How to pay for all this schtuff??

[ILovetheOC]

---

Members don't see this ad.

So, during orientation week and the first week of class, I have to buy a diagnostic kit, rent a microscope and get books/supplies. Are we supposed to pay for this out of pocket or do loan checks arrive so that that money cn pay for it. My bank account has little over $500 and I know that won't be enough to get all I need. What have you older med students done???

 

[lindyloohoo]

First off, are the diagnostic kits really required? Sometimes the school says it's highly recommended and if you talk to upperclassmen, they'll tell you they used them once while learning how to use them. Or you might want to try ebay, or looking in the classified forums, or asking someone in this thread (that way more people might see it 😉 ) As for when your check comes, you better call your financial aid office. Finding an apt, putting down a deposit, getting utilities started....$500 won't get you too far. As for books, check out upper classmen, ebay, amazon, or even the AMSA storefront on Barnes and Noble (go to AMSA.org, click on member benefits, and then the B&N link). You get 5% off and free delivery on new books. Don't buy things from your bookstore. Every bookstore I've ever been to, I've been ripped off. Also, depending on your parents/siblings bank accounts, you might be able to borrow some money until you get your check if it doesn't arrive soon enough. I can't thank my brother enough for getting an actual job instead of going to grad school after college! He's been a life saver.

Hope you spend your money wisely. It's kind of rough going from a bi-weekly check coming in (even if it was only $200) to getting paid 3 times a year in large lump sums 😱

 

[flighterdoc]

So, during orientation week and the first week of class, I have to buy a diagnostic kit, rent a microscope and get books/supplies. Are we supposed to pay for this out of pocket or do loan checks arrive so that that money cn pay for it. My bank account has little over $500 and I know that won't be enough to get all I need. What have you older med students done???

What are you going to do in your first year with a diagnostic kit?

If you're going to buy one (they are the quintessential piece of doctors bling, since almost everyone gets stethoscopes these days) buy it on Ebay - I got the top of the line W-A (non panoptic) for a total of $300. And, I had to buy the battery and case new from a distributor.

 

[8744]

I'll say it again. I bought a WA otoscope and opthalmascope new in first year. I hardly ever use it. Every examination room in every clinic in our hospital has them on the wall. If you buy one, to get any use out of it you will have to carry it around "ready to deploy." They can get quite heavy plus somebody will always want to borrow it and unless you get it back in a few minutes it will be gone.

So I'd say save your money. They will tell you that you need lots of things during orientation but you will find that you don't really need them that much. You certainly don't have to show up on the first day of first year with all of your equipment and all of your books. Be patient. See what you need. If you need it, then you need it.

On the other hand, you will eventually need a good stethescope so if you buy a good quality Littman (sp?) you will not go wrong.

As for books, we say this every year, it seems, to the entering freshmen. Unless you don't mind spending the money, wait until you see what you need. I have about $1200 worth of books which I bought in good faith because they were on the "required" list. Most of them I have hardly ever opened. I did most of my studying from either the the downloaded lectures on our website or the BRS review books. Not to mention that most schools have note taking service.

The textbooks the professor recommends are usually pendantic tomes of useless detail, often of staggering length. If you think you will have time to read a 780 page neurology textbook then you are either Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius or delusional. Better to get review books or books which are written for clinicians. I get several hundred times more use out of Five Minute Clinical Consult then I ever did out of Harrison's. I know this sounds "anti-intellectual" but there it is.

Netters, or another good atlas is about the only thing I think you absolutely need to start out. A Robbins Pathological Basis of Disease and a good Physiology Textbook like Guyton are good to have as a reference but they will probably have several copies of all of these in the library.

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

The OP may need their diagnostic kit their first year if their school is like mine. We begin learning our physical exam right away and NOT IN EXAM ROOMS. So therefore, you have to take your own equipment to your reserved study room or whereever you are learning/practicing. Then during 2nd year, we have to examine patients in the hospital and there are no opthalmascopes and otoscopes on the walls in those rooms. SO, instead of bashing people who ask about buying their kits, let's just tell them where to get it.

To the op: You'll get your first loan check when you begin school and you'll be able to pay for all of that stuff. Be sure to talk to upperclassmen about what tools you really need.

Good luck!

