computer science..um why is it recommended by some med schools?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p>So i finished this semester of computer science and learned how to program in java. I worked my butt off and unfortunately received an A-. Now in retrospect, i still have no clue why compsci is recommended by some med schools. I would have rather taken another upper div bio class than compsci any day. Any ideas?</p>

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<p>Which medical schools recommend computer science?</p>

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<p>It’s on the MSAR, also.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cse.emory.edu/sciencenet/additional_math_reqs.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cse.emory.edu/sciencenet/additional_math_reqs.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Hmm, I never realized that CS was recommended by some schools but after a glance through the MSAR, you’re right. “Recommended” is a loose term anyway, I’m sure that many people have been accepted to medical school without taking it.</p>

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<p>Computer science and programming help develop problem solving skills. I think they are better at this than pretty much anything. They, instead of calculus, should be the analytical thinking requirement.</p>

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<p>Are there many HIGH SCHOOL students today who take some kind of computer science class before college application? I noticed that, 3-4 years ago, many students who like to have more AP credits on their college applications would load up AP Computer Science classes. (I do know that a real college-level computer science class, unlike an AP class, is much more demanding.)</p>

<p>I agree that some computer science exposure is very good for meta-thinking, or thinking about the thinking. In the early days, some kids were highly encouraged by educators to learn Logo, Microworld, TuneTalk, then more commercial products like Lego Mindstorm came along. Long time ago, I tried to introduce these kids-friendly programming environments (I think I had all of these at one time, but I was particularly fond of Microworlds) to my family but I was not very successful in doing this. On the other hand, many games (on game consoles or on computers) were often instant hits.</p>

<p>BTW, no one in college learns C++ any more? Is java “the new kid on the block”?</p>

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<p>I believe Python is the “new kid on the block”</p>

<p>I mean i agree developing programs involved a lot of problem solving, but was WAY Too demanding (required too much time).</p>

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<p>Maybe at nice high schools. I went to a public high school in a city with a population of about 80k, and we didn’t have computer science classes. It isn’t common everywhere, I guess is what I’m saying.</p>

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<p>A lot of schools teach intro programming courses in C++. You are right though. Schools are switching to Java and Python for their intro programming classes because the languages are easier to learn–details related to how your computer works are taken care of by the languages.</p>

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<p>Well, things that are worthwhile take some time and hard work to do. But yeah, you probably wasted a lot of time figuring out how to express what you wanted to the computer. Sometimes that can be a learning experience, but most of the time it is just wasted time.</p>

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<p>My uni’s intro programming taught C++.</p>

<p>I figure if you are interested in bioinformatics that some background in comp sci would be useful.</p>

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<p>^Agree. Actually, some version of intro statistics class is taught in such a way that the students are expected to develop programs in some statistics-related programming language (I think a very common one is R. A more serious or “industrial strength” one may be S-Plus.)</p>

<p>I bumped into this R language when I tried to look up the concepts behind FDR (False Discovery Rate) and q-value which seems to be useful in resolving some particular statistics problems (in the area of genome research or bioinformics, I think).</p>

<p>I have some idea about what FDR is after some reading, but I am still vague about the difference between q-value (and its need) and the traditional p-value used in hypothesis testing. Maybe some statistics expert here could enlighten me on this?! Whatever is described in some common sources like wikipedia is still too complicated for me. And I do not want to spend time learning the R language in order to read that statistics book. It appears to me that there are many good statistics books in which the R language is used as a tool to help explain statistical concepts.</p>

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<p>^apparently my biostats class is using the R language.</p>