Microbiology & Anatomy?

[premed student]

Hi guys,

I'm a non-traditional premed student who was a non-science major in undergrad (UCBerkeley) and took all the premed req's at Cal State Fullerton. I already applied for the class of 2010 and waiting for interviews. Right now, I'm taking Genetics at a community college and working to pay bills. I was wondering if I should take Microbiology and Anatomy next semester before I start medschool or if I should just take it easy and enjoy my time before the school. Those two courses are offered in medschool and I heard that some med schools don't even recommend taking anatomy ahead. If you took them before medschool, how helpful were they? Would you recommend taking them based on your experience? If you didn't, do you think you would have if you can go back to the time?

Any advice would be appreciated!
Thank you! : )

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[mattorama]

Anatomy and micro are both brute force memorization (most med school is, but they are two of the worst in that respect). The more you see something, the easier it is to remember it. I had a strong gross anatomy course before med school and no micro. I got honors in both, but here is the difference...I spent waaaay less time then most people on anatomy AND I acutally remember a LOT of it still since it was the second time through. Micro went well, but it took a lot of work and I don't have nearly as much long-term retention. I would encourage taking them both. If the classes are halfway decent it will mean an easy A/Honors/whatever and give you more time to go out drinking while your classmates are freaking out.

 

[sscooterguy]

I think the above advice is good. I have been telling premeds to take a rest, take courses you like, and don't take anatomy and other courses that you think would help in med school. However, after talking to some friends who did take anatomy at least, they said it helped a LOT. Their transition to medical school was a little smoother. Looking back, I do remember having a hard time, especially since we have it first at my school. In the end though, I don't think my hard time in anatomy had a huge overall impact on my first two years in med school. If you think you want a head start, take the course, just remeber that it won't be nearly as intense as the detail needed for med school, but its a nice foundation. Even though anatomy was a hard course for me, I still wouldn't have traded undergrad anatomy for my fun courses and easy semester. That's just me though.

sscooterguy