<p>I received an academic guide a few weeks ago. It says inside that pre-meds should take Calc II instead of Calc III. What should I be taking if I am able to skip ahead to Calc III with my AP scores? Also, what courses do pre-meds take in engineering usually take in their first two years. And, when do pre-med engineers usually take orgo?</p>
<p>as an eng you must be enrolled in a math class for your first 4 semesters </p>
<p>that calc 2 recommendation is aimed more toward CC people than engineers. most college premeds only take calc2 and no farther. so basically, take whatever level you want to cuz you’ll have to keep going anyways (tho i recommend starting at calc1 since as a premed you’re gonna want to watch your gpa)</p>
<p>as for orgo, if you can place into freshman orgo, there’s no reason not to. otherwise, it’ll be during soph year</p>
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<p>thats not true and depends on your major and where you start…if you finish the math requirement for your major in 3 semesters you aren’t forced to go beyond that.</p>
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<p>it is recommended that you take TWO semesters of calc as part of your premed requirement.</p>
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<p>i disagree…calc 1 is a terribly large class and the profs are usually pretty bad so it might not be the easy A you’d think it could be. If anything I would recommend skipping calc 1 and 2 if you can.</p>
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<p>as i said in another thread i suggest staying away from freshman orgo as a premed and going for an easier gchem or intensive chem class…it’ll also help you out more with the mcat!!! orgo is a TINY part of the MCAT while chem is BIG so i would suggest you take the chem class to at least polish your chem knowledge. </p>
<p>fruitloops…what major r you planning on doing because that will affect some of the answers to your questions. </p>
<p>…and skraylor, are you premed? and you’re chemE if i remember correctly right?</p>
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<p>according to my fysaac advisor, this is true. even if you go through calc4, ode, and lin.alg. in 3 semesters, you still have to take something else (even like stats tho) it’s part of our core supposedly.</p>
<p>as for the calc1 thing, it’s easy if you know the material. derivatives can only be made but so hard and if you got a 5 on calc ab/bc, you can easily get an a+ in it. also, if the op does decide to place into intensive or orgo, having an easy class would be nice</p>
<p>for orgo, you are right, however, if s/he is going bme or chem.e., it would be really nice to free up some classes. i really regret not trying to place into orgo since my schedule is 5-6 classes for the rest of my college years now</p>
<p>and yea, chem.e. but not premed. i know a bunch of eng (chem.e) premeds tho and i’m trying to relate their experiences as i remember</p>
<p>Thanks for the input shraf and skraylor. Well, I just came back from the summer advising session today and wasn’t so pleased with what I learned. SEAS is so credit intensive that you basically have no freedom to choose what you want to take. Even when you get a choice to take something different, they throw other requirements you have to fulfill i.e. CC’s core and non-tech crap… but anways I think I’m going for BME + pre-med (both have the most overlap out of all the other combinations). </p>
<p>Another problem I encountered today was that If I want to take intensive g chem, one of the deans told me that I have to be taking physics atleast @ the 1600 level and not the 1400 level, which may pose to be a problem for me. My school didn’t offer physics C. So I’ve only had one year of HS physics. I don’t want my lack of physics experience to stop me from taking intensive g chem. As of now I can place into calc III and into intensive g chem with my AP scores. Other factors are contingent upon how i do on the placement tests for chem and physics. I hope i don’t bomb the physics and am forced to take 1400 level physics, which may ultimately hinder me from taking intensive g chem.</p>
<p>btw, if i start with calc III, I will be finished with the BME math requirements by the beginning of sohpmore year. Do I HAVE TO take more math, regardless of what kind.</p>
<p>Also, what’s the placement tests like. Are there ways I can get sample questions?</p>
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<p>don’t believe ur fysaac advisor…esp when it comes to anything SEAS…they’r pretty bad…also keep in mind that some majors don’t require very much math past calc 4 so i really doubt that ur fysaac advisor is right.</p>
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<p>quite sure this is wrong as well… there is absolutely no relation between the physics track and the chem track you take</p>
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<p>i’m QUITE sure you dont…i’m guessing u’d be done by the beginning of sophomore year because they combined ODE and lin. algebra into one class right?</p>
<p>Placing out of calc classes is equivalent to having taken the class and passed…if you HAD to take four semesters of math then noone would bother skipping ahead…the whole point of skipping ahead is to get done with the requirement more quickly</p>
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<p>This is complete and utter BS, and typifies the horrible misinformation that the Columbia advisers routinely give out. I took one math class at Columbia – ODE. </p>
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<p>Agreed; more BS. I’ve never heard that one before. It doesn’t even make any sense. I was amazed about how my “Dean” could wake up with a straight face after making up incorrect policy after incorrect policy all day, and I wonder the same about these other advisors.</p>