Class you wish you would have taken before MS-1

[HalfListic]

Im a premed and I have 1-2 more semesters of class work I could take before med school.

My question, is in the subject...any classes you wished you took before med school? Or similarly, glad you took before?

Thanks for the input!

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[sylvanthus]

Biochem was pretty useful. Maybe micro.

 

[HalfListic]

Thanks, I've heard biochem before...

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

A&p

 

[Dissected]

I was really glad I took the nursing anatomy course at my undergrad..gave me a foundation to stand on when the fire hydrant opened

 

[Makati2008]

Physiology. Biochem and anatomy for me were memorization and biochem is easy if you think of it in the body as survival vs rest/digest.

Physio cost me a lot of As in med school. To give you an example- on the exams with Iittle physio I would make As but the part of the block with physio i would lose the a and end up with like between a 88-89.46(the latter happened in three or four systems and one of my buddies said God has a sense of humor lol)

 

[NeuroLAX]

I wish I would have taken Immunology. I had a block of it in graduate school, but it was all completely new to me.

Biochem is practically an unofficial pre-req. I'm glad I took it.

 

[deleted92121]

Out of curiosity, how does Biochemistry in undergrad compare to Biochemistry in medical school?

Thanks

 

[Everglide]

You can't go wrong with Physio, Anatomy, Biochem, Immunology, Micro. I wouldn't do an over the top anatomy course, just something for the terminology - what you cover will blow away undergrad in detail and volume. If you have some intensive phys or biochem courses, it will make it easy sailing through those courses (it did for me).

I wish I had taken a lot micro in undergrad because it's absolutely huge for osteopathic boards.

 

[frankyazz]

The micro we had to take in undergrad as a premed ( at least at my institution) wasn't really helpful for the boards. Osteopath boards are more of "what bug is it/vector," the micro in undergard was more of "micro micro" such as what is a gram stain (and other labs), what does it mean to be a facultive aerobe, what are the components of a cell wall, growth logs, etc. I believe it wasn't until the last exam that we did bugs, and it was pretty limited. This probably varies from institution to institution, but for me undergrad micro did not help at all for MS1.

For me, I would of taken HUMAN gross anatomy. They made us take some comparative animal anatomy crap because it was "harder." It was our first class, and people who had already taken anatomy in undergrad went through it without difficulty.

 

[FunnyCurrent]

Neuroanatomy, Neurophysiology

 

[Daedra22]

Out of curiosity, how does Biochemistry in undergrad compare to Biochemistry in medical school?

Thanks

For me, my biochem 1 and 2 courses in undergrad were just more drawn-out versions of my 6-week med school biochem class. It was definitely an advantage to have seen the material before at a slower pace.

I definitely wish I had taken anatomy in undergrad. Learning anatomy in a less-pressured environment would have been a lot better for me, particularly because of how much I dislike the subject.

Immunology would have been nice, because I feel like immuno is a very conceptual kind of course. I spent a lot of time in med school looking up videos and undergrad lectures so I could better understand the chain of events.

I agree with frankyazz on the micro classes. I took several micro courses in undergrad, and they were not very useful for med school. I can certainly tell you a lot more about what the stains and tests mean, and I know a lot more about the evolutionary biology of microbes, but it gave me very little clinical advantage. I took those classes only because I love biology, so I'm still happy to have taken them. Unless you're just interested in microbiology as a whole, you might not want to go out of your way to take those courses before med school.

 

[Helen Wheels]

Classes I wish I would have taken before MS-1:
Anatomy
Genetics
Immunology
Cell/Molecular Biology

Class I was super glad I took before MS-1:
Biochemistry

 

[Postal]

Biochem
I struggled in biochem while classmates of mine had an easier time because they had already taken it.

 

[Charlie Hustle]

Archery. Would have been way more fun than counting fruit fly larvae or studying IR spectroscopy.

 

[Hoggle]

Anything completely unrelated to medicine and/or science that looks interesting to you. I'd personally suggest some psychology classes. For more fun classes, I'd go for any phys ed class that sounds fun to you.

 

[dntke1518]

Archery. Would have been way more fun than counting fruit fly larvae or studying IR spectroscopy.

Ha ha I can still remember doing both of those things... I disliked the fruit fly stuff the most, didn't mind IR (loved organic).

 

[Charlie Hustle]

Ha ha I can still remember doing both of those things... I disliked the fruit fly stuff the most, didn't mind IR (loved organic).

You're a better man (or woman) than I.

 

[cbtk18]

IMO nothing will help you that much. I would take some easy classes like swimming pool management or karate and enjoy the time you have left.

Sent from my ADR6300 using SDN Mobile

 

[AliceNWndrlnd]

Other than having fun with your last few classes, I would recommend Biochem for sure, and Micro, Immunology, or a good Neurophysiology class would never hurt.

 

[Superman DO]

The History of Pole Dancing. . . .or some other fun class outside the realm of basic science.

 

[HalfListic]

thanks for everyone who has contributed so far...there seems to be a fairly clear consensus on a few subjects.

Also, thanks for those of you who pointed out having fun...I have one more solid semester, then archery, or pole dancing, can be more of an option.

 

[MrBeauregard]

Im a premed and I have 1-2 more semesters of class work I could take before med school.

My question, is in the subject...any classes you wished you took before med school? Or similarly, glad you took before?

Thanks for the input!

I was a biology major in undergrad, but there were quite a few classes I hadn't taken upon starting med school, such as human gross anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, or immunology. I did absolutely fine (actually very well) in med school without having previously seen any of those subjects.

The best thing, in my opinion, is to get some clinical experience. I worked in a hospital before med school (as a full-time employee with benefits, not shadowing or volunteering) and it was the absolute best thing I could have done for myself. I am far ahead of many of my classmates in the clinical aspects. Some of them are so incredibly clueless as to what goes on in an office setting or in a hospital. Sometimes it's almost like they have never stepped foot in those places.

So, if you can, get some clinical experience and work in a hospital or something. It will serve you well and, in my opinion, is actually better than taking a class that you'll just take over again anyways. It helps to have an idea of what to expect when you start your clerkships, and honestly, it gives you a little bit of "real world" outlook; that is something you can't get anywhere else. I think it helps make you well-rounded. So many of my classmates have never even had a job before med school, and they're so whiney and entitled it's crazy. Ok so my rant is over.

 

[deleted336217]

I was a biology major in undergrad, but there were quite a few classes I hadn't taken upon starting med school, such as human gross anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, or immunology. I did absolutely find (actually very well) in med school without having previously seen any of those subjects.

The best thing, in my opinion, is to get some clinical experience. I worked in a hospital before med school (as a full-time employee with benefits, not shadowing or volunteering) and it was the absolute best thing I could have done for myself. I am far ahead of many of my classmates in the clinical aspects. Some of them are so incredibly clueless as to what goes on in an office setting or in a hospital. Sometimes it's almost like they have never stepped foot in those places.

So, if you can, get some clinical experience and work in a hospital or something. It will serve you well and, in my opinion, is actually better than taking a class that you'll just take over again anyways. It helps to have an idea of what to expect when you start your clerkships, and honestly, it gives you a little bit of "real world" outlook; that is something you can't get anywhere else. I think it helps make you well-rounded. So many of my classmates have never even had a job before med school, and they're so whiney and entitled it's crazy. Ok so my rant is over.

i like the sound of this!