How much will we spend on books and supplies?
I know there is a number listed on the cost of attendance but in reality i dont think everyone buys every book and I would like to no a more "real" amount students spend.
Thanks in advance for any replies
I'm going to get up on my soapbox for a minute and give you guys some tips. I'm pretty bored right now, we start third year next week so I'm just sitting around waiting for that. Take all advice you hear with a grain of salt!
M1 fall semester you spend a lot of money. You have to buy a stethoscope (you don't HAVE to, but it's stupid not too, you'll need it for ICM). You will also want to buy the gross notes. For those that don't know about the "gross notes" yet, let me fill you in.
A long time ago, a class decided to write their own notes for gross anatomy and sell them to the class below. They passed the notes down to that class who was charged with updating/editing them, and then that class sold them to the kids behind them. This has gone on for who knows how many years. Only 10 people in my class did not buy the gross notes. I used them, and they are sufficient by themselves to honor the class (I did). My class sold the gross notes to 2013 for around $120 a student. I'm not sure how much 2013 will be charging you. I would buy them, they are good. Really good.
So the big ticket items for first semester are:
stethoscope
gross notes
Netters (a must have, seriously). Buy two copies, one for at home study and one to use in the lab, which should be an old edition bought off ebay (split cost with your lab group)
dissection kit (just buy two, and split the cost with your lab group)
You'll get a letter from the class of 2013 trying to sell you stuff. Please know that SCRUBS ARE NOT A REQUIREMENT IN THE GROSS LAB. I wore some nasty scrub pants I had from my previous job in the OR, a tee shirt, and a hat in the gross lab. Everyone else wore scrubs that they spent way too much on. Out of all the stuff that 2013 tries to sell you, the only one that is a MUST have is the gross notes.
A little more advice. Don't buy new books. Just don't do it. It's a waste, seriously. The textbook that Dr. Nettleton recommends for anatomy is nice, but it's certainly not for everyone and I honored the class without it. Now, some of you may be textbook readers; that's great, by all means read the textbook, but buy an old edition online. Anatomy, histology, embryology, and neuroanatomy (your first semester classes) have not changed in thousands of years!! New edition textbooks are no better than the previous edition for these classes, trust me.
For those who have never taken histology: The Ross textbook has great pictures, and it might be worth getting if you are new to the study of histology. The text is more than you will need, but the pictures and atlas are gold. You can easily buy an old edition online for cheap.
I did not use a textbook for neuroanatomy, and to be honest, I don't know of anyone in my class that did. The notes read like a textbook and are very thorough. They are all you need to study for the tests. I don't even think the faculty recommend a text.
Embryology is a tough course, not because the material is hard, but because of where it is placed in the semester. It's actually the easiest material (in my opinion) in the first year, but more people fail this class than any other because they don't put enough time into it. I think my class had 6-8 failures. I used Moore and Persuad's textbook for this class. Many people used Langman. Old editions are fine.
The first semester of medical school is all about one thing: learning how to study
efficiently. You've never been presented with this much material before. It's not hard material, it's just a lot of it. My undergrad histology class at WKU was a lot harder than the one here at U of L. The difference is at WKU, we used an entire semester and in medical school, you'll do the same amount of material in 9 weeks.
So what about honoring classes? I'm going to tell you a secret, no one cares that you honored gross anatomy. Residency program directors are not impressed by the fact that you honored every basic science class. So you were able to memorize useless drivel and recall it on a test, big deal! What do they care about? Your
Step I score.
It's all about that three digit number. So if your basic science class grades don't matter, why not spend your time on beer and introitous? Undoubtedly many in your class will spend time on these two things, but let me submit to you that the more you learn in the first two years of med school, the higher your
Step I score. So even though I said that honoring classes doesn't matter, go ahead and push yourself to honor everything you can. When it comes time for those magical 6 weeks when you will studying 12 hours a day for Step I, your life will be so, so, so much easier. Trust me on this. Everything you do from day one of med school is about Step I. So when it's next March and you are studying for your cumulative Neuro final, and you know that you have to make a 15% on the test to pass, study for an 85% anyway, because you'll need to know everything you can for Step I. It's all about Step I!!!
That's how much I pay per month in Boston.
