For someone going into the medical field, is it better to take physics senior year in high school or wait until college?

hi evelyn,

i graduated med school in 1993 and have been a family physician for 20 years.

your short answer: don't wait. tackle things early.

the general idea to adopt is one of reconnaissance. find out the knowledge base and abilities you'll need in your future profession/specialty and start working to gain those. sometimes that will mean taking a course. it could mean reading books or journals. sometimes it means volunteering. or it could mean speaking with medical professionals.

personally, i took both physics and calculus during my senior year in high school. and i hear ya about poor teaching skills of the high school teachers. sometimes it was difficult to comprehend the material. so what many of us did was spend time at the local college library reading and doing "extra" homework from the college-level calculus and physics textbooks. it helped enormously later when taking those courses in college.

no guarantees, but you just might even be able to pass the Advanced Placement test by doing so.

once you're in college you'll need to take the medical pre-requisite courses. but you'll also hear about several "recommended" courses. take them! personally, i managed to squeeze biochemistry and physiology into my schedule. having seen that curriculum prior to taking them in med school helps tremendously.

another course of study that i'd be neglect in not advocating is taking Spanish, Sign Language, or another foreign language course.

it's just amazing what courses you can find online these days.

beyond courses you can get a jump on your competition by reading medical novels. i enjoyed reading biographies of famous scientists as well as the history of medicine. others read books that involved medical ethics. but perhaps you would enjoy following some medical bloggers.

good luck!