Classes you wish you took before Medical School?

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Psai said:
It's very true. Having the facts and trying to keep them straight doesn't really help much. You need that foundation so that you can actually understand what's going on. Listening to things like pathoma and goljan really help you put the picture together
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That's what I liked about Goljan. He tied different subjects together that even after reading and knowing the review books I wasn't able to. Knowing how the test writers think when they're writing questions is important. A lot of epiphany moments from those audios, as well as Goljanisms.
 
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i agree with Bamfu. for me, biochem and micro. i wasnt a bio major so you may have had these classes. as far as listening to goljan or studying anatomy, i dont want to steer you wrong, but i wouldnt do that. i had a strong anatomy background, it may have helped me marginally. i dont think that listening to goljan or reading first aid would help you too much at this point.

honestly everyone studies different. but what i would do is just relax and know that youre more than capable of doing well in classes come the fall.
 
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Jabbed said:
If you really did read Moore's from cover to cover and properly studied, I don't see why that wouldn't be the case. All the curriculum sections that I've coasted through I largely attribute to my familiarity with the material before starting med school. Lectures are far easier and more comprehensible when they're filling in gaps in your knowledge and further developing your understanding rather than when they're used as a foundation.

Med school isn't taught by clinical professors either. Nobody in college actually limits the number of mind-broadening classes that you can take, they just limit the number of mind-broadening classes that you can claim credit for; you're effectively free to sit in on whatever classes you want. I just think that it's BS that in the states you can graduate with a 4 year, six-figure degree and effectively have zero skills or knowledge to enter the workforce (or in our case, med school) with.

Nobody said it here, but that's been the bulk of advice that I've gotten throughout my career and I think that it's a commonly held sentiment. I'm a first generation immigrant and had no idea how the education system worked,. so when my pre-med advisor and multiple faculty/students advised me to do just that for the first few years of college, I listened.
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Depends on the school. Half of our M1 lectures were given by MDs, and almost every lecturer in MS2 was a practicing MD.
 
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DermViser said:
Did they take that mnemonic out? http://stepprep.com/members/1-first...=FAbiochemistry&giveanswer=yes&total_recs=479
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Guess so. This is from the 2014 edition.
upload_2014-11-24_20-45-34.png
 
Slack3r said:
Depends on the school. Half of our M1 lectures were given by MDs, and almost every lecturer in MS2 was a practicing MD.
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Wow... I guess your school is doing it the right way. I think most (if not all) of these MS1 classes should be taught by M.D./D.O. so they can be tied to clinical knowledge...
 
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W19 said:
Wow... I guess your school is doing it the right way. I think most (if not all) of these MS1 classes should be taught by M.D./D.O. so they can be tied to clinical knowledge...
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I like the way you think, Mona.
 
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W19 said:
Wow... I guess your school is doing it the right way. I think most (if not all) of these MS1 classes should be taught by M.D./D.O. so they can be tied to clinical knowledge...
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Mine was all MD as course director. Individual lecturers may occasionally be PhDs, but the majority of lectures in a given block were from MDs.
 
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I took a cardiorespiratory and neuro class in my post-bacc (also biochem and general pathology course). Covered everything in my M1 CVR block plus some path. The post-bacc classes I took were basically med school class equivalents spread out over a semester, but not cumulative. So our teacher turned 1 week of med school class into 3-4 weeks - then we'd have a test on the material (crammable) and move on.

Although I didn't earnestly study every day in my post-bacc, it still definitely gave me a big boost in CVR. I already knew the big picture physiology and med school reinforced the details. I'm sure I'll have to spend more time for neuro - much less than people with no background though.
 
Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice, I guess I should also mention that I have already graduated college in 2014, I was just wanting to know what I should be looking over in my free time(I took a gap year)! And as far as class schedule for medical school next year, I already have the schedule for the first year. Block 1 covers cell and molecular biology( think this also includes biochem) Block 2 covers human structure and development, and Block 3 covers neuroscience and behavioral science. In each block I have to take a clinical desicions making course. I thought most MD programs were the same? Didn't realize classes were school specific! Thanks for all the advice!
 
