Med-school courses

[Paulz]

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We all know the required courses to get into med school, but once your in, what kind of classes will you be taking?

 

[Law2Doc]

We all know the required courses to get into med school, but once your in, what kind of classes will you be taking?

First year courses are generally, anatomy, biochem, histology, embryology, physiology, genetics, neuroscience. Second year courses are pathology/pathophysiology, microbiology, pharmacology, immunology. (I'm sure I'm missing one). Bear in mind that undergrad versions of these classes bears no resemblance to med school classes.

 

[smq123]

First year courses are generally, anatomy, biochem, histology, embryology, physiology, genetics, neuroscience. Second year courses are pathology/pathophysiology, microbiology, pharmacology, immunology. (I'm sure I'm missing one). Bear in mind that undergrad versions of these classes bears no resemblance to med school classes.

Physical exam
Clinical medicine-type course
Some obligatory ethics/professionalism class

 

[shaggybill]

Bear in mind that undergrad versions of these classes bears no resemblance to med school classes.

In what way are they different? I mean, besides being more difficult. Are they structured differently?

 

[zerlina]

In what way are they different? I mean, besides being more difficult. Are they structured differently?

The focus of med school classes is different; for example, the details emphasized, clinical correlations, and overall volume of material.

 

[pseudoknot]

Bear in mind that undergrad versions of these classes bears no resemblance to med school classes.

There was quite a bit of overlap between my undergrad biochem series and my medical biochem class. There was more detail in undergrad and more fatty acid stuff in med school, but they weren't worlds apart. (Both were about 90 lecture hours, but undergrad was spread over three quarters and the med school one was eight weeks. Med biochem was easier because it was the second time and the only course we were taking.)

 

[alwaysaangel]

Yeah pretty much everyone here got it.

Here we take:
1st year - Biochem/MCB, genetics, histology, physiology, anatomy/embryology, immunology, epidemiology/biostats, neuroanatomy
2nd year - pathology, pharmacology, microbiology

Intertwined in that is our clinical skills course which covers history and physical taking.

And you're usually required to take at least one elective: like health policy, international health, working in the free clinic will be one soon, etc.

And they are very different than your undergrad courses. Most of the classes are taught in terms of normal/diseased state.

For example, my genetics class in undergrad was very conceptual based- how choromosomes are separated in meiosis, and then all the control mechanisms in regards to how imprinting works, etc. Very scientific based. My genetics class in med school was more clinical and very much about the diseases that could go wrong and what went wrong. We really briefly covered meiosis and epigentics/imprinting but it was a tiny part of the course. It was more about a variety of classes of genetic disorders, the diagnosis and treatment of those diseases, etc.

Another example is my immunology course: I actually thought my med school class was easier because the undergrad course covered a lot of the V(D)J recombination and exactly how that works etc. etc. again very scientific based - stuff you would need to know if you were going to be a researcher. My medical school class was more clinical. The concepts were the overarching ideas that matter to a doctor and what can go wrong with immunology and the diseases that result. We just briefly stated that the variety of T cells and B cells came from V(D)J recombination but we didn't learn the molecular mechanisms behind it at all.

So I'd say overall undergrad courses are more molecular in nature, while med school classes are more clinical and systemic.

 

[Law2Doc]

In what way are they different? I mean, besides being more difficult. Are they structured differently?

While there may be some variation in undergrad courses, making some more worthwhile than others, in general you won't cover the detail or quantity of material in an undergrad course as you might in med school, the focus will be different, the emphasis will be different. Which is why it's pretty common in med school to hear folks remark by the end of the first week of any course that the med class already covered all the material covered in a semester long undergrad course. It's not always harder, just more. The best analogy is that it's like trying to drink water out of a firehose. Too much too fast. But you learn to adapt.