COMP's summer anatomy

[spyyder31]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I attended the Osteopathic Medicine Awareness Conference last spring, and I was very impressed. The mentioned that one could take a summer anatomy course before their first year. From what I got there were two ways about it. One was if you have never had any Anatomy before. And the other was for those who have had a good course in A&P in college and could have a chance at having more a a TA role in the semester anatomy class. Am I getting this right so far?? Although, I did hear that this class was a real B@#$% to get a good mark in! Is it a real benefit to take this course? Do many students there partake in this option? Thank you!

 

[melancholy]

Ahh.. I can kind of answer this question, but it might take awhile. They have two options for the summer: 1) ISAC (Intensive Summer Anatomy Course) and 2) SAPP (Summer Anatomy Preparatory Program?).

-Requirements to enroll:
- ISAC - Supposedly, you have had to have previous anatomy experience, although two people in my class (including me) had no previous experience. I believe they send ISAC applications to people who meet certain GPA/MCAT requirements... so whether or not you have taken anatomy before, you may still get an application.

- SAPP - No requirements really. You have to pay a fee of a few hundred dollars.

- Length
- ISAC - 6 weeks.. 3 sets of exams (1 written and 1 lab practical for each set). It goes by extremely fast and it won't leave time for anything else in your life for those six weeks. Having to move early and settle in since it starts mid-summer is a concern too.
- SAPP - 3 weeks I believe. I thought it was a good introductory course especially the exposure to cadavers. SAPP is what you make of it I think. They spend a lot of time in the classroom and moderate time in lab, but it probably helped some of the students early on in the semester.


- Enrollment
- ISAC - In past years they have had as many as 35-40 people enroll in the class, but this past year we had more like 28 people (kinda short). I think they are pretty lenient with letting people take the class though.

- SAPP - Up to 100 people can take the course supposedly, but I think only about 30 something people took the course.


-Benefits
- ISAC - If you think you could miss six weeks of vacation to study hardcore anatomy, I think it is definitely worth the time to take the course. Depending on your performance during the course, you could become a facilitator (basically a TA) that would help your fellow classmates during the gross anatomy course. It is a lot of work, but the grade benefits are huge.. in anatomy and in other classes that you have more time to study for. Even if you don't become a facilitator, I think it is a big advantage.

- SAPP - Good introduction to learning/studying anatomy. Other people on here who took SAPP can comment more on their benefits.

-Benefits for both- If you have been out of school for awhile, both courses are a good chance to reacclimate yourself with studying every night. ISAC really gets you used to studying the hours that have to be put in for med school so when school starts, the learning curve isn't as steep. Both also allow you to meet people, make new friends, and wander around the surrounding areas looking for places to eat, places to waste time, etc.

Anyway, biochem lecture is starting so I'll stop for now. If you have any other questions please go ahead and ask them.. and I invite other COMP'ers to comment.. whether or not they took any summer courses.

 

[spyyder31]

Melancholy;
Thanks for the great reply! That was really informative 🙂

 

[jhug]

This is a dumb question but I wanted to ask anyway- I was accepted at western but most likely won't be attending there....but....I was incredibly impressed with the school and faculty- Anyway, can one take the intensive anatomy if you are not planning to attend the school? I hope this doesn't come across as shallow- I just really appreciated the attention comp gives to anatomy and wanted that exposure.

 

[melancholy]

jhug- Unfortunately, I don't think you can officially attend the summer anatomy course unless you are enrolled in the school. During orientation day, I was surprised as I had to come up with a check for my first semester tuition that morning.. I guess because it is considered starting med school already. The program IS a big advantage... I don't know if other schools have prep courses like that before school starts. It does seem like DO schools put extra emphasis on the musculoskeletal system and anatomy, but I suppose that is a given considering the fact that our OMM skills depend greatly on our knowledge of the body.

 

[jhug]

Melancholy- in fear of sounding really, super cheezy- you are the type i want working with me on a case in the O.R.! thanks for all the info and best of luck to you!

 

[teloola]

I took SAPP over the summer and I can tell you that I probably would not be passing anatomy without it. It is a very quick 3 week program, where we covered back, upper and lower limb. We covered the heart and some of the organs as well. The one good thing is that we covered the bones. The regular anatomy class assumes that you already know all of the bones and their topography.
We spent most of the time in lecture and towards the end we got to spend time in the lab. It just gives you exposure to what you are going to have to know durring the semester. You get out of it what you put into it. I wish I would have tried harder, but live and learn.
If you are considering taking a summer anatomy course (ISAC or SAPP) there are a couple perks that haven't been metnioned.
First you get to meet some of your classmates early. It is a great way to meet friends before all 200 people show up and start study groups. You also find out the best places to go eat, where to park and all of the other first week stuff without having to look like the "lost freshman" with the rest of the student body on campus. YOu can also get into the routine of an 8-5 school schedule. It is quite a change for those of us who went to the working world before med school.

 

[melancholy]

jhug- cheesy schmeesy.. thank you for the compliment! I took the ISAC summer program and that has allowed me to "slack" somewhat in terms of following with the current anatomy course because I am only required to take the lab practical. That being said, I definitely feel like I should be following along.. because I felt one of the advantages of taking the summer course was being able to learn the material much better a second time around. I admit to slacking off, but I definitely catch up when I can because what we learn in anatomy goes a REALLY long way in our med school and future career. (Sounding like a nerd, I will probably be flipping through old notes and journals during the winter break when I have nothing better to do.. it's nice to refresh my memory and read about interesting things in medicine.. keeps me motivated! 😀 )

Let us know what school you end up going to.. never know down the line when you will meet another SDN peer!

 

[melancholy]

Any other questions regarding SAPP/ISAC? I'll keep this thread up as more people become interested in COMP so we can keep it all in one thread..

 

[Eric714]

Lanny,

You mentioned winter break.....I'm not sure if you know this, but the class be given a note packet to study for the upcoming head & neck anatomy course. So you might not have as much leisure time, but then again a lot of us last year didn't even touch the note packet over break. 🙂

In the end I don't think it mattered a whole lot since ALL of us got worked on the written and practical. So just make sure you have a good grade going into head & neck.

Good luck on OMM!
Eric

 

[muonwhiz]

is the COMP summer anatomy class open to any student?

 

[Yosh]

The SAPP prep program is open to all incomming students....I did and it helped....I still have to study my ass off...but it was good.

 

[melancholy]

muonwhiz-Applications for ISAC supposedly get sent to incoming students who have certain MCAT/GPA requirements.. and even though they say they only accept students with previous anatomy experience, that's not true (although most of the ISAC'ers had some previous experience).

Eric714- Doh.. I forgot about the H&N packet. Yeah we will get rocked, so I imagine a little curve action should help in the end. Is it all Bales teaching the course? I can almost taste Starcraft after Neuro.. haha.

 

[melancholy]

Any more questions about SAPP/ISAC?