MDdream777 said:
Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice, I guess I should also mention that I have already graduated college in 2014, I was just wanting to know what I should be looking over in my free time(I took a gap year)! And as far as class schedule for medical school next year, I already have the schedule for the first year. Block 1 covers cell and molecular biology( think this also includes biochem) Block 2 covers human structure and development, and Block 3 covers neuroscience and behavioral science. In each block I have to take a clinical desicions making course. I thought most MD programs were the same? Didn't realize classes were school specific! Thanks for all the advice!
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Enjoy your free time while you still have it. Hit the gym, take care of loose ends, travel a little bit, maybe read some books if you enjoy that. I really like history so I did a couple medical historical books (Emperor of all Maladies, The Greatest of all Evils, Demon under the Microscope, And the Band Played On), but honestly don't do it, if you don't actually enjoy that stuff. I also bought a bike and started exercising with it.

Honestly, just do the things that will put you in relaxed and rejuvenated mental state before you start school and start some good habits that you can continue into school.
 
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My vote is for biostats. Not just stats, but a real biostats course. Med school tends to blitz through this stuff and it's nice to have time to internalize it. Useful for classes, boards, shelves, research, future practice -- well worth it if you can find a good one. I was very lucky and had a great biostats class before med school and it has probably come in handy more than any other single class I ever took.

Another thought would be a second language with Spanish being the obvious choice for most of the US. I'm multi-lingual but sadly Spanish is not one of them and it would be really helpful. I would not necessarily waste the time/money on classroom Spanish, but rather I would work through something like Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone and then go spend a couple months in a Spanish-speaking country. If you acquire the self-study aids under the black flag, your total costs for the months abroad would be roughly equal to what you'd spend for 6 credit hours of Spanish at most 4-yr colleges. Some countries also have language schools -- the Goethe Institut in Germany and the the School for Foreigners in Italy come to mind. I would look and see if there's something like that in a Spanish-speaking country. Self-study + a couple months of total immersion and you should be pretty comfortable. Not fluent, but able to have real conversations, watch television, read a newspaper, etc.
 
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you all make good points, this will probably be the last break I will ever have before medical school. I guess I was just kind of worried about anatomy because in undergrad, all the anatomy I learned was on a cat, it was super in depth, but I have never really taken a human anatomy class. But I guess cats and humans are pretty comparable.
 
I agree with @operaman that biostats is poorly taught in med school and it would be a good class to take before attending med school... There are a couple of people in my class with MPH degree from top 5 MPH programs that said the biostats taught in med school in 7 hours, they did it in a whole semester in their MPH program.
 
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MDdream777 said:
you all make good points, this will probably be the last break I will ever have before medical school. I guess I was just kind of worried about anatomy because in undergrad, all the anatomy I learned was on a cat, it was super in depth, but I have never really taken a human anatomy class. But I guess cats and humans are pretty comparable.
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There's a good chunk of medical students that have never taken ANY anatomy prior to school (myself included). We all get along fine without prestudying. Flashcards, youtube, rohen's, and grant's are your friend.

The best suggestion, besides doing nothing, is biostats. I had an MSPH prior and the biostats classes were pretty easy for me, but difficult for even some of my rockstar classmates as it was taught very quickly and not very well.
 
W19 said:
Wow... I guess your school is doing it the right way. I think most (if not all) of these MS1 classes should be taught by M.D./D.O. so they can be tied to clinical knowledge...
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Hard to do that when MDs/DOs have to crank out RVUs at the attached hospital for their salaries, which they can't do if they're teaching med students. Would be nice, but academic faculty these days have less "protected" time to do educational, academic learning stuff that would benefit students.
 
I started school in August and have a tremendously weak science background. I had certainly never had anatomy or biochem before med school and this has not yet been a disadvantage (grade-wise), so I am super happy I didn't waste my summer pre-studying. It would've been futile anyway.

If there was ONE thing I wish I reviewed before starting, it would be basic probability and genetics (e.g. Mendelian inheritance). This is just because I had to go back and figure out wtf a bionomial expansion is, or what different inheritance patterns mean while most of my classmates were able to focus on the more high yield information being thrown at us.
 
DermViser said:
Hard to do that when MDs/DOs have to crank out RVUs at the attached hospital for their salaries, which they can't do if they're teaching med students. Would be nice, but academic faculty these days have less "protected" time to do educational, academic learning stuff that would benefit students.
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I know, but people are paying 35k-50k/year for tuition, so they at least deserve a good education.. Some schools admit 250+ students every year... Where all these money go? paying these deans 150k+/year with cushy benefits to add to the bureaucratic nightmare of med school! It is amazing that my school was harassing students so they can come to get a locker room because LCME mandates they provide one to every student that wants one when there are many other important stuff LCME can do to make med school better (like having a clinician as the director of each class)... These people have their priorities completely messed up....
 
