Is taking Anatomy in undergrad helpful????

[MochaMD]

Do you guys think that taking an anatomy class that your college offers will help you better prepare for Anatomy in medical school? Did anyone here have experience where they took anatomy while there were in college and now feel better prepared while in medical school? In my opinion, I think it will be helpful especially since we get to work on cadavers also but I just want to know what others have to say out there. Thanks in advance.

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[MSc44]

Do you guys think that taking an anatomy class that your college offers will help you better prepare for Anatomy in medical school? Did anyone here have experience where they took anatomy while there were in college and now feel better prepared while in medical school? In my opinion, I think it will be helpful especially since we get to work on cadavers also but I just want to know what others have to say out there. Thanks in advance.

although i am not in med school yet, im a graduate student in mol bio and one of my teaching assignments was human anatomy lab> although we do not go into as much as med school obviously i feel it will give me a better edge over someone who has never seen anatomy before. I feel i will have the upper hand, I would say take it!!

 

[mr. sparkle]

if your college actually provides cadavers as a part of its lab, then yes, i think it would be very helpful.

(this is especially true if you are going into a med school such as mine where you are dropped into anatomy first term along with the hardcoreness of biochem...)

 

[Gimlet]

although i am not in med school yet, im a graduate student in mol bio and one of my teaching assignments was human anatomy lab> although we do not go into as much as med school obviously i feel it will give me a better edge over someone who has never seen anatomy before. I feel i will have the upper hand, I would say take it!!

In my admittedly limited experience, I would say that having prior exposure to anatomy is not a big deal for med school. The professors at my school really don't expect you to have any idea what you are doing with the cadaver for the first few weeks, and the learning curve for becoming adept at finding structures without destroying them is quick. On our first lab practical exam I scored just as well as the girl who TA'ed anatomy for 2 years in undergrad.

In general, I think taking an undergrad class that is the same as one of your M1 subjects won't help that much. MAJORING in one of the basic sciences might be a different story...if I could do it all over again I'd major in Biochem and that way I would have to spend way less time this semester learning everything from scratch. But one class in undergrad isn't enough to give you an upper hand in a med school course, not with the depth they go into in med school.

[Edit: I take that back about majoring in Biochem...I would've jumped off a tall building if I had to study biochem for 4 years. But if you actually enjoy the material it would be a good idea.]

 

[Cholinergic]

Yes! It is much less overwhelming for me. I think that even if you don't get everything the first time around, when you see it the second time, it will click. (This happened for me with the forearm. I struggled the first time I saw it, but got it almost immediately this time.) If your school has the class with prosections, cross sections, radiographs, etc, then take it.

 

[Code Brown]

I have to agree with Andy15430 here. Taking it in undergrad won't really make that much difference. As for biochem, I agree with your edit. While I have had to play catchup since I had minimal exposure to it, it's very doable. Remember, they only expect you to have the knowledge that they require from the pre-reqs. About the only thing you will benefit from by having an undergrad background in biochem is in the fact that you will be able to go out drinking more often during the first month while the rest of us "non-trads" are at home studying to catch up. That said, catchup may mean studying 3-4 hours of just biochem every night so be prepared for that.

 

[OSUdoc08]

Do you guys think that taking an anatomy class that your college offers will help you better prepare for Anatomy in medical school? Did anyone here have experience where they took anatomy while there were in college and now feel better prepared while in medical school? In my opinion, I think it will be helpful especially since we get to work on cadavers also but I just want to know what others have to say out there. Thanks in advance.

Unless you are taking gross anatomy, it is of very little use. Anatomy & Physiology in college is good for medical terminology, but not for much else. You learn different things and in different ways in medical school than you do in college anatomy.

 

[gerido]

Do you guys think that taking an anatomy class that your college offers will help you better prepare for Anatomy in medical school? Did anyone here have experience where they took anatomy while there were in college and now feel better prepared while in medical school? In my opinion, I think it will be helpful especially since we get to work on cadavers also but I just want to know what others have to say out there. Thanks in advance.

take embryology instead... f*cking embryology..

 

[drguy22]

if your college actually provides cadavers as a part of its lab, then yes, i think it would be very helpful.

