Anatomy before medical school?

[faltaous1]

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Hey guys, I am new to this and medical school in general.. I got accepted to Marshall University Joan C Edwards School of Medicine last Tuesday and I wanted to see what other medical students thought of this. Should I start studying some anatomy before medical school starts so I will feel a little bit more comfortable during school or is there really no need to? Thanks in advance!

 

[Encephalectomy]

no

 

[fahimaz7]

While it's not required, I wish that I would have taken human anatomy prior to medical school. If anything, it'll take a little pressure off you during that first semester, as anatomy is a huge time sink in medical school.

If you can get your hands on Moores, Netters, and the handouts from your school, you'll be all set for anatomy prep.

 

[AMEHigh]

No.

 

[MossPoh]

No. You have no direction with it at all. Tens of thousands of med students have taken anatomy without studying before hand and done just fine. In the grand scheme of things, anatomy is a pretty easy course and not THAT important...Yes you use anatomy, but until you start putting stuff into context and seeing the common problems in patients..not so much.

 

[Gifted Hands]

definitely no

 

[moto_za]

Hell no!

 

[mmmcdowe]

If you are going to I'd buy Netter's flash cards and memorize everything in the arms back and chest outside of the rib cage. That will hold you for the first part of the class and by the time you get through that you should be comfortable enough to not need pre-prep. Don't worry about memorizing attachments of muscles, just focus on getting familiar with the words.

 

[ThaliaNox]

If you are going to I'd buy Netter's flash cards and memorize everything in the arms back and chest outside of the rib cage. That will hold you for the first part of the class and by the time you get through that you should be comfortable enough to not need pre-prep. Don't worry about memorizing attachments of muscles, just focus on getting familiar with the words.

Uh-huh... Way to impose your school's order of coverage on everyone. We covered thorax first at my school. Then head. I would imagine every school is at least slightly different.

Anyway, OP, don't pre-study. Not worth it.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Uh-huh... Way to impose your school's order of coverage on everyone. We covered thorax first at my school. Then head. I would imagine every school is at least slightly different.

Anyway, OP, don't pre-study. Not worth it.

Whatever the school OP is going to doess, find out the order and do that. I was under the impression that most schools started with body wall stuff. The limbs tend to be the easiest to learn without context and so that's why I was throwing out what I did.

 

[foofish]

Uh-huh... Way to impose your school's order of coverage on everyone. We covered thorax first at my school. Then head. I would imagine every school is at least slightly different.

Anyway, OP, don't pre-study. Not worth it.

Exactly. We did thorax first and head last...every school is different.

I agree, it's not really that helpful to prestudy anatomy...in the grand scheme of things it's not the most important class, and the whole point of taking anatomy in conjunction with a dissection lab is that it's during lab time that you do most of your learning.

Frankly, prestudying anything before med school is going to mostly be a waste. Anything that you can really truly study or review will put you "ahead" for maybe a week or two, and then you'll be just as dazed as everyone else. Most people who prestudy regret it in the end and get burnt out, which in the end will probably have a more negative impact than any perceived negative impact of not prestudying.

 

[btricycle]

I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. I had to take anatomy for my major in undergrad. Besides, how much of whatever you study this summer will you actually remember?

 

[SirGecko]

Any benefit that you could get from studying anatomy ahead of time would really only be in familiarizing yourself with the language. (caudal, rostral, sagital plane, coronal plane, etc) Really any advantage would only last the first couple of days at most. (heck I had human cadaver dissection experience and that really only helped me much on the first day, anatomy really isn't that hard to get into and you don't need to study it before starting)

So in short: don't prestudy. It is a useless. (also anatomy really is not that hard)

 

[bruinhd]

Any benefit that you could get from studying anatomy ahead of time would really only be in familiarizing yourself with the language. (caudal, rostral, sagital plane, coronal plane, etc) Really any advantage would only last the first couple of days at most. (heck I had human cadaver dissection experience and that really only helped me much on the first day, anatomy really isn't that hard to get into and you don't need to study it before starting)

So in short: don't prestudy. It is a useless. (also anatomy really is not that hard)

i disagree with this statement. anatomy IS hard. i felt like all of the people who spent the least amount of time in anatomy lab had taken it in undergrad and were used to the style of studying required to learn structures inside a body.

if you can take anatomy, and are sure that you won't do poorly in it and hurt your application, you should take it. also make sure that it fulfills a requirement and that you aren't taking it over other vital classes. it will help you greatly during first year. first year is a struggle if you are competing for honors or whatnot.

 

[WildEMDoc]

Hmm, maybe my school isn't like others.

At my school Anatomy courses are restricted to allied health, and health science majors. The only ones open to biology majors and others are Physiology. Is that not the norm? I cannot even take Anatomy if I wanted to.

 

[EpicBearMan]

Hmm, maybe my school isn't like others.

At my school Anatomy courses are restricted to allied health, and health science majors. The only ones open to biology majors and others are Physiology. Is that not the norm? I cannot even take Anatomy if I wanted to.

My University has Human Anatomy course complete with cadaver which isn't restricted. There is a Medical Human Anatomy class that is restricted to specific graduate programs.

 

[WildEMDoc]

My University has Human Anatomy course complete with cadaver which isn't restricted. There is a Medical Human Anatomy class that is restricted to specific graduate programs.

Maybe my school is just a little too small (around 18,000), for an open anatomy class. And I know that those lower division health anatomy classes do not disect a cadaver, they put clay onto a fake human skeleton to represent muscles and organs in lab

 

[Neurocentric]

I wouldn't. You really have no clue what you will be starting with and what exactly will be taught in your medical school class, so pre-studying wouldn't really do too much. I'd say that you have one summer really before you're boxed up in classes, tests, studying for the boards, rotations, and then residency. Take some time to enjoy the freedom!

 

[radiodoc99]

No. You will learn it during your medical school anatomy class. Right now just enjoy so that you are ready for your classes. Congrats.

 

[ruiner]

Exactly. We did thorax first and head last...every school is different.

I agree, it's not really that helpful to prestudy anatomy...in the grand scheme of things it's not the most important class, and the whole point of taking anatomy in conjunction with a dissection lab is that it's during lab time that you do most of your learning.

Frankly, prestudying anything before med school is going to mostly be a waste. Anything that you can really truly study or review will put you "ahead" for maybe a week or two, and then you'll be just as dazed as everyone else. Most people who prestudy regret it in the end and get burnt out, which in the end will probably have a more negative impact than any perceived negative impact of not prestudying.

As a potential future surgeon I respectfully disagree.