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W19 said:
I know, but people are paying 35k-50k/year for tuition, so they at least deserve a good education.. Some schools admit 250+ students every year... Where all these money go? paying these deans 150k+/year with cushy benefits to add to the bureaucratic nightmare of med school! It is amazing that my school was harassing students by sending them multiple emails so they can come to get a locker because LCME mandates they provide one to every student that wants one when there are many other important stuff LCME can do to make med school better (like having a clinician as the director of each class)... These people have their priorities completely messed up....
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You'll figure out soon enough that your tuition money doesn't go to what you think it does. 2 schools can pay the exact same tuition amount and have very different qualities of education. There's a lot of bureaucratic inefficiencies baked into the cake of what is called medical school, but that will always be the case in any professional school.

LCME mandates are no joke. Your med school has to follow them - that includes making sure every student has a locker. I don't know if the LCME mandates that a clinician be the course director for a class. There are some mandates that are actually for the protection of students, so they aren't all bad.
 
DermViser said:
You'll figure out soon enough that your tuition money doesn't go to what you think it does. 2 schools can pay the exact same tuition amount and have very different qualities of education. There's a lot of bureaucratic inefficiencies baked into the cake of what is called medical school, but that will always be the case in any professional school.

LCME mandates are no joke. Your med school has to follow them - that includes making sure every student has a locker. I don't know if the LCME mandates that a clinician be the course director for a class. There are some mandates that are actually for the protection of students, so they aren't all bad.
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Mandating that every student has a locker is one of the priorities of LCME... Amazing! I think they should focus more on the clinical aspect of med school... Common complaint I have heard from MS3 at my school is that there is so much variability on rotations. You will find students that say they are learning a lot, others will simply say it is merely an extended observer-ship or shadowing... I think LCME should focus more on stuff like that...
 
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W19 said:
Mandating that every student has a locker is one of the priority of LCME... Amazing! I think they should focus more on the clinical aspect of med school... Common complaint I have heard from MS3 at my school is that there is so much variability on rotations. You will find students that say they are learning a lot, others will simply say it is merely an extended observer-ship or shadowing... I think LCME should focus more on stuff like that...
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It's not a priority. It's one of many mandates - here's another example, students having adequate study space on site or getting grades turned in on time. If all these rules didn't exist (not just the lockers by the way), then schools would deteriorate into Caribbean schools.

It's very difficult for the LCME to police and nitpick over rotation clerkships, bc it's so subjective. Not all students will feel the same way. Not to mention, students have a habit of complaining about the stupidest of **** or bc they didn't get Honors and they felt like they deserved it.
 
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DermViser said:
It's not a priority. It's one of many mandates - here's another example, students having adequate study space on site or getting grades turned in on time. If all these rules didn't exist (not just the lockers by the way), then schools would deteriorate into Caribbean schools.

It's very difficult for the LCME to police and nitpick over rotation clerkships, bc it's so subjective. Not all students will feel the same way. Not to mention, students have a habit of complaining about the stupidest of **** or bc they didn't get Honors and they felt like they deserved it.
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I don't know, but when I went to get my locker after ignoring so many emails from the school secretary because I did not think it was something important, she told the school can be put on probation because of that... I thought that was stupid! I guess these schools need an organization to be afraid of so they can keep their act together...
 
W19 said:
I don't know, but when I went to get my locker after ignoring so many emails from the school secretary because I did not think it was something important, she told the school can be put on probation because of that... I thought that was stupid! I guess these schools need an organization to be afraid of so they can keep their act together...
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Be lucky you didn't get a warning of unprofessionalism from your Dean of Student Affairs for ignoring emails esp bc you "did not think it was something important".

But she is correct, if medical schools don't follow LCME guidelines, they can lose their LCME accredidation. It's the quality control mechanism so not every one and their mom can create a medical school out of thin air and start charging tuition.
 
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W19 said:
I thought the caribbean schools (the big 4) have to follow these LCME guidelines since they receive US federal money...
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Nope. Instead of meeting competence standards on the mainland, they just bribed some congressmen/women to pass a law allowing them to be eligible for federal education standards. Much cheaper than actually trying to get accredited.
 
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xffan624 said:
Enjoy your free time while you still have it. Hit the gym, take care of loose ends, travel a little bit, maybe read some books if you enjoy that. I really like history so I did a couple medical historical books (Emperor of all Maladies, The Greatest of all Evils, Demon under the Microscope, And the Band Played On), but honestly don't do it, if you don't actually enjoy that stuff. I also bought a bike and started exercising with it.

