Any med school supplies you regret buying?

[thecatdoctor]

I'll be starting MS1 this summer and I'm trying to plan out my finances. They already told us that we don't have to buy and ophthalmoscope or a otoscope because they'll be provided. We do have to buy scalpels for anatomy lab (my mom is a veterinary assistant so I'll be getting those for free from her clinic). They haven't given us any other guidance so far on what we absolutely need to buy. I already have a macbook air, ipad, and a pencil. Already bought the anki app when I studied for the MCAT. Got all the kitchen gadgets.

Are there any 3rd party resources that weren't worth the money? Apps that ended up not helping? Any supplies or resources that you advise against? I don't want to spend my limited funds on something that's not necessary.

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[MEDSCHOOL 14]

Great question and wondering same thing!

 

[Billiam95]

Boards and beyond, pathoma for content review. Amboss and uworld for questions. First Aid and Rx were ok, mostly used FA as a paperweight. I hate the Lecturio videos and wouldn't recommend them. Sketchy for micro is worth every penny, very good for pharm, and garbage for path. Wait until you start to buy anything, as your school might provide some or could go in as a group for a discount.

 

[ChordaEpiphany]

I bought Online Med Ed for several months as a way of keeping up with medicine before returning to the wards as an MD/PhD student. It had a great reputation 4-5 years ago. Today it's a mess. The videos are either nice, concise, but outdated overviews probably made when he started the site, or they're the new ones that are a rambling mess with tons of detail and awful drawings. So the videos are either out of date, inaccurate, or updated but long and difficult to follow. All non-video resources are garbage. The questions are low effort, non-USMLE style, and you're better off with a second Qbank (e.g., Amboss). The flashcards are even lower effort and not remotely worth your time. The study organization tools are worse than a random excel sheet you could make in 10 minutes.

I'm all about disrupting med ed. I think Dr. Williams deserves lots of credit there. However, he's also snippy in the comments on his own videos, responds really poorly to criticism, and seems intent on pushing a subpar product. I'm not going to fault him for pushing for more money. Innovators and educators deserve good pay, but his product is no longer worth the very high price tag. OME will likely never be a one-stop shop for med ed, not when great resources like UWorld exist. If he could recreate the conciseness of his original videos for use as a primer before rotations or blocks, it would be worth $10/month. $40/month for inconsistent videos, bad questions, bad flashcards, and bad study organization tools makes it completely irrelevant. I haven't looked at the pre-clinical material, but I've heard it's the same.

 

[eteshoe]

I'll be starting MS1 this summer and I'm trying to plan out my finances. They already told us that we don't have to buy and ophthalmoscope or a otoscope because they'll be provided. We do have to buy scalpels for anatomy lab (my mom is a veterinary assistant so I'll be getting those for free from her clinic). They haven't given us any other guidance so far on what we absolutely need to buy. I already have a macbook air, ipad, and a pencil. Already bought the anki app when I studied for the MCAT. Got all the kitchen gadgets.

Are there any 3rd party resources that weren't worth the money? Apps that ended up not helping? Any supplies or resources that you advise against? I don't want to spend my limited funds on something that's not necessary.

I'd wait til classes start before purchasing since your school could have "free" licenses for certain resources. But realistically you just need Anki (I recommend the Anking deck), BnB, Sketchy micro/pharm and AMBOSS (library + bank) for preclinicals. Of course having a copy of First Aid is fine (though kinda not useful til your knowledge base grows).

The Rx qbank is fine - honestly I found it too easy and way too FA factoid heavy (made by the same people so makes sense). You can save UWorld til dedicated if you incorporate the AMBOSS qbank during all of your preclinical yrs.

 

[SweetBurger]

Ipad, used it like once

 

[whosehouse]

Would highly recommend buying an Anki remote, second monitor, good chair, and AirPods (or any other good headphones)

 

[deleted771945]

you won't regret fast home internet. really make sure you have that.

 

[deleted1139416]

Getting an expensive apartment close to the school...... right as covid hit and we were all virtual LOL

This may not apply to you per se, but just be careful about where you decide to live and what kind of roommates you have. On the bright side, I have a wife who does my laundry and cooks me food!

 

[Kierkegaard's Bud]

See what your school gives before making purchases. We have pathoma, BnB, sketchy provided.

 

[m1redsox]

Agreed with the above. Don't buy any 3rd party resources yet. My school provided us sketchy, pathoma, UWorld, and USMLE Rx (online first aid).

