Anatomy & Physiology vs. General Physiology?

[EB73674]

Hi all,

I would love to say I'm holding out hope for an acceptance this cycle, but I'm also trying to prepare myself academically to re-apply next year. I'm keeping track of all of my pre-requisites for all my possible school choices, and some schools seem to either value or require some degree of anatomy/physiology. Here's my question: my school offers human-based anatomy & physiology (which seems to be anatomy-heavy and very clinically relevant) and general physiology (appears to be heavily chemistry- and cell-bio-based, obviously no anatomy component but there is a lab). Which do we think would be a better choice to take, assuming both would be acceptable for pre-reqs? I'm leaning towards general physiology, but I'm not sure if the course basis is appropriate or if the anatomy component would be more beneficial. Thoughts?

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[that redhead]

I’d go with the general physiology if both would meet the requirements. I doubt the (human) anatomy portion will be significantly helpful for vet school.

 

[EB73674]

I’d go with the general physiology if both would meet the requirements. I doubt the (human) anatomy portion will be significantly helpful for vet school.

Awesome thank you! That's what I figured, just wanted to see if having any anatomy (even human) would be a good idea. Definitely happy to not be doing human dissections though, humans are icky

 

[deleted676737]

Awesome thank you! That's what I figured, just wanted to see if having any anatomy (even human) would be a good idea. Definitely happy to not be doing human dissections though, humans are icky

Does your undergrad school offer a comparative anatomy course? If so, and if you can afford to take it, that may also be a good option! I really enjoyed that class and I suspect it helped me out than human anatomy would have.

 

[EB73674]

Does your undergrad school offer a comparative anatomy course? If so, and if you can afford to take it, that may also be a good option! I really enjoyed that class and I suspect it helped me out than human anatomy would have.

Unfortunately not, it's a state university but it's a satellite campus, the main campus with all the fancy courses is an hour and a half away :-(

 

[ziggyandjazzy]

I disagree with what was said. I took human anatomy and physiology before vet school and it was probably the most useful class I took to prep me imo. Many of the structures on humans and animals are the exact same and the anatomy portion prepped me quite a bit. I also had experience with cadaver dissection which many in my class didn’t have. In addition, I was definitely a leg up in both neuro and endocrine phys (I took neuro and endocrine A&P). I would highly recommend it depending on the structure of the course!

 

[EngrSC]

I took a physiology course when I was an undergrad student and it was interesting for sure but wasn’t very in-depth. It didn’t have a lab component.

As a post-bacc student I took advanced anatomy & physiology (both I & II) and enjoyed it much more. To do well in the course, I had to really understand the physiology and memorize a ton of anatomy. I still enjoyed it even though it was human but my professor was a zoology guy so he would tie in invertebrate and vertebrate comparisons here and there. He also let me do my final project on animal rather than human.

Anyway, I got a lot more out of A&P than just phys. But I haven’t done vet school yet so I don’t know which is more beneficial

 

[EB73674]

I disagree with what was said. I took human anatomy and physiology before vet school and it was probably the most useful class I took to prep me imo. Many of the structures on humans and animals are the exact same and the anatomy portion prepped me quite a bit. I also had experience with cadaver dissection which many in my class didn’t have. In addition, I was definitely a leg up in both neuro and endocrine phys (I took neuro and endocrine A&P). I would highly recommend it depending on the structure of the course!

Interesting, I had wondered about that but wasn’t sure, hence asking the question! I’ll take that into consideration - most of my fellow pre-vet friends at my university are taking A&P since it’s the only thing offered, but I might see if I can find a pre-vet advisor on campus who has any thoughts.

 

[battie]

I took human and animal anatomy, and general physiology. Human anatomy taught me how to study anatomy. My animal anatomy wasnt near as indpeth as it was for ag majors in production, so it was just worth its A on my transcript. The physiology was super useful because a mammal is a mammal for the most part. If I was to do it again, I would have taken more in depth physiology classes (immuno, endocrine, etc) over the animal anatomy class.

 

[altadama]

I think it really depends on your specific school, how the courses are structured, and the professor who is teaching the course. I took a human anatomy course as well as a general systems physiology course and some other more in depth courses (endocrinology, neuroendocrinology, pathophysiology etc.). For me, my general physiology course and endocrinology course have been by far the most useful classes I have ever taken. Aside from the physiology aspects, I learned how to study and how to integrate information in a way that made sense. I still remember so much and it gave me a super solid foundation that has saved my butt many times over in vet school. The caveat is I had an AMAZING professor for physiology/endocrinology/pathophysiology (I purposely took every single class he taught that I could fit into my schedule). Our human anatomy course didn't really help me at all, but it was taught much less intensively and the professor honestly wasn't the best. If possible, I'd really recommend talking to people who have taken each class at your school to help in your decision making...but from my personal experience I'd highly recommend taking physiology.

 

[Blueangel7]

It really depends on what the classes are like and what the vet school classes are like. I took animal physiology and then comparative vertebrate anatomy. The animal physiology was definitely cellular process and chemistry based which was almost exactly how my vet school's physiology course was 1st year. The animal anatomy course was a lot more helpful for vet school than the human anatomy course from what my friends and I compared. It really helped to have dissected a cat, shark, and seen birds and turtle dissections before 1st year gross anatomy. It was extremely helpful to have done a cat dissection when it can to the dog dissection which was my entire 1st semester of gross anatomy in vet school. So honestly it depends on how the undergrad classes are structured and how the vet schools classes are structured.