is Anatomy necessary before med school?

[Doc driven]

Thank you for your time. I have heard that you need to have anatomy before medical school. I did not take it, and I am starting medical school next year. Should I buy an anatomy book and memorize everything or is this a waste of time? Is it just better to wait for class, so the teacher will tell you what to memorize? thank you very much

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[EastWestN2grt]

Seeing anatomy and hearing names more than once is an advantage. I personally am glad i have had anatomy before medical school. I couldnt imagine going through anatomy for the first time in med school. There is just too much to learn in anatomy(and every other class) that having any advantage helps.

 

[spicedmanna]

Thank you for your time. I have heard that you need to have anatomy before medical school. I did not take it, and I am starting medical school next year. Should I buy an anatomy book and memorize everything or is this a waste of time? Is it just better to wait for class, so the teacher will tell you what to memorize? thank you very much

You do not need to have taken anatomy prior to attending medical school. That sounds like a myth propagated to scare incoming first years. The A&P you take in college is most often inadequate for medical school purposes. The approach to the study of anatomy is often different as well. I wouldn't waste your time trying to memorize stuff before the start of medical school. It'll be low yield. In my opinion, the best use of time in the interim period is a lot of R&R. Seriously, do NOT study in the interim period. Have as much fun as possible. You won't have as many (read: nearly no) opportunity to rest and relax when school starts. It's one long ardous ride. Enjoy your time of NOT studying now.

I won't say that it isn't going to do you any good, but I think your time is better spent having fun.

 

[Doc driven]

Thank you guys for your opinions. I appreciate it.

 

[DiverDoc]

You do not need to have taken anatomy prior to attending medical school. That sounds like a myth propagated to scare incoming first years. The A&P you take in college is most often inadequate for medical school purposes. The approach to the study of anatomy is often different as well. I wouldn't waste your time trying to memorize stuff before the start of medical school. It'll be low yield. In my opinion, the best use of time in the interim period is a lot of R&R. Seriously, do NOT study in the interim period. Have as much fun as possible. You won't have as many (read: nearly no) opportunity to rest and relax when school starts. It's one long ardous ride. Enjoy your time of NOT studying now.

I won't say that it isn't going to do you any good, but I think your time is better spent having fun.

Agreed. Even though I will have had 10 hrs. of Anatomy collectively in undergrad, I think the only advantage I'll have for medical school is that I know HOW to studying Anatomy. But it'll have a much different vibe in medical school, it wont be like, "lower limb muscles, oh I know that already." So will it matter if you study Anatomy over the summer, most likely no. Will it matter that you have the time of your life before you start the next chapter of your life? Absolutely.

 

[ShyRem]

Enjoy what time you have now before you have to study in med school.

 

[Doc driven]

This is what I thought. Thank you

 

[Kuba]

I didn't have even a little anatomy exposure before this year (Literally didn't even know where the tib, fib, ulna, radius were) and I am doing A-ok halfway through gross anatomy. ...err make that B-ok.. lol

 

[whatdapho]

I didn't have even a little anatomy exposure before this year (Literally didn't even know where the tib, fib, ulna, radius were) and I am doing A-ok halfway through gross anatomy. ...err make that B-ok.. lol

hahaha...B-ok!!! yeah i'm darn B-ok too. As for anatomy before school. Yes it does help cause there's a lot of material to absorb in such a short period of time. Yet, there's no way you're really going to grasp the material unless you have access to a cadaver (if you do...that's just WEIRD) since these anatomy books are so idealized and it NEVER looks like how it does in the text books. Take as much time off as you can and just relax, take a vacation. Trust me, you won't have much time during school. Good luck withe everything

 

[Jack Daniel]

I'll throw my hat in the ring, too.
I want to second (and third and forth...) the above comments that say not to study before. I think it's best to find out how to study anatomy early by talking with several 2nd years and never getting too far behind.

Ideally it's great if you've had exposure to anatomy, but I doubt it's nothing you're going to accomplish in the time before you start. College a&p classes won't have the detail that gross anatomy will give you. And, to me, memorizing names of muscle and bones and organs from a picture isn't hard. The hard part is having a dissected cadaver in front of you with various pins and having to name arteries, veins, and hacked away muscles--and that's something you're not going to get reading over an anatomy book.

 

[musiclink213]

I don't know about anybody else, but I cant learn anatomy from a book. It just doesn't work for me. I wait until I get to lab, see the stuff in person and the 3D relations, and then I can get it much faster than if I wasted hours drawing out diagrams and suhc before lab. It just won't work for me. But in lab, I follow along with the dissector, and things make much more sense. I never had anatomy before, had very minimal bio knowledge actually, and I'm doing just fine. P-OK since my school is on a pass/fail.

