Has anyone else here taken gross anatomy, and think that it's one of the hardest classes that you can take during your undergrad?
Gross Anatomy
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Mine didn't - I took a human anatomy class at my school over the summer that was essentially learn the same stuff, but without gross dissection. For my school (Northwestern) it was offered through a grad/continuing studies program, but undergrads could enroll. No gross anatomy though, if they offered it I definitely would've been there.
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dshnay said:
yep, and I guess.
Tulane offers it... w/ lab. We have 3 people per cadaver in my lab section, and the two members of my group don't like to cut, so I get to do it all. I feel like that helps me learn it much better.
As far as lecture goes, its still just a bunch of memorization...if you can memorize its easy.
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Yes, and I didn't really think it was that hard, just a lot of memorization.dshnay said:
My school (William & Mary) has a human anatomy class with lab, and it is probably my favorite class that I've taken. It helps that the professor is great, and that I got along really well with the other people working on my cadaver - we had a blast and lab time generally flew by.
Our school offers it through the medical school to the top 10 honor students. The 10 honor students that get in the class all have 1 cadaver between them. At the end of the semester they are allowed to decide whether they want to do it pass fail or whether they want to do it for credit.
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Our Gross Anatomy was during the summer and was only about a month long. It was easy because we were tested on the stuff that we learned that week. The final wasn't too bad because Anatomy was all you think about for a month.
It was good, but probably not the best way to retain the info in the long run (for Med School).
It was good, but probably not the best way to retain the info in the long run (for Med School).
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Ditto. The way we learned anatomy at William and Mary is very different than the way we'll have to learn it in medical school, because at WM, it's a kinesiology class, so it's more focused on muscles, innervation, etc. We didn't learn most of the nervous system (lab wise), nor did we focus on the vascular system much (we learned the major arteries and veins, but ignored most of the smaller ones).DF38 said:
It was a great class though. One of my favorites. Mostly memorization, wouldn't call it particularly hard, just a lot of material between lecture and lab.
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Don't medical schools generally frown on undergrads taking anatomy classes?...Since you're going to have to do the same thing only with much more rigor (lol pun) as an MS1. I know my undergrad (UCSD) doesn't offer it to undergrads for this reason, and some of the schools I've applied to specifically state that they do not recommend taking anatomy during the pre-med track. I'm curious as to what is the motiviation to take such a demanding course when it might even look bad to med schools when you apply? Maybe my experience is narrow and some schools actually like/encourage it...anyone?
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Bluntman said:
I don't know how many schools "frown" on you taking it as an undergrad. There's a possibility that some may say it isn't worth your time because of the extra detail you will need in med school. But I can't see them looking down on you or thinking of you as a worse applicant for having taken it, especially if the class is a requirement for your major. Note, I haven't taken gross. There was a class at my alma mater called "vertebrate physiology" t hat was essentially A&P but with no dissection; it was one of several electives I could have taken but I took microbiology instead.
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Thanks for the replies guys! It's interesting to see how different undergrads do things so differently. At UCSD, nobody is allowed to take anatomy as an ugrad...guess they had me brainwashed that it was some taboo thing to do.Whootman said:I hate to be the one to do this, but:
Grey's Anatomy = the TV show
Gray's Anatomy = the book
That would be pretty sweet, though, if they made a textbook based off the show!
People make typos all the time. You obviously knew what I meant. I didn't know how they spelled it for the textbook, just what it was called. But carry on...
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At my school only nursing and allied health majors take Anatomy so you're not alone.Bluntman said:
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At UCLA undergrad I was able to take Human Dissection Anatomy, PS 153, where we basically began with quadrants and dissected down to muscles, attachments and landmarks so that the anatomy theory class that took place the next quarter could study off of. I don't know about anyone else, but I am sooo glad I took it, as are most med students I speak to because the more times I see something the better I learn it. It was pretty detailed in that we had to learn all cranial, many spinal nerves and plexii, the locations and functions, all origins and attachments of most major muscles. As a physiology major this helped me form the big picture of human physiology in my head and discover interrelationships and their importance. I do realize why med schools suggest focus on other fields, but physiology was still the field for me...
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Yeah my school has it, with the lab. Its actually very fun. It makes you more excited about medical school. The only thing that makes it hard is if you have alot of other classes that take your attention away from the class, which in turn gives you less time to memorize what you need to memorize to do well. Thats pretty much what makes it hard. But even with that, its doable. If you are very bad a memorizing, it will be hard. There is not much understanding needed in the class, just plain ole memorizing.
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My school doesn't have gross anatomy. It just has anatomy and physiology 1 and 2. Mostly the students in the nursing program took the classes but I took them because I was going to major in biology and they would have counted towards my degree. We didn't get to dissect cadavers or anything, but we did get to dissect a cow eye, sheep brain, and a heart (don't remember what from). It was a lot of memorization, but I liked the classes.
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I took it and thought it was one of the easier classes that I had taken - BUT, easy did NOT mean it was not time consuming. It required a LOT of studying and memorization. I had an awesome study group that I worked with for about 5 hours a week in addition to my regular studying and those 5 hours of drilling each other really helped a lot.
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Flopotomist said:
I thought the key to Gross Anat was to spend that extra hour or two in the lab studying with the cadaver in front of me. It was always tempting to just go home, take a break, and study on the couch instead of standing on the hard floor of a stinky room. I always got more out of studying in the lab that by looking at Netter.