(this is especially true if you are going into a med school such as mine where you are dropped into anatomy first term along with the hardcoreness of biochem...)

yep...she is going to a med school where we take...Molecular and Genetic medicine ( a fusion of Biochem, Molec Bio, and genetics), Gross anatomy (includes embryology with a preview of path), and physicians CORE (history and physical ) all in one semester.... 😎

 

[Cholinergic]

Unless you are taking gross anatomy, it is of very little use. Anatomy & Physiology in college is good for medical terminology, but not for much else. You learn different things and in different ways in medical school than you do in college anatomy.

Yeah, I agree that A&P is probably not going to help that much. But if you (OP) can take an upper level class with a gross lab (prosection) then that should be helpful.

 

[UTKB]

I took anatomy in undergrad and it is helping me with gross anatomy tremendously. We did not use cadavers, but the course was pretty detailed, and we even used Netter's (which I use now). The material comes back quickly, so I can devote study time to learning stuff I haven't seen before and gloss over the stuff I have. It's much less overwhelming. I say take it if you have time.

 

[Naruto]

definitely take anatomy if you can. I'm in anatomy now and it's a mess (figuratively and literally). So if you know for sure u're going to med school, anatomy will help.

 

[Foodie]

I second the advice on taking Embryology instead of undergrad Anatomy class. I took A&P in college and it doesn't help me now in Gross Anatomy other than knowing different planes of the body. Most of it has to do with dissecting cats in A&P, not real bodies. So if you're going to be dissecting human cadaver in A&P, go for it. If not, take another course. Biochem or Embryology, for instance.

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,
If your college offers an Anatomy class (not Anatomy & Physiology), then it might be useful for you. A far better use of your time is Histology or Embryology. These classes can make you more efficient, especially Histology. My undergraduate Histology course was awesome and really helped me ace my medical Histo class and Pathology.

njbmd 🙂

 

[logos]

Yes. The people in my (medical school) gross class that are always ahead of the curve are people that took undergraduate anatomy (prosectional human anatomy - anything labled "Anatomy and physiology" is not going to be near as much help). I really wish I had taken it last year in ugrad, but I'll bide my time and wait until biochem to try and honor....


As far as embryology being a better use of your time, I would probably disagree. At least at my school the embryo we get is pretty basic...can pretty much blow it off...Histology I could see being usefull, but dont really know. We dont have a histo class, but I think we get some of it later mixed in with other classes.

 

[deuist]

Unless you are taking gross anatomy, it is of very little use. Anatomy & Physiology in college is good for medical terminology, but not for much else. You learn different things and in different ways in medical school than you do in college anatomy.

Yep, I'll agree with that. College anatomy usually involves dissecting a pig or cat. The muscles, locations, and appearance is vastly different between humans and lower animals. Howver, like OSUdoc mentioned, the names are the same. You will be able to get down some of the terminology.

 

[MochaMD]

The anatomy that I want to take is called Functional Human Anatomy and I'm pretty sure that we get to work with cadavers. Even if I learn the basics now, its probably going to be less time that I have to spend next year. And I already took a whole YEAR of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry so I will hopefully be prepared for the biochem that I will have to encounter in med school.

 

[DrHopeless]

Yeah I was wondering the samething too. I am taking histology now........eeeee just want to die.... that is why I am not too keen on taking anatomy in my last year.

MochaMD, you got an acceptance already? it is not even oct 15 yet.

 

[Taus]

If your undergrad offers human anatomy, with or without prosections/disections.....I would implore you to take it. When I was in your position last year I was advised not to, but am now regretting it. I took histo in undergrad and it is a breeze for me right now. Also, my classmates who have previously had a detailed course in human anatomy are having a much easier time with gross anat so far. Not having to originally learn the anatomical terminology/spatial relationships for the first time in medschool will save you more time then you can imagine. My friends who had anatomy before (which was mostly in post-bacc programs) are able to just focus on the details that are above the scope of their previous class, which is simple to do after you already have the basics down. Being able to focus on those details and more on your other classes can be the difference between getting an easy A and working your ass off to beat the average grades in the class because you had to spend so much time on the basics (ie memorizing terminology).