Honestly, just do the things that will put you in relaxed and rejuvenated mental state before you start school and start some good habits that you can continue into school.
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0) ignore anyone here telling you to prestudy. Like me you'll probably ignore them but it's true.

1) Get healthy
1A) get into shape, get into a good workout routine which doesn't involve hours at the gym.
1B) tune up relationships. Visit your patents. Go on vacations with significant other. Etc.
1C) rest. Go on vacation. Enjoy your hobbies. See friends. Have a few wild nights.

2) make sure you're ready to start on day one. Have apartment lease set, moved in, lights and Internet working, etc. Explore the city some before day 1.

3) study how to study - ie concept mapping, take a study course, etc. I read the book "Moonwalking with Einstein" which was fun and interesting.

3)study subjects interesting and applicable to life but not taught in med school, ie
3a) personal finance/investing/business
3b) economics
3c) philosophy/ethics
3d) anything you're interested in

Have fun! Relax. If you've gotten in, you're pretty smart and will do just fine by waiting for the first day to actually study medicine.
 
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numberwunn said:
0) ignore anyone here telling you to prestudy. Like me you'll probably ignore them but it's true.

1) Get healthy
1A) get into shape, get into a good workout routine which doesn't involve hours at the gym.
1B) tune up relationships. Visit your patents. Go on vacations with significant other. Etc.
1C) rest. Go on vacation. Enjoy your hobbies. See friends. Have a few wild nights.

2) make sure you're ready to start on day one. Have apartment lease set, moved in, lights and Internet working, etc. Explore the city some before day 1.

3) study how to study - ie concept mapping, take a study course, etc. I read the book "Moonwalking with Einstein" which was fun and interesting.

3)study subjects interesting and applicable to life but not taught in med school, ie
3a) personal finance/investing/business
3b) economics
3c) philosophy/ethics
3d) anything you're interested in

Have fun! Relax. If you've gotten in, you're pretty smart and will do just fine by waiting for the first day to actually study medicine.
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One thing I would add to your great list: Learn how to cook - doesn't have to be something extravagant, but learning how to make great-tasting meals that don't take hordes of time to prepare is a god send when you're studying. Those eating out tabs add up and fast food while cheap will make you lethargic when eaten consistently over a long period of time.

Loved #3. That's a real good idea to see different methods o

Oh, and I'm guessing you meant parents? Or patients?
 
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DermViser said:
Uh...no (I hope you were kidding). They aren't LCME accredited. You don't need to be LCME accredited in order to receive federal money. Heck you can even label yourself under a massage therapy school and masquerade as a med school: http://www.tampabay.com/news/busine...medicine-produces-profits-few-doctors/1069719
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I was not kidding... If tax payers are funding these schools, they should meet a minimum standard IMO. If not, this is like throwing money into a black hole.
 
I took biostats and med micro in college and they did help a little. But, I forgot a lot by the time I saw the stuff again.
 
W19 said:
I was not kidding... If tax payers are funding these schools, they should meet a minimum standard IMO. If not, this is like throwing money into a black hole.
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No it isn't. It's on the borrower.
 
Anatomy, Histo , Biochem , Phys and a basic stats class. Even if you remember nothing, understanding the lingo is going to help you get a solid foundation during the first weeks when some other people are like wtf this makes no sense. Don't try to memorize stuff for med school, but make sure you understand the concepts of general organization for each, that'll help a lot.
 
My experience so far is that the people who had at least some background in Anatomy had a much easier transition than those of us that did not. At the very least, having an introduction to the language is a huge help. It's hard enough learning the material without tripping over "anteriolateral and distal to the...posteriomedial to the proxmial end of the...." o_O. Maybe, read the 1st chapter of Moore before classes start. I listened to everyone who said to just relax and I got swamped fast. Those first few weeks were hell for me.

I'd say for Histo though you can do great having never seen that stuff before, which is in contrast to what most of the MS2s at my school told me. Repetition is all you really need there.

Embryo is a wash, I can't see prestudying for that class at all.
 
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Cell biology and molecular biology (two separate classes) made a few aspects of a block easier. Learning metabolic pathways and signaling cascades is a lot easier when you've seen it a few times.
 
I did a nutrition minor, which has been UNBELIEVABLY helpful for med school. Single best decision I made for my undergraduate education. Nutrition is involved in basically every bodily process and biochemical pathway (vitamins as cofactors for enzymes, macronutrients for energy metabolism, diseases and prevention, etc.) so it was a nice review of all systems. I couldn't even begin to tell you how applicable its been.