 

[DD214_DOC]

Necessary? No
Beneficial? Probably

 

[Terpskins99]

Necessary? No
Beneficial? Probably

Beneficial? ANATOMY before medical school? Ugh, no way (especially if its not in a classroom setting).

The only topic I find remotely useful before medical school is physiology (or some other conceptual topic).

Well, maybe one exception to this: microbiology. Micro is knowledge you'd be wise to master as soon as possible, since it stays important throughout medical school/boards (not to mention the rest of your career). If you can find a way to swallow some introductory micro (looking at pictures of strep vs staph, for example), that could be helpful.

But honestly... all of this can wait. I say, enjoy your free time while you still have it.

 

[golgotha]

If you really feel like preparing, get the upper limb down. Make a list of all the muscles of the upper limb, and their attachments. You'll be way ahead.

 

[spicedmanna]

If you really feel like preparing, get the upper limb down. Make a list of all the muscles of the upper limb, and their attachments. You'll be way ahead.

Well, I wouldn't say way ahead, but it is a start. I mean, I/O stuff is just the scratching the surface. Learning that stuff won't get you very far. Don't forget innervations, plexuses, root nerves, vasculature, clinical correlates, and anatomical relationships. If you knew all these things, you might be a bit ahead. That's why I think time is better spent having fun...

 

[whatdapho]

If you really feel like preparing, get the upper limb down. Make a list of all the muscles of the upper limb, and their attachments. You'll be way ahead.

Brachial Plexus....nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

 

[MJB]

Guess I feel a little different. Just 2.5 months in, I've decided I would recommend a Cell Bio, Biochem, and GROSS anatomy class to anyone that has the opportunity to take it before getting to school. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to take BioChem beforehand, and I can't imagine having an anatomy course would HURT.

Now, I wouldn't recommend just grabbing a book and trying to memorize it...it's a unique art to learn this stuff, particularly for practical exams.

Oh, and in my experience, a good Embryology course wouldn't hurt a bit.

 

[GreenShirt]

Anatomy is the one course I wish I had taken before medical school. If you're school offers it, I'd try to see if you could fit it in in the Spring. Learning it from a book would be difficult because there are more structures listed than you'll ever be responsible for. Although, I do recommend a set of DVD's we use at our school called "Ackland's DVD Atlas of Human Anatomy" (8 DVDs/$100). The cadavers are expertly dissected and fresh. It's something you could pop in and watch a little bit of each night just to familiarize yourself. As others have alluded, things are going to look completely different in the book, the DVD and the cadavers you'll actually be working on.

In the end, I wouldn't loose sleep over it. Plenty of people go to medical school without prior experience and get by.

 

[jp104]

If you really feel bored get a Rohen's and flip through the pics. It makes an awesome coffee table book

 

[Animus]

Brachial Plexus....nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

BP has nothing on cranial nerves

I had 0 anatomy prior to med school and I am doing just fine in gross.

 

[nlax30]

BP has nothing on cranial nerves

I had 0 anatomy prior to med school and I am doing just fine in gross.

I agree, about to have our head/neck exam on Monday and I'm missing the brachial plexus about now! Just trying to work my way through the autonomics and ganglia of the head.....fun stuff....

I never took anatomy in undergrad and doing just fine in gross. I don't see how taking an anatomy course in college can hurt, but it's only going to help you if you actually focus on learning some of the material and getting it into long term memory as opposed to just studying short-term for the test which is at least what I did in undergrad. If anything I wish I would've had more exposure to embryology in college.

 

[nascardoc]

I'll throw my opinion in this as well. Anatomy is not needed, but I would recommend to anyone to take a human anatomy course, if possible. I had a year of human A&P, in addition to a year of cadaver dissection, and it has helped me tremendously. But there are also other students who have never had anatomy and they are doing just fine. In the classes I had, we had to know the brachial plexus, cranial nerves, etc., but, obviously, not to the gritty detail we have learned in school so far.

But, for the love of God, DO NOT sit over the summer with your nose stuck in an anatomy book. It won't help you b/c seeing the 3D relationships in a real cadaver is SO much more helpful than the ideal bodies found in anatomy atlases. Please RELAX over the summer, do absolutely nothing related to studying.......save that for school.

 

[Richie Truxillo]

As a computer science major with limited clinical experience...nope you don't need to study anatomy before medical school! If I can make it thru, I know the rest of you all can!

PLEASE don't study over the summer. Go out and ENJOY LIFE!!!

 

[Lamborghini1315]

Seeing anatomy and hearing names more than once is an advantage. I personally am glad i have had anatomy before medical school. I couldnt imagine going through anatomy for the first time in med school. There is just too much to learn in anatomy(and every other class) that having any advantage helps.

