- Joined
- Jan 6, 2003
- Messages
- 911
- Reaction score
- 0
If I buy everything used and soft back, how much should i spend per textbook and know that i'm getting a good deal? Also, is it worth it to get older editions??
How much $$ should i plan on spending on books first yr?
- Thread starter yalla22
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2006
- Messages
- 3,884
- Reaction score
- 3,661
It's not always easy to get ahold of used books. Med students seem to keep their books a lot longer, and sometimes forever, and tend not to immediately sell them the moment the class is over. Your best bet is to keep an eye out for book sales by the graduating students, that's where I always got my best deals.
Do you get a book list at your school? We didn't, so how much you spend is highly variable, and depends a lot on what you want in your own collection. My personal tab was on the order of probably $1000-2000 during first year. Of course, I tend to buy hardcover books.
Personally, I tend to avoid older editions for medical texts, but it's a personal decision.
7
78222
Good grief!!!!! Were they hardback with gold inlays?
I spent a total of around 250 on first year books and that was really more than I should have spent.
D
deleted50541
When school started, a lot of the upperclassmen were unloading their books on the cheap. Definitely get advice from the second years as to what books are essential for class.
I only bought a handful of essential books new: Robbins Path, Wheater's Histo, Netters and Grants Anatomy, Boron Physio. They've served me well this year and cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $350-400 total.
Anything else I picked up for practically pennies from third and fourth years.
- Joined
- May 22, 2005
- Messages
- 3,216
- Reaction score
- 17
I spent ~$350. I bought all older editions (anatomy hasn't changed so much in the last 5 years). Do ask your upperclassmen what you really need... they can be a great resource.
D
deleted50541
There was that thirteenth cranial nerve I believe they tacked on a few years back...
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2005
- Messages
- 4,992
- Reaction score
- 9
About $650 or so here, of which maybe $400 or so was actually worth it or useful.
C
Critical Mass
Lemme see--Netter atlas, a couple of BRS books, something cheap for neuro, a simple embryo pamphlet-looking thing (not quide a text), Costanzo Phys
Maybe $200 to $250 for the first year?
I thumbed through First Aid too, but I usually get flamed for suggesting others do the same.
Maybe $200 to $250 for the first year?
I thumbed through First Aid too, but I usually get flamed for suggesting others do the same.
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2007
- Messages
- 55
- Reaction score
- 1
It really depends on how much lecture material is provided from your school, and how much the exam is based on lecture vs book material. I bought 3 books 1st yr: micro made ridiculously simple, Netter's & Kierszenbaum histology. There are also great resources online for free.
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2004
- Messages
- 30,873
- Reaction score
- 10,063
Some books you need, most you don't. But you won't really be confident which is which until it's too late. If you bought everything recommended you could shell out over a grand. Most buy a few key books and a bunch of board review type books and do fine. $300 - $500 should work.
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2006
- Messages
- 2,884
- Reaction score
- 12
As has already been mentioned, how many books you need depends on how much material is presented to you by the school (via comprehensive syllabus, notesets, powerpoints, etc). One could probably just buy an Anatomy Atlas and a few review books and be just fine. If you will be attending a school that doesn't give you much material and expects you to use books a lot, you will probably have to buy quite a few more.
My school has given us access to lots of online books and also has given us a few textbooks on our computers. Technically, all I needed to buy was my anatomy atlas. I've bought more, but they were all probably a waste of money.
My school has given us access to lots of online books and also has given us a few textbooks on our computers. Technically, all I needed to buy was my anatomy atlas. I've bought more, but they were all probably a waste of money.
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2006
- Messages
- 566
- Reaction score
- 3
There was that thirteenth cranial nerve I believe they tacked on a few years back...
Lol everyone knows there are only eleven cranial nerves!
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2005
- Messages
- 1,812
- Reaction score
- 8
Books I actually used for first year:
Netters Atlas (Free from AMSA)
Rohens Atlas
Anatomy dissector
Histology atlas (I used the chapter summaries in our textbook)
Neuro atlas (for cross sections on the test, so I didn't have to go to lab)
Pulm. Physio book (written by the proff, told explicitly to know it back and forth)
Renal Physio book (notesets were awful for this block)
probably about 350$ worth, I could have gotten a few used for even less but I had no clue what I was going to use until it was too late and I just had to buy from the bookstore
Netters Atlas (Free from AMSA)
Rohens Atlas
Anatomy dissector
Histology atlas (I used the chapter summaries in our textbook)
Neuro atlas (for cross sections on the test, so I didn't have to go to lab)
Pulm. Physio book (written by the proff, told explicitly to know it back and forth)
Renal Physio book (notesets were awful for this block)
probably about 350$ worth, I could have gotten a few used for even less but I had no clue what I was going to use until it was too late and I just had to buy from the bookstore
D
deleted77919
One of my professors doesn't believe CN XI is an actual cranial nerve.
- Joined
- May 27, 2005
- Messages
- 984
- Reaction score
- 10
Wow... some of you bought alot of books. I'm really interested to hear about the library of gold-inlay guy.
BRS Anatomy ~$35
BRS Neuro ~$35
BRS Phys ~$35
Netter's atlas (free)
Haines Neuro atlas ~$60
Lippincott Biochem ~$45
Grand Total: $210
And I definitely could have gotten away without the Lippincott book, which I rarely cracked.
Other books I didn't buy first year but may have been helpful:
First Aid ~$45
Rohen's ~$70
So the most I could possibly see spending (unless your syllabi are just terrible) would be $325.
C
Critical Mass
Why not? Is he saying that they aren't SVE fibers?
What about XII then? (GSE if I'm not mistaken)
Both are motor nerves, but I'd make a better case for XI than XII.
Either way, they both arise from nuclei in the brainstem and exit before the first vertebra (like C1 for that matter), so I don't see the prof's case.
BTW there seems to be a consensus that AMSA gives free Netter's. I'm pissed that I was never offered one.
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2004
- Messages
- 30,873
- Reaction score
- 10,063
Not really. You can probably get away with reading a lot in the library, rather than actually owning secondary resources, but for the most part the useful text resources in medicine are not free and online.
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2004
- Messages
- 30,873
- Reaction score
- 10,063
BTW there seems to be a consensus that AMSA gives free Netter's. I'm pissed that I was never offered one.
You have to sign up for a credit card (which you can promptly cancel), so it's only sort of free. I would talk to your chapter reps.