I also searched med school student handbooks for classes that you take M1/M2 and tailored my course schedule to that. I ended up taking: hematology*, immunology*, pharmacology, anatomy*, microbiology, biochemistry*, physiology, genetics, virology, and a cadaver lab (* particularly useful). Its made my life way easier and I'm pretty sure its part of why I've done well this semester.
 
At this point.
1) You don't know what your med school schedule/courses will be like (most all of them have biochem or anatomy in M1, but you don't know how in depth they'll likely be, what they'll emphasize, how the professor writes the exams etc.).
2) You don't know which of these courses will be your weak point, and I doubt any of us could tell you (immunology and neuro crushed me in med school and it wasn't well taught here, and it keeps coming back in many of my classes, I wish I took it in college...BUT, I would not have known this until I took these classes in med school.)
3) On the flip side I took biochem in college thinking and hearing from others that it would help for med school. Turned out it didn't help much at all. Our med school biochem class was so well taught and exams were so fair, that most everyone, even without a background did fine. So my major hardly helped me there, and I don't feel it has given me a big edge in any other classes.

All in all, you just don't know which college classes will help, and which one's wont, until you're in the thick of it in med school. So personally, I'd say don't worry too much about it, take the classes you like. And believe that you will be able to adapt to what comes your way in med school.

The only thing I can say from my experience, and that of classmates is, don't be afraid to challenge yourself (so long as it doesn't tank your GPA). One thing we all know for certain, is that med school course work is hard, it's high volume and can be high stress at times. I find that the one or two friends who took difficult science course loads in college seem to adapt better to the heavy workload here and not feel as overwhelmed.
Also the more upper level sciences you take, the more likely that one or two of them might turn out to be helpful in med school, even if you don't know exactly which one.
Probably not the best advice, but it's what I would say from my own experience.

Just my 2 cents
 
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I was a non-bio major in UG, but I was really glad I took biochem, genetics, and anatomy. We haven't started physiology yet here, but I also took that and I hope I remember enough to make it helpful. I wish I would have taken histology, micro/immuno, or a more rigorous anatomy class
 
PL198 said:
Anatomy, Histo , Biochem , Phys and a basic stats class. Even if you remember nothing, understanding the lingo is going to help you get a solid foundation during the first weeks when some other people are like wtf this makes no sense. Don't try to memorize stuff for med school, but make sure you understand the concepts of general organization for each, that'll help a lot.
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:rolleyes:
 
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Jacks5451 said:
Here are some advice able things for staring medical schools.

1 Take Kaplan for the MCAT

2 These subjects you can take Physiology, Anatomy, Cell Biology/Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Genetics along with the required pre-med courses.

3 Take some time between undergraduate and medical school to pursue advance studies(Not necessary).

4 Keep your senses of humor and humility,believe the people who tell you to study hard and learn a lot.

5 Focus more on your extracurricular activities and volunteer work instead of going crazy trying to get good score.
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o_O
 
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DermViser said:
:rolleyes:
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even understanding the etymology of it is a worthwhile reason to take those classes. there's a huge difference in my performance in classes that I took in undergrad vs ones I didn't
 
I wish I had been drunk in class at least once.

Not too drunk, mind. Just a lil' bit
 
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O Grady said:
Is it too late to accomplish this?
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Yes, I think so. As a professional student, I'm not trying to behave in such a risky and unprofessional way. Not worth it.

Not that I haven't ever smelt the alcohol on my classmates' breath during a mandatory Friday afternoon lecture.... :oops:
 
Entadus said:
Yes, I think so. As a professional student, I'm not trying to behave in such a risky and unprofessional way. Not worth it.

Not that I haven't ever smelt the alcohol on my classmates' breath during a mandatory Friday afternoon lecture.... :oops:
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they're alcoholics then. if you can't wait 5 hours to start partying to avoid something high risk like that, then they have a problem.
 
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Entadus said:
I wish I had been drunk in class at least once.

Not too drunk, mind. Just a lil' bit
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I always drank before freshman bio lab, which I took as a senior. I think that I might have subconsciously been trying to fulfill a stereotype..
 
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PL198 said:
even understanding the etymology of it is a worthwhile reason to take those classes. there's a huge difference in my performance in classes that I took in undergrad vs ones I didn't
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So then why take the class? You'd be better off just getting the review book and reading directly.
 
DermViser said:
So then why take the class? You'd be better off just getting the review book and reading directly.
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Don't think many people are going to be able to do that in terms of motivation. Even if someone doesn't remember much anatomy, I would definitely say it's a benefit to have exposure to it at a lower level first than straight away thrown into the big leagues.
 
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