Head-Start on Med Classes

[Buttered Toast]

Hi Guys,

I'm entering my last quarter of college and have a completely free class schedule since I've finished all my graduation requirements. Is it typical to take graduate-level courses to place out of certain classes in medical school? If not, do any medical students have suggestions on certain subjects they wish they had more exposure to in college before jumping into it in med school (embryology, microbiology, bioethics, etc)?

Thanks!

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[Lost in Translation]

What? No of course not. Who gave you this idea? Prestudying saves maybe 2 hours out of a SINGLE lecture. How many lectures and topics will you see in med school?

 

[Cytarabine]

No and no. Enrich your life before jumping off the deep end

 

[NickNaylor]

It's not uncommon to take advanced biology classes that might have some utility in medical school, but they absolutely will not "place out" of medical school classes. Get that idea out of your head. Typically, even an advanced course will not cover all of the material covered in a medical school course. Just about the only advantage that doing this kind of thing will provide you is some familiarity with content that you may see later on in medical school and make it slightly easier for you to learn related to new material.

I would do just about anything else with your time. Find some courses that you find interesting and do those instead. This will likely be the last time that you're not head deep in biological material for the rest of your life. There's no rush - plenty will be waiting for you come the fall.

 

[spiffysteve]

Take advanced classes if you find the topic interesting, but don't go into medical school expecting your classes to be noticeably easier because of them.

Side note, my senior year I took a class in Greek mythology and it was my favorite class I've ever taken. I had a 9 a.m. story time built in three times per week.

 

[shtumpa]

Ethics biostats epi nutrition Spanish if you are interested don't start memorizing bones please take the time to round yourself out a little. I am learning guitar...

 

[moisne]

Don't bother - just read Robbins.

 

[piii]

Lol any class you take now will be like 1 week of lectures in med school. Not worth it. Why don't you do something fun in your spare time?

 

[gyngyn]

I vote for Spanish.

 

[691622]

take an ethics course for sure. i loved my medical ethics course and getting exposure to it before medical school will definitely help in my opinion

 

[Optimus-Prime]

basket weaving,

it'll give you something to carry your books in

 

[7331poas]

What? No of course not. Who gave you this idea? Prestudying saves maybe 2 hours out of a SINGLE lecture. How many lectures and topics will you see in med school?

Not sure that logic holds up. He could easily read an entire gross anatomy textbook if he was dedicated. If a med student does it in a semester he could do it in a semester of he whole schedule was clean.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

I've been told to take as long a vacation as you can because you're vacations will never be the same again

 

[Fdsa2495]

HIBERNATE!!!!

 

[wholeheartedly]

If you've met your graduation requirements, stop paying for tuition and go travel or something. If you still feel the need to geek out and learn new things do it for free on something like MIT Open Courseware.

 

[JustAPhD]

To echo the above, if it interests you OP then go for it, but if you're doing it solely to prep for med school courses there's better ways to spend your time.
If it's the latter I'd consider taking a random course that sounds interesting. I took a med ethics class in college and it was my all time favorite. It was structured like this:

Tuesday: watch an episode of House.
Thursday: analyze the decision making/ consent issues/ etc.

It was so much fun.

 

[VlLLVGE]

take something non-medicine related that interests you

when you're 2 weeks in and drowning in material to study you'll be glad you did

if you really really can't imagine taking something non-medicine related, I'd recommend something that utilizes neuroanatomy or immuno.

 

[italiancowgirl]

A million people are probably about to shout me down but I LOVED my advanced anatomy and dissection classes because I got to learn stuff at an unhurried unstressed pace. I had the opportunity to dissect for 5-8 hrs a week and thought it was the best part of my final year. I will echo what they said too, take something that interests you! I also did italian classes and a really fun class about movie critique!

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

A million people are probably about to shout me down but I LOVED my advanced anatomy and dissection classes because I got to learn stuff at an unhurried unstressed pace. I had the opportunity to dissect for 5-8 hrs a week and thought it was the best part of my final year. I will echo what they said too, take something that interests you! I also did italian classes and a really fun class about movie critique!

This might be a good idea just for fun but I will say at my school at least the wait list to get into the dissection class is about 1.5 years long so it may not be practical.

If you absolutely have to take something medically related take medical terminology, at the very least it will start you getting familiar with the lingo.

Personally I vote for the basketball coaching class, I imagine that would be a good time

 

[Officer Farva]

Hi Guys,

I'm entering my last quarter of college and have a completely free class schedule since I've finished all my graduation requirements. Is it typical to take graduate-level courses to place out of certain classes in medical school? If not, do any medical students have suggestions on certain subjects they wish they had more exposure to in college before jumping into it in med school (embryology, microbiology, bioethics, etc)?

Thanks!

Why are you not already memorizing the USMLE review books and doing dermatology research at a local medical school?

 

[Ischemia1032]

To echo the above, if it interests you OP then go for it, but if you're doing it solely to prep for med school courses there's better ways to spend your time.
If it's the latter I'd consider taking a random course that sounds interesting. I took a med ethics class in college and it was my all time favorite. It was structured like this:

Tuesday: watch an episode of House.
Thursday: analyze the decision making/ consent issues/ etc.

It was so much fun.

I took medical ethics as well. I mean my class was really interesting, especially since my school incorporated our medical ethics into practical experience. But that sounds like a greay way to learn, I can only imagine the complete disregard for patient autonomy alone.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Study for a retake on your MCAT. After all, the higher your MCAT the more likely you are to succeed in medical school. If you can get a higher score, med school will obviously be easier.


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[MoDiddy]

@Goro xanax?