 

[A Salty Girl]

Ipad, used it like once

Meanwhile an iPad was perhaps my most essential purchase of med school

It's HARD to take notes on histology slides etc without being able to write/circle things directly on a picture. "This cell is a _____ cell"... On a histology slide of 670 cells??? How can you remember which cell without circling it with your Apple Pencil?

I use my iPad to take notes, to draw on slides, to save my slides, etc.

It also comes in major handy for research and journal duties. I'm a reviewer for a journal and find I do a MUCH more thorough job reviewing when I can underline and highlight so easily right on the article.

ALSO- I have the most beautiful notes of questions I missed on UWorld. If I miss a question I'll find a pic online of the concept, save it to my iPad, and annotate it, or draw out a pathway, etc etc. all saved to one convenient place. Then I review my gorgeous notes before going over the question bank again to review the questions I once got wrong but now will never miss again thanks to my drawing.

How do people survive without an iPad?

 

[A Salty Girl]

Meanwhile an iPad was perhaps my most essential purchase of med school

It's HARD to take notes on histology slides etc without being able to write/circle things directly on a picture. "This cell is a _____ cell"... On a histology slide of 670 cells??? How can you remember which cell without circling it with your Apple Pencil?

I use my iPad to take notes, to draw on slides, to save my slides, etc.

It also comes in major handy for research and journal duties. I'm a reviewer for a journal and find I do a MUCH more thorough job reviewing when I can underline and highlight so easily right on the article.

ALSO- I have the most beautiful notes of questions I missed on UWorld. If I miss a question I'll find a pic online of the concept, save it to my iPad, and annotate it, or draw out a pathway, etc etc. all saved to one convenient place. Then I review my gorgeous notes before going over the question bank again to review the questions I once got wrong but now will never miss again thanks to my drawing.

How do people survive without an iPad?

Oh and I've recently started illustrating my own papers because it's so easy to make the most beautiful, hand painted artwork on Procreate. And I'm not an artist at baseline. Legit everyone in lab was like "where did you find this illustration??"

And it took me only 20 mins on my iPad.

#Ipad

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

ipad

 

[SunMouse]

I regret paying for BnB (got it because everyone says it’s *essential*). The videos bored me to tears and the quiz questions weren’t worth the price.

On the other hand I have some friends who hate Sketchy (which was a lifesaver for me), which just goes to show that when it comes to 3rd party resources it is not one size fits all lol.

 

[SweetBurger]

I regret paying for BnB (got it because everyone says it’s *essential*). The videos bored me to tears and the quiz questions weren’t worth the price.

On the other hand I have some friends who hate Sketchy (which was a lifesaver for me), which just goes to show that when it comes to 3rd party resources it is not one size fits all lol.

and the fact that your class probably has a drive with all of BnB and sketchy

 

[BlackLotus95]

I'm back and forth on the Otoscope. The admitted students page says it's recommended if you're interested in neurology at my school and that is one of the ones I'm thinking about. Same with the tuning forks. There are a ton of options on Amazon and I'm choice fatigued just looking at it lol

 

[Rapsidy]

Manual Blood pressure machine. School said we needed one but they always had extras anyways and it’s literally cheaper to buy an electronic one that does everything for you on Amazon than to buy manual ones.

As a side note as others have said investing in a good chair is a lifesaver for your back. I invested in a secret lab gaming chair and have no regrets.

 

[operaman]

I'm back and forth on the Otoscope. The admitted students page says it's recommended if you're interested in neurology at my school and that is one of the ones I'm thinking about. Same with the tuning forks. There are a ton of options on Amazon and I'm choice fatigued just looking at it lol

I’m an ENT and can say that I never once used my own otoscope through all of Med school or ent residency or fellowship or now as an attending. There’s always one somewhere you can borrow when needed.

The one I carried on junior call for two years was engraved with “ent clinic - do not remove” on the side. I returned it as a pgy4.

Ditto for the tuning fork. Though that one is a bit harder to find on the wards, but thankfully cheaper. I’d hold off until closer to a neuro rotation and then borrow one from a classmate. Much cheaper and you’ll get the right one.

 

[PathNeuroIMorFM]

A cheap laptop.

In the age of Zoom and online courses, it's really important you get something that doesn't fail you during important moments.

 

[VincentAdultman]