Hey buddy, i know we both had heated posts on Touro a while ago..anyways i didnt mean to come off as rude. I want to wish you all the best this year...how you like it up there in arizona?

 

[TexasTriathlete]

I am cash money on the upper limb.

Not saying I could pass an exam on it now, but I think it will come back to me easily when I need it.

 

[MJB]

I am cash money on the upper limb.

Not saying I could pass an exam on it now, but I think it will come back to me easily when I need it.

 

[OnMyWayThere]

Thank you for your time. I have heard that you need to have anatomy before medical school. I did not take it, and I am starting medical school next year. Should I buy an anatomy book and memorize everything or is this a waste of time? Is it just better to wait for class, so the teacher will tell you what to memorize? thank you very much

Anything in addition to the pre-reqs to med school (Bio, Physics, Chem, OChem) is a waste of time in my opinion - or at least your time would be better spent enjoying your time with friends or learning something non-medical related. I was a Psych major and took the bare minimum and did not feel in any disadvantaged when comparing to the students who were Bio majors or took upper division courses. Good luck and have fun.

 

[Kappy1]

As long as you are learning Human Anatomy it can only help you. Any course that you could take as Undergrad that is taught in med school you should try to take if you have the time and money. It will only make your life easier in Medical School. As an Undergrad I took Bio chem and genetics and so far they both have helped me. I am able to study that information a lot faster than some of my classmates because a lot of it is review. I has also allowed me to put time into other subjects that need alot of time like Antomy and it also left me some time for myself.

 

[theraball]

My own experience is different from the majority of posters, I guess. I took a quarter of college A&P and also went to a massage therapy school that had a lot of anatomy (different from gross, true, but we did watch the Ackland videos as part of the course).

It was really nice not to have to learn all that terminology and relationships from scratch. Everyone managed to learn it of course, but I was able to review the muscles and bones and focus more on the innervation and vascular system, meanwhile trying not to fail histo, embryo, and biochem. I also had a summer biochem course, which was good but not enough.

If I did it again I would take a year of biochem, a year of A&P, maybe find a summer anatomy dissection course, and try to fit in micro and neuro. I know people who majored in some of this stuff and they're definitely more relaxed than those of us picking it up for the first time. The better prepared you are, the easier a time of it you'll have.

That said, relaxing before medical school is not a bad idea.

 

[RockfordWF]

Thank you for your time. I have heard that you need to have anatomy before medical school. I did not take it, and I am starting medical school next year. Should I buy an anatomy book and memorize everything or is this a waste of time? Is it just better to wait for class, so the teacher will tell you what to memorize? thank you very much

To answer your questions:

1. No, anatomy is not necessary before medical school. It is a course you will take while IN medical school.

2. Wasting your time memorizing an anatomy book will only make you more confused when you start medical school anatomy. You will probably do worse than the people who are fresh to the subject.

 

[deleted788564]

learning any anatomy before med school will be great. don't listen to people like the above (who were probably banned for obvious reasons). find a summer class online if you can.

 

[Mad Jack]

No but it helps. Medical terminology is also a nice thing to know a bit of going in. This probably won't make a difference in the long run, but it might help for the first few weeks.

However, I will say that the level of anatomy covered in medical school is beyond what you'll learn in undergrad in both scale and scope, so you won't really gain a ton of points due to the obscure nature of many anatomy test questions. However, you may be less stressed out.

 

[SurgDoc95]

Sweet necro-bump, but yeah it's helpful (speaking from experience).

 

[sab3156]

Sweet necro-bump, but yeah it's helpful (speaking from experience).

The necrobumps I have seen from like the late 1990s on various other forums have shown me that people were nicer (and way more formal) when the internet was younger.

 

[austintr]

I hope OP is fairly confident with anatomy now that they're probably a couple years into attendinghood.

 

[BorntobeDO?]

I disagree with most of the ancient advice. I think Anatomy is one of the few courses you can actually get an advantage in ahead of time. Nerves and muscles come to mind especially. I also strongly disliked cadaver lab. I think doing the Rohens flashcards could pay dividends later on.

 

[RaidenXVC]

No but it helps. Medical terminology is also a nice thing to know a bit of going in. This probably won't make a difference in the long run, but it might help for the first few weeks.

However, I will say that the level of anatomy covered in medical school is beyond what you'll learn in undergrad in both scale and scope, so you won't really gain a ton of points due to the obscure nature of many anatomy test questions. However, you may be less stressed out.

I'm haven't started medical school yet, but... When I was in college my professor used to teach medical school anatomy at a well regarded school and he said he taught us about 75% of the material he used to teach in medical school. This included cadaver time (we didn't dissect them though, the TA's did).

He seemed pretty confident that it was adequate preparation.