Readings”>Readings | Mathematics for Computer Science | Electrical Engineering and Computer Science | MIT OpenCourseWare)</p>
<p>That said, most computer science programs provide a healthy dose of practical skills including programming courses so that you will have industry skills when you graduate.</p>
<p>Both courses are important and the earlier you have those, the better.</p>
<p>It’s a waste.</p>
<p>As a pre-med, this is one of 2 summers (potentially only 1) during the rest of your life that there will be zero outside responsibility for you. Go have fun now so you can be ready to study in the fall.</p>
<p>The other is between college and med school but that’s only if you don’t take any gap years.</p>
<p>I’ve had 12 years of my life dedicated to doing nothing over the summers. I will sill have fun, I jut want to do something to prepare, and it is fun for me. I won’t so in my room all day doing problems and studying. It’ll be like 15 min here, 15 there, etc</p>
<p>will you learn anything in 15 mins here and there?</p>
<p>Actually it would be better to study in 4-15 min intervals than 1-60 min interval due to spaced rehearsal. So yes I would be learning. Didn’t think I would have had to argue that point.</p>