Anatomy

[ku06]

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[dancinjenn]

Taking anatomy is not required for med school so it is doable, but it is a lot of work. Anatomy is not basic. Don't let yourself fall into that trap. You have to memorize everything...muscles, bones, attachments (both proximal and distal) their innervations, blood supply, nerve lesions, cranial nerves, actions of muscles, special relationships, special triangles and spaces, what goes thru those spaces and triangles, and a million and 2 things you never thought that anatomy could include. Just keep on top of everything.

 

[dmitrinyr]

You will not be at a disadvantage because you haven't taken anatomy before. The majority of medical students enter medical school without ever taking anatomy and most of them do fine and get through the course. Yes, you do have an advantage if you have taken anatomy before but that works with other medical school courses as well. Those students that took undergrad or grad biochem are at an advantage when they enter medical school. The fact is that NO one thing in medical school is all that complicated or difficult. It's not like we're asked to prove quatum physical theories or derive equations. The difficulty of medical school (and this is my own opinion, please don't burn me for this) is the volume at which the material comes at you. Most, if not all of the first year medical students, have never dealt with such a great amount of material and so it's very easy to become overwhelmed with it all. That is why, if you have seen some of this material before, it will take you less time to master it again and so you can have more time for the material that you haven't seen before. I had this with biochem. I knew what we're going to be taught and how to study it and so I knew that I could spend a bit more time with anatomy because I had the biochem covered.

PS: NO, anatomy in medical school is not like undergrad anatomy. You are expected to learn "everything" about the human body (and not that is not an overstatement, every little thing that could be named you have to know). But, if you put enough time into it, even if you never seen the material before (I never taken anatomy before I took it in med school) you should be fine.

Good luck

dmitri

 

[synapse lapse]

Taking anatomy is not required for med school so it is doable, but it is a lot of work. Anatomy is not basic. Don't let yourself fall into that trap. You have to memorize everything...muscles, bones, attachments (both proximal and distal) their innervations, blood supply, nerve lesions, cranial nerves, actions of muscles, special relationships, special triangles and spaces, what goes thru those spaces and triangles, and a million and 2 things you never thought that anatomy could include. Just keep on top of everything.

I think he meant was that the anatomy he would hypothetically take during undergrad would be basic when compared to med school anatomy.

 

[mikedc813]

Anatomy is definitely not required in college. Med school anatomy definitely is difficult because of the volume of material you're forced to absorb. But it's doable if you're work hard. Comparing it to college anatomy, I'd say it's a heck of a lot more difficult.

 

[dancinjenn]

I think he meant was that the anatomy he would hypothetically take during undergrad would be basic when compared to med school anatomy.

whoops, missed that 😳 ...but for med school anatomy is very comprehensive.

 

[NickPapagiorgio]

You mean you haven't taken anatomy yet? I have no clue what you are going to do. You might as well go try and find a good deal on a shotgun or some rope....I really don't believe some people on here. I really hope I wasn't this annoying/geeky when I started med school four years ago. I don't one person who took anatomy before med school except for maybe a handful that took the summer thing before we started (which by the way was a complete waste of time). Anatomy isn't conceptually difficult. All you have to do is memorize a bunch of stuff. You will do fine.

 

[thackl]

I took a nursing version as one of my science prereq's. It was not nearly as comprehensive as medschool anatomy, but it did get me exposed to the look and especially the terminology. Overall, it reduced the stress of the first few weeks, because when you start, they hit you right away with 1000's of terms you've never seen and use them as if you should already know them. This alone caused anxiety for many.

Just keep your cool and remember that no matter how bad it SEEMS at first, it's not that bad. Anatomy is quite easy (relatively speaking of course) if you stick to your lab hit list, notes and scribes. If you go out and try to read books/learn it all, you'll go insane.

 

[MeowMix]

my school apparently has the highest percentage in the US of students who have taken anatomy before - about 60%. Four people in our class had master's level anatomy and several also had anatomy teaching experience when they got here. So we are measured against a pretty high standard.

However, everyone passed anatomy this year; a couple of people got 100%; but in the end, everyone got a P regardless of whether it was a 70% P or a 100% P.

 

[thackl]

my school apparently has the highest percentage in the US of students who have taken anatomy before - about 60%. Four people in our class had master's level anatomy and several also had anatomy teaching experience when they got here. So we are measured against a pretty high standard.

However, everyone passed anatomy this year; a couple of people got 100%; but in the end, everyone got a P regardless of whether it was a 70% P or a 100% P.

We had the same thing. On guy had a phd, was on his 6th cadaver and 3rd round of med school anatomy. I'd say more than 50% of the class had some level of anatomy in the past.

 

[ddmo]

I never took an anatomy course before med school and ended up with one of the highest grades in my class. How good are you at memorizing stuff? If you don't have any problem with it, then don't worry about taking anatomy before you start.

 

[ptolemy]

Chances are I am not going to get to take anatomy before med school starts. Is this going to put me as a disadvantage

NO!!!

