1 Class before Med School. What should it be?

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raptor5

raptor5

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I am on an 3.5 year plan at my undergrad institution and unfortunately need 1 more class to graduate. I know I should have just taken a 23 credit load this spring instead of 20. But anyway I need to take 1 class and it will be at a community college. It is down to either A&P or statistics. Statistics is less work but I am not really interested in it. A&P seems nice but I do not want to waste my time if I am going to have it at PCOM first trimester. Really from the classes offered this summer those are the only two I would consider taking.

So what do you think?
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Relaxation Techniques 101
 
Take stats, it is important when you are reviewing journal articles. I took it before medical school and am glad that I did.
 
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Isn't Statistics taught at med school. I have heard it is pretty lousy at PCOM, I wonder if that is the case with all schools.

Raptor5
 
It was pretty lousy at AZCOM. Like an adjunct to clinical correlates. However I took a stats class at a local college and during the year I spent at the biomedical program there. Very helpful.

Not that you can't figure out that stuff on your own.
 
take a yoga class, and RELAX.

you will need to be able to RELAX during stressfull times. knowing how to RELAX is just as important as knowing z-stats (more so IMHO ). if your accepted already RELAX and take a breather because you will be working hard soon enough.

all work an no play...............
 
I would like nothing more than to relax but I am 3 credits short of graduating and PCOM requires a Bachelor's Degree before Matriculation. No Yoga classes offered.
 
I took a gross anatomy class before I started medcial school and it was the single best decision I've made. It really helped me out alot. I think even taking A&P would be extremely helpful. It is true that you'll just have it for your 1st year of medical school, but it gives you a good background to start from. I would forget about statistics. I'm finishing my first yr, and I never had a need to know it that well.
 
If it's just one class covering both anatomy and physiology at a community college, I don't think it will be in-depth enough to help you much in medical school though.
 
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Originally posted by prettymean
If it's just one class covering both anatomy and physiology at a community college, I don't think it will be in-depth enough to help you much in medical school though.
Click to expand...

But it will at least familiarize you with some of the terminology.

This isn't the first class I'd recommend taking, but of the 2 the OP is listing, this is the one I think would be better.
 
I think I will take the A&P class.

What is an OP?

I have taken separate physiology and anatomy of vertabarates courses but I think that while the A&P will cover only a minute fraction of what I will learn later this year a good foundation to build on can not hurt.

Thanks to all.

Raptor5
 
OP = original poster :)
 
If you are really serious about wasting your summer, take Gross Anatomy. It'll help a lot. I wouldn't waste my time with A & P. Terminology will be the least of your worries. You won't cover enough in the physio portion to make it worth while. If you think you will do ok in anatomy, then I would take underwater basketweaving.
 
Two classes that were highly recommended to me were Histology and Human Physiology.

Another class that an advisor really recommended was Accounting. He said that medicine has become a business, and that I needed to know if I was getting screwed or not on the business side of the field.
 
I think the business class idea is good in theory, but I'm not sure you could learn enough about running a business in a 3 credit accounting course to make it worthwhile.

If I could turn back time, I would take a gross anatomy course prior to med school. Naturally it can't come close to the level of detail you'll learn first year, but a lot of stress will be eliminated by having some background.
 
Napping 101....
 
If your school offers it I'd take Food and Drink....or Beverages was an awesome class also. If not, just say screw the adding a class thing and go sign up for bartending school (because once in medical school you are going to need know how to make a good drink).
 
i took stats with the gtown meds and it was horrible; i'm glad i took it in undergrad cause i learned so much more; i don't even know what they tried to teach us at gtown...it was real weird
 
Just found out that I can take a pharmacology class and its online. So it is between A&P, Stats, or Pharmacology.
 
i took casino management.. our final consisted of the professor giving us chips and the more you won from your classmates, the better grade you would get on your final..

helped me out alot!
 
Both A&P and Pharm would be helpful. We have a ton of Pharm right now and I really wish I would have had a background in it. That being said I would totally take Anatomy. First term is when you would really benefit from having some familarity with the material since you are not used to the pace of medical school and a lot of people get overwhelmed. It will make the adjustment to life here a lot easier. Also, getting Anatomy kind of twice in a row will really solidify the information in your mind. You'll most likely retain a lot more which will also be of great help in OMM. We don't really get into Pharm until third term and by then you know what you are doing, have a study strategy, and things are easier to manage.
Though if you even considered taking 23 credits in one term, I'm not sure if this will be an issue for you.
I think if you take Anatomy this summer I'm sure you will find it interesting and enjoyable and it will make Anatomy lab super super fun this fall
Don't forget to chill out a little this summer too. Sleep while you still can.
 
Is the A&P class a gross anatomy one? If not, skip it. Seriously. If you do dissections on cats and pig hearts, it will merely be a difficult class, not one that will help your learning curve. I took and taught A&P labs at a large state university and I don't feel it helped me AT ALL. It seemed that A&P is really a different way to teach biology.

Stats, on the other hand really just made those few questions on the boards soooo easy. You will learn what you need to in A&P in med school. You probably won't with stats.

As for pharm.... hmmm... that may have been a helpful class. But I don't know...
 
Thanks for everyone who posted. Although I have not made my final choice yet, I think I am leaning toward stats. It is a change of pace from all the BIO classes I have been taken. Also I have not had math(Calculus) since my freshman year, 2 years ago(Saying freshman can make a 28 year old feel like a baby).
Anyway last year I had a human physiology class and a comparitive anatomy class so the info that I would learn in A&P might just be review and a complete waste of 4 hours a day 4 days a week since it is a compressed summer class. Plus I could use the free time.

So for today stats it is.

Thanks to everyone.

Raptor5
 
Raptor,

I'm not sure if you've signed up for your summer class or not, but here is my 2 cents. If you wanted to get better acquainted with anatomy before your first year, just buy a copy of either "Moore's Clinically Oriented Anatomy" or "Grant's 10th Edition Anatomy" and brush up on this over the summer. However, I've heard from med school professors that virtually any anatomy text or atlas will work. You'd probably get alot more out of this than taking a A&P course, and plus you'd get the added bonus of knowing the basics in Pharmacology or Stats, which I've heard numerous times from numerous different people that I helps out a ton in med school.

Just my opinion though, but I know its what I'm gonna do.
 
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