Why is High School/Early-college Level Math so Calculus-Focused?

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<p>The still-applicable requirement at Harvard – to pick one leading medical school – is “one year of calculus is the minimum”. Starting four years from now, they are going to what they call a “more flexible” requirement that, as currently written, is incomprehensible, but that seems to translate into one semester of calculus and one of statistics, although they really hope you take more of both.</p>

<p>Stanford “recommends” but does not require course work in calculus, and does not mention statistics.</p>

<p>Hopkins says one year of calculus or statistics, and starting next year at least one semester of statistics will be required.</p>

<p>. . . Actually, it’s interesting. As I looked at more schools, it’s clear that calculus is no longer even close to a universal requirement. UCSF, Yale, and Chicago don’t formally require any math. Penn has a long discussion of math requirements that comes down to pre-calculus and statistics.</p>