Did anyone keep their books from undergrad & found them helpful in d-school?

[dds2013]

Hey everyone,

I am currently a senior in undergrad. I will hopefully start d-school next August. I was wondering whether anyone kept their dental school prerequisite books from undergrad, and found them helpful in d-school.

The books that I have and debating whether to sell are: gen chem, orgo chem, physics, gen bio (Campbell), cell bio, genetics, physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, and microbiology.

These books would probably fetch around $800 (with the solution manuals to some of the books). $800 right now seems like a lot of money to me, that however, is chump change in comparison to d-school tuition and expenses. I do not want to get to d-school and realize “I should have kept my orgo book”.

So, do you guys think I should keep all the books, sell all the books, or sell some and keep some? If you think I should sell some and keep some, please let me know which ones I should keep.

Thanks in advance.

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[ScubaDr2B]

In my opinion, sell em all. When you get to dental school they will give you more than you want to read and learn at one time anyway, no need to reference, and if you do, you have an abundance of dental school books to look at.
Good luck on admission next year.

 

[squeegeediver]

I'm a D1. Thus far, there have been times when I would have loved to have had my Cell and Molec textbook (which I sold soon after finishing my post-bacc), but it didn't go into the level of detail required in my dental school classes. It would've been useful, but not so useful that I seriously regret having sold it.

I have never missed my books for the basic four pre-reqs (gen chem, gen bio, orgo, and physics). If you forget something and end up needing to know it, it's usually available on the Internet.

What are the titles of your Anatomy and your Physiology textbooks? They might be useful, but they might or might not be useful enough to justify keeping them.

 

[squeegeediver]

Two other thoughts:

1. As a general rule of thumb, if they are in any way marketed to graduate-level or medical students, they're probably worth keeping. (For instance, do they offer USMLE review services or materials?)

2. They will give you a lot of reading material in dental school, but in some cases you may find that you learn better from your own textbook than from the school's required/recommended textbook.

 

[OceanDMD]

no




Books get really expensive. The only books I have since school are a pathology book, oral pathology, and a modified dental treatment book (patients with health issues/pregnancy, etc).

What I did in school was find a buddy and split the costs of books. We bought one set, and scheduled our studying time accordingly. You will save like 500-1000 bucks a semester. You can always go back and buy the books you think you want in practice, but besides the pathology books I rarely crack any of the others.

 

[dds2013]

Thanks everyone. I think i'm gonna just keep my orgo, anatomy, physiology, biochem, and micro books.

 

[newsjunkie360]

I'm a D1 and I think having Anatomy and biochem is a good thing. Most of the time you'll be able to talk to a D2 at your school and they'll tell you whether or not it's worth having a book for a class.

 

[Contach]

Thanks everyone. I think i'm gonna just keep my orgo, anatomy, physiology, biochem, and micro books.

orgo? really?

 

[dds2013]

orgo? really?

I dont know dude. I really like orgo. Plus, every now and then i have to go back and brush up on how some reactions occur or naming.

My main concern was selling the books and then realizing in d-school i should have kept them. But most have told me to sell everything but the big prereqs, like biochem, anatomy, and physio.

 

[gryffindor]

I dont know dude. I really like orgo. Plus, every now and then i have to go back and brush up on how some reactions occur or naming.

My main concern was selling the books and then realizing in d-school i should have kept them. But most have told me to sell everything but the big prereqs, like biochem, anatomy, and physio.

This question is really school specific. At my school, I never cracked open a physio book, the entire course was based on handouts given in class. Which anatomy text do you have? If it's an atlas, it may be worth keeping.

You will not need organic chemistry ever again. I remember almost nothing from that class. I vaguely recall learning something called the "Grignard Reaction" and although I no longer have an organic text I can refer to, a quick search on Google leads me to plenty of sources telling me what the Grignard reaction is and reminding me that it is useless for clinical dentistry.

Sell them all. $800 is good money you can use to buy some dental textbooks that you will actually use. At some schools $800 will pay for an entire month or two of rent.