Do I need to hold on to my premed textbooks?

[unfrozencaveman]

Does anyone find any use for any of these?

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[Smurfette]

Sell them to younger pre-meds.

Seriously, keep any books you want to keep for your own interest. I didn't keep any books from undergrad (we had text rental, so we didn't have to buy our books) and never ever felt that this was a problem. They teach you and tell you everything you need to know in med school, including what texts you may need.

If you have an anatomy, physiology or basic biochem text, these *may* be useful to you *if* the texts are detailed enough for med school level and *if* you would actually haul out these texts rather than looking things up in your course materials or the internet or via a classmate.

 

[oudoc08]

Does anyone find any use for any of these?

No. Textbooks are paperweights in med. school. Two reasons:

1: The syllabi are so complete that you don't need them.

2: There is no time to for additional reading.

Note, these are broad blanket statements, and admittedly, there may be times when a textbook could help clear up a foggy point. However, rather than having a bookshelf full of rapidly aging texts, the internet is a current source of information, as are your other resources such as classmates, professors, other online rsrcs, etc.

I kept many of my undergrad books thinking they would come in handy. Out of apx. 50lbs of books including cell bio, genetics, biochem, zoo, phys., etc., I never cracked one, not even my old anatomy text.

There is simply a limited amt. of time to study as efficiently as possible. I think the overwhelming majority of med students would agree that textbooks fall at the bottom of that list, and consequently make better dust collectors than study resources.

 

[Ramoray]

i disagree, depending on what level of classes you took, my undergrad classes were often more deetailed than any classes i had in medschool, like mol. bio, genetics, physio, and i liked alot of my undergrad books but chose not to bring them but some i wish i had as i ended up rebuying a few of them. If you like books in undergrad and read them you probably will still like books in meds chool and you have time to read them if you want to have time. Personally i never read the syllabi my school gave because i prefer a nice colorful book with pictures and organization into something very systamatic, but yes you are given plenty of notes and if you prefer learning off of notes then leav ethem at home. Not like there will be a lack of things to read!

 

[unfrozencaveman]

Thanks for the input. I was hoping someone would tell me I could sell/burn/throw them in the ocean, and so now I will.

 

[crys20]

I did what Ramoray said up there and I sort of regret not selling some of them back when I could as you can actually get some decent dough for some of them. Some of them are good to keep and I might actually use in med....Like biochem, cell bio, and maybe my Vander physio book. But other than that keeping books past the MCAT was a huge waste. Because then you try to sell them back way later and you can't because there are new editions and what not.

The best way I found to sell books back was, like someone said, to younger premeds. They did that thru the AED or whatever it is at my school. It worked out well because you as the seller get way more than you would if you sold them back to the bookstore but the buyer pays less than the bookstore would charge for a used book.

But yes, once past the MCAT sell em all back except maybe those ones I mentioned if they're good.

 

[DianaLynne]

I like books. I'm gonna bring all mine, after all I have been known to look at a couple of texts to really get a point. I've also been known to be a pack rat.

 

[Sage880]

I ended up getting rid of everything from pre-med - including pre-med anatomy textbooks. We used some crappy one and Moore is just so much better.

The only thing I kept is Human Physiology by Silverthorn. What a great book! Not recommended at all by my school but everyone I told about it did well. It's like a text book in story form. Used it to understand everything in Phys and then a review book to memorize details.

 

[MiniPri]

Is it useful to keep old tests and study guides for practice questions? Also, should I keep any notes? I am planning on throwing them away. My undergrad had a rental service for textbooks, so they are not an issue.

 

[uclacrewdude]

Is it useful to keep old tests and study guides for practice questions? Also, should I keep any notes? I am planning on throwing them away. My undergrad had a rental service for textbooks, so they are not an issue.

good lord, no. there isnt anything you learned in undergrad that will be directly helpful towards your understanding of medicine.

 

[MiniPri]

good lord, no. there isnt anything you learned in undergrad that will be directly helpful towards your understanding of medicine.

Thanks...one more trip to the recycling bin today

 

[DukeDoc08]

The only book I kept and used was a biochem book for our 1st block of 6 weeks....then it was sold on amazon...