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

I think people are just telling the OP to be sure something is really needed before buying. I used my oto/optho set 3 times ever. Luckily, it was a hand down from my sister. If I had paid $400 for it I would have been mad. You might want to talk to the class ahead of you before you buy.

Same with books. I have a brand new $90 neuroscience textbook that I've cracked open 3-4 times to prove that I didn't have this advice when I started out.

 

[Medical123]

I am pretty sure that your school will have an orientation right before classes begin. If it is anything like the one that we had, the upper classmen were always available to give us advice on which textbooks and pieces of equipment to buy. At my school, you could share your microscope with a 2nd year student to help with the rental costs. There are ways to save money. You really need to talk to the second year students and see what resources they found to be most valuable to them. Sometimes, the upperclassmen will have book sales during the orientation period. You can find some really good bargains at these sales.

 

[8744]

The OP may need their diagnostic kit their first year if their school is like mine. We begin learning our physical exam right away and NOT IN EXAM ROOMS. So therefore, you have to take your own equipment to your reserved study room or whereever you are learning/practicing. Then during 2nd year, we have to examine patients in the hospital and there are no opthalmascopes and otoscopes on the walls in those rooms. SO, instead of bashing people who ask about buying their kits, let's just tell them where to get it.

To the op: You'll get your first loan check when you begin school and you'll be able to pay for all of that stuff. Be sure to talk to upperclassmen about what tools you really need.

Good luck!

I don't think we were bashing anybody. If that was the tone of my post I apologize. We were just trying to share some of our hard-earned experience, reliving the bitterness as it were, of wasting a ton of money on stuff we didn't need and don't use.

Short List of Books You Think You Will Need But Really Won't:

1. Lodish: Molecular Cell Biology. Puh-leeze. BRS covers it in more then enough detail for Step 1, most exams, and the wards. Price difference? $84 vs. $32 for the BRS book which includes histology.

2. Lenninger: Biochemistry. Six pounds of utter trivia more suited to a person majoring in biochemistry. Get Lippincot's Illustrated Review for a savings of approximately $50.

3. Haines: Fundamentals of Neuroscience. Man. I can't even sell this book to anybody it is such a dog.

Feel free to add to this list. If I sound anti-intellectual I don't mean to. I just believe that it is better to buy a simple book that you will read rather than the "recommended" textbook which will sit unused on your shelf. Sad to say but reading textbooks, for most people, is an inefficient way to study for medical school.

As for diagnostic equipment: Wait and see what you will need. Not every school has early patient contact for which you will need the gear. Ours does, but the initial exercises involved taking a history, the abdominal exam, and the like. I don't think I looked in an ear until we started third year and I have only just now, after ten months of "faking it" gotten the hang of visualizing retina, optic disk, and the like with the opthalmascope.

For the record, I don't know of any physician in the hospital who routinely carries around a scope. (except in pediatrics)

 

[8744]

I am pretty sure that your school will have an orientation right before classes begin. If it is anything like the one that we had, the upper classmen were always available to give us advice on which textbooks and pieces of equipment to buy. At my school, you could share your microscope with a 2nd year student to help with the rental costs. There are ways to save money. You really need to talk to the second year students and see what resources they found to be most valuable to them. Sometimes, the upperclassmen will have book sales during the orientation period. You can find some really good bargains at these sales.

Microscopes are a thing of the past at my school. A few years back, our histology professor (a very student-oriented gentleman) put all of the slides with different views and different magnifications on a CD which he distributed to the class. Subsequently, attendence at histology lab started to drop off. I believe next year's class will not have histology lab at all and will "self-study" from the CD.

 

[Medical123]

Microscopes are a thing of the past at my school. A few years back, our histology professor (a very student-oriented gentleman) put all of the slides with different views and different magnifications on a CD which he distributed to the class. Subsequently, attendence at histology lab started to drop off. I believe next year's class will not have histology lab at all and will "self-study" from the CD.

No one ever attended Histo lab anyway! 😀 Our school, thankfully, is getting away from the microscopes this year! Both Histo and Patho are going to digital labs. I am hyped up! I get to save money on the microscope rental and don't have to worry about dropping/losing outrageously expensive slide boxes! It is amazing what small things can make you happy in med school.