Hasn't this been discussed ad nauseum on here?

 

[tinkerbelle]

I'd say more than 50% of the class had some level of anatomy in the past.

Hearing this just makes me more nervous and stressed out about starting med school 🙁 As an engineer, I didn't take the typical bio classes, and I'm really nervous that I'm going to be very behind.

How good are you at memorizing stuff? If you don't have any problem with it, then don't worry about taking anatomy before you start.

Problem #2. I have to totally understand how everything worrks... i am horrible at just plain old memorization.

But I've already accepted that I'll have to do some major studying this summer in order to be on the same level as my classmates.

 

[DrMom]

don't study, tinkerbelle. it won't help you very much considering the volume that gets thrown at you in med school. go enjoy yourself instead.

 

[tinkerbelle]

NO!!!

Hasn't this been discussed ad nauseum on here?

I don't see how people who haven't taken anatomy (or biochem or whatever other classes the typical bio major takes) won't be at a slight disadvantage. I mean, it's so much easier to learn something the second time you've seen it. I'm not saying we won't do well, I just thin it'll be a lot harder and we'll have to study a lot more.

 

[DrMom]

some people have an advantage in certain subjects, but that tends to even out for most everyone in the long term.

 

[tinkerbelle]

don't study, tinkerbelle. it won't help you very much considering the volume that gets thrown at you in med school. go enjoy yourself instead.

Well, i'm not going to study in depth or anything. I just want a basic, dummy-version of anatomy. I feel like just knowing common words will help a tiny bit. It'll be one less thing I have to learn later on.

I'll take some of your advice though 🙂 I defintely want to do some fun things this summer. Learning latin dancing comes to mind 😛

 

[thackl]

Hearing this just makes me more nervous and stressed out about starting med school 🙁 As an engineer, I didn't take the typical bio classes, and I'm really nervous that I'm going to be very behind.



Problem #2. I have to totally understand how everything worrks... i am horrible at just plain old memorization.

But I've already accepted that I'll have to do some major studying this summer in order to be on the same level as my classmates.

I'm an engineer too..... worked 8yrs before heading to med school. You'll be fine and engineers seem to have a distinct advantage in gross anatomy (and a few other subjects) due to the whole 3D thing and wanting to understand how things work. Just wait til you get to head/neck and pelvis. Your classmates will be disgusted at how well you visualize that stuff. You will develope intuitive and spacial relationships that most of your classmates won't. I think there's 4 engineers in my class and so far we're all in the top 10 (or close to it).

The first test block will be stressful cause it's new.... and you'll probably feel lost for a while..... then all will be fine 👍

 

[tinkerbelle]

I'm an engineer too..... worked 8yrs before heading to med school. You'll be fine and engineers seem to have a distinct advantage in gross anatomy (and a few other subjects) due to the whole 3D thing and wanting to understand how things work. Just wait til you get to head/neck and pelvis. Your classmates will be disgusted at how well you visualize that stuff. You will develope intuitive and spacial relationships that most of your classmates won't. I think there's 4 engineers in my class and so far we're all in the top 10 (or close to it).

Thanks for your response, thackl 🙂 I guess I needed some reassurance from someone who knew what engineering was like.

 

[WVmed]

Thanks for your response, thackl 🙂 I guess I needed some reassurance from someone who knew what engineering was like.

I am from chemical engineering, and I made the switch over to medicine as well (MS1 this coming fall). I have had very little biology, though I would have taken more had it not been for mind-numbing Reactions Phenomena, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, you name it. Pre-med majors didn't have the stress that UG engineers had (even Civil engr. have it harder than a simple bio major). Tinkerbelle, I think you will be at an advantage in your ability to handle and manage stress. However, like me, engineers have a slight lack of exposure to biology systems. You tell me, which is more "complicated:" mass flux, thermodynamics and equilibrium-staged separations; or glycolysis, which is always... just glycolysis. The separations and thermo, every time you see a problem, it has a new twist. So engineers are the masters of "left field" so to speak.

Heh. You will be fine...

 

[thackl]

(even Civil engr. have it harder than a simple bio major). ...

Be careful, there a ton of civil engineers on this forum. Seriously 🙂

 

[jio]

I noticed while studying the biology portion of the MCAT that the majority of it is A&P related. So, even if you didn't take a course in A&P, you would presumably get a little exposure to it while studying for the MCAT. Granted, an A&P college course will be more “technical” than what you got while studying for the MCAT. At least you won't be totally clueless.

 

[WVmed]

Be careful, there a ton of civil engineers on this forum. Seriously 🙂

Everyone knows Civil Engineering is a tough major, far more challenging than a BS in bio or chem. It's just not known for being the hardest engineering degree. Didn't mean to offend you,

 

[thackl]

Everyone knows Civil Engineering is a tough major, far more challenging than a BS in bio or chem. It's just not known for being the hardest engineering degree. Didn't mean to offend you,

Not offending me.... I have a BSME and an half a masters in micro-electronics