Basic Pharmacology Course Before Medical School

[Snickerdoodle1996]

Hi everyone,

My university offers a basic pharmacology course tailored to serve as a foundation for medical school. I am working on my schedule for my last semester before starting medical school in the Fall. I am wondering if it is worth taking this course or if I should just take other electives instead? In other words, will this give me any sort of advantage where I won't have such a steep learning curve come next year? I will be in a PBL curriculum. It would be great to hear from those that have any input! Thank you.

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[Blanky]

Sounds like a cool course. I would wager if you wanted pure effectiveness you could just roll through pharm on Anki or watch videos and learn more.
I doubt it makes differences in the long run but I would take it out of interest.

 

[Magus5454]

At least at my school we really don't deal too much with pharm till 2nd year

 

[Snickerdoodle1996]

At least at my school we really don't deal too much with pharm till 2nd year

That's why I'm hesitant, just because it might not be too useful if I don't start studying it in school until later.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Just my two cents, but spend your last semester just taking stuff you like. If you would enjoy the course than go for it. But I would only take one type of pre meddy type class my last semester if any at all. Keep in mind, this will be your last chance to learn about something not medicine for a long time. I absolutely don’t regret taking fillers in mythology and evolutionary psychology. It was cool.

All the best.

 

[Snickerdoodle1996]

Just my two cents, but spend your last semester just taking stuff you like. If you would enjoy the course than go for it. But I would only take one type of pre meddy type class my last semester if any at all. Keep in mind, this will be your last chance to learn about something not medicine for a long time. I absolutely don’t regret taking fillers in mythology and evolutionary psychology. It was cool.

All the best.

Thank you for your input, I appreciate it!

 

[DameJulie]

The pharmacology class in my U is very cool! It's basically a little bit of biochem, physio, toxicology, immunology, and math altogether and how they apply in clinical settings. If you already took those classes, pharmacology should be a doable class for you. Enjoy!

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

I took it in undergrad and it helped in medical school. Not because I remembered any of the drugs (I barely remembered any), but because it is practice with applied physiology, which is the basis of the entirety of medical school.

You need to be able to understand & apply physiology in the basic sciences in year 1, so it helps you there, & it is very important in year 2 when you study pathology & pharmacology. If you don't understand how the body works, you won't understand how it breaks in pathology, & if you don't understand how it breaks in pathology, you won't understand how to apply the pharmacology to fix it.

 

[Doc_Ock]

We do quite a bit of pharm our first year, depends on the school.

 

[DrRedstone]

Anything that gives you a first pass of things you'll do in medical school is a good thing in my book. I took histology in undergrad and it has paid major dividends over the past year and a half. I had a psychopharmacology course in a masters program I did. Even though it focused on behavioral medicines, it gave me a great base for studying other drugs. I'd say go for it!