 

[fun8stuff]

Do you guys think that taking an anatomy class that your college offers will help you better prepare for Anatomy in medical school? Did anyone here have experience where they took anatomy while there were in college and now feel better prepared while in medical school? In my opinion, I think it will be helpful especially since we get to work on cadavers also but I just want to know what others have to say out there. Thanks in advance.

yes. i am currently in med school taking anatomy. I took it 2 years ago in undergrad and I am very happy I did. 50% of the class is review.

 

[MochaMD]

Yeah I was wondering the samething too. I am taking histology now........eeeee just want to die.... that is why I am not too keen on taking anatomy in my last year.

MochaMD, you got an acceptance already? it is not even oct 15 yet.

Yeh, I got the acceptance really early. I found out on August 28th. 🙂 NJMS is soo awesome about that. They've pretty much notified everyone that I knew that was applying EDP and so far, all of the other people have gotten acceptances too. Thanks for all the info so far everyone! I'm pretty sure that I am going to take it now. I have the whole summer to chill out and enjoy my free time anyways.

 

[Carm]

Medicine is a whole different language. The more exposure you can get to the new terms, the easier the learning curve will be when it counts. The more you can see things, the deeper your understanding becomes.

Haven't thought much about anatomy after 1st year until third year surgery. Very quick recollection (it's in there somewhere) with just a little skimming. Doing the same thing now as a resident with procedures. You may not have the knowledge that you don't use everyday on the tip of your tongue, but it is quick and easy recall.

 

[Freakingzooming]

yeah I think a lot of advice here is on the ball- try to take anatomy courses if they're covering human stuff more. I know my school used to offer general anatomy- don'tt think it'll help as much.

With embryology- you only do like selective parts so it's not as helpful to take a course in it because in college, they'll cram a lot of info and not the same stuff will be emphasized. In my college, they made us take developmental embryology- everything we covered was about induction and genetic expression- nod 2, etc. So it doesn't translate at all.

Definitely do biochem- it's always going to be the same stuff covered and it's extremely detail oriented (in medschool and in college).

 

[2badr]

We will be provided with a cadaver..after we finish the cat.

Right now A & P is moving slowly to me. Maybe the pace will pick up as we get deeper into the subject matter. My school offers embryology, histology.

We will also have another chance with the cadaver our senior year as well.
(undergrad)

 

[skiracer90]

I spent my senior year taking courses that I knew would not keep me in the lib when all my friends were out at the bars living the college life for one last year. Personally, I wouldn't want to spend my last carefree year of undergrad life stressed out about anatomy or histology. I have friends in my class who have taken anatomy with a cadaver observation component and I did just as well as them on our first exam. Having some experience with biochem might be nice because it will give you more time to focus on anatomy...but still, if it were me and I hadn't taken a few biochem courses by my senior year, I wouldn't add them to my schedule. Just my $.02.

 

[cmatt1]

nope, you're gonna learn everything all over in a different, much faster pace

 

[MochaMD]

I'm so confused. I really dont know if I should just chill out the next semester also or get a little prepared for med school so I won't have to work that much once I get there.

 

[felipe5]

I'm so confused. I really dont know if I should just chill out the next semester also or get a little prepared for med school so I won't have to work that much once I get there.

the obvious answer to this one would be CHILL.......seriously, enjoy your last semester, take the summer off before medschool and party as much as possible. In my opinion, taking anatomy in undergrad won't hurt, but you'll be surprised by the amount of information that you will a.)forget and b.)be required to learn in medschool as opposed to undergrad. If you can take some cool classes that interest you and have as much fun as possible. Preppin' for medschool is hard because no matter how much you practice drinkin' from a firehose, its still gonna hurt like hell when you do it for real.

 

[Philo Beddo]

the obvious answer to this one would be CHILL.......seriously, enjoy your last semester, take the summer off before medschool and party as much as possible. QUOTE]

Speak it. Why fill the memories of your life with more time spent studying. Plenty of that is on the way. Do something completely different. Party like it's 1999.

philo

Hippocritis.com <--- satire for residents and the like

 

[Code Brown]

Don't waste your time with a course. If you are set on really getting ahead, get the following two books and read them from cover to cover, making sure you understand at least some of it:

Lippincott's Biochem review 3rd ed.
Clinically Oriented Anatomy 5th ed. Moore/Dalley

This will be a lot more efficient than dicking around in lab, worrying about writing papers, worrying about keeping up your gpa, going to class when you don't feel like it, etc.

 

[megkudos1]

Hey🙂
I took the same course at Rutgers and am a 4th year at NJMS. I thought taking the Functional Human Anatomy Course helped some in med school. Maybe it was mostly psychological. I remember being somewhat less freaked out than my med school classmates about all the memorization.

It's definately not necessary to take the class though, if you can chill your last semester of college that would be nice too. I was double majoring so I had to take like 3 bio classes my last semester which wasn't very fun.

 

[Uncle Izzy]

As a cell andmolec bio major, I felt like I had a real edge over the people who were non bio majors in biochem, genetics, embryology...

Anatomy though was the real equalizer in my class. It made no difference if you took anatomy in undergrad. I did as well as people who had anatomy in college as did alot of others in my class, including business, arts, and engineering majors. Besides, I really think anatomy was not the hardest course in the basic sciences. Path and micro sucked much more than anatomy.

I agree with the earlier posts... enjoy your last semester. Go out and get hammered, enjoy your time with your friends. While I have a ton of fun in med school and still get out a bunch (it's possible if you prioritize when the opportunities arise), college is a unique experience like no other.Enjoy it. Work hard, play hard.

 

[akpete]

My initial response was "Yes, definitely!", but then I thought about it a little more. While I definitely don't have to study nearly as much as other people (basically I already know 50-75% of material), I've also had many classes dealing with anatomy, not just one. I had anatomy with cadavers, as well as evaluation of upper and lower extremities, kinesiology, medical aspects, etc. So I guess I'm not a normal case. Basically it's either study it now, or study it later plus some more. Taking just one anatomy course isn't going to make you or break you. I definitely agree with other people when they recommend embryology. My undergrad and current embryology classes are basically at the same level. It's like retaking the same class.

So I'm not sure if that helped in my rambling, but oh well...I tried.

 

[thackl]

I'm gonna give the dissenting opinion here. I took the pre-nursing anatomy (with a very hard prof) the fall before med school. It had a challenging histo component, we were introduced to all the 'big' words and got to do blunt disection on kitty cats. While it wasn't as hard as med school histo or gross, it did give a great intro. We had similar length writtens and timed (1min/station) practicles that were very similar to med school. The the most difficult part for most in med school was being tossed in with no expirience and being bombarded with terminology from day one that they didn't understand.

My recommendations for undergrad classes to help with med school transition: Anatomy, Histology/cell bio, Genetics, parasitology/microbiology.

I DON'T recommend taking: Biochem, physiology, pharm as the medschool versions are so different.

 

[MochaMD]

Hey🙂
I took the same course at Rutgers and am a 4th year at NJMS. I thought taking the Functional Human Anatomy Course helped some in med school. Maybe it was mostly psychological. I remember being somewhat less freaked out than my med school classmates about all the memorization.

It's definately not necessary to take the class though, if you can chill your last semester of college that would be nice too. I was double majoring so I had to take like 3 bio classes my last semester which wasn't very fun.

You took the Functional Human Anatomy course that is only one semester? Did you work with human cadavers during lab?

Thanks for all the advice so far.

 

[Jmuhnie]

I like to think of "getting ahead" for med school as walking the first half mile of a marathon before you start. It just doesn't matter that much overall. I took 12 hours each of my last two semesters. I had bowling, basic firearms, human sexuality, and some other classes that didn't apply directly to med school or my microbiology degree. From where I stand (starting my 8th week of school) I'm glad that I didn't try to cram extra classes into my schedule because they would have been a waste of my time.

Unless you plan on running the full anatomy "marathon" before you get to med school, I would just take it easy. If you drink, have a beer. I like Red Stripe when I'm relaxing.