most helpful undergrad classes for med school?

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BrianUM

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I was accepted into a 7 yr BS/MD program at UMiami which I think doesnt require me to get a minimum MCAT score. As of now, I just finished my sophomore year and have only done my pre-med pre-reqs (no calc, no cell molec, genetics, etc)...are there any other courses that would be helpful in med school and avoid me potentially getting lost...ppl have mentioned that I should take the following courses:

Microbio and Immunology
Biochem
Human physiology
Neurobiology

what do you reccommend? I am looking to take no more than about 4 sciences because I want to enjoy my last yr as much as possible

Thanks!

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Biochem, esp. if it's a traditional style class that emphasizes lots of metabolic pathways. Take it as late as possible in your undergrad so you'll remember as much as possible for the boards. Most of the rest will be taught in medicall oriented directions in med school that are quite different from undergrad.
 
Definetely Biochem, psyhiology, anatomy (if it has cadavers), I would throw in Histology and Embryology just for kicks. Honestly, I would look at U Miami's first year curriculum and see what classes they have you taking that year and tailor my extra science classes according to that. They most likely have the first year curriculum on their website.
 
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BrettBatchelor said:
Everyone here says take Histology and Biochem.

Histology is not complex enough to bother taking it twice. You get minimal if any advantage having already had it.
Biochem is probably the only course worth getting a head start, and even that is not insurmountable if you see it for the first time in med school. Physiology might be useful, but only if your college course is really really strong.
In general, med school will teach you everything you need to know, and few college courses will adequately give you enough of a leg up for it to be worth it. The work is far more volumnious in med school and the focus can be totally different.
In my opinion, use your credits to take something totally different from medicine -- it will be your last chance to do that.
 
definitely biochem, im taking it now, and it definitely cleared up issues i had w/those metabolic pathways..
 
Law2Doc said:
Histology is not complex enough to bother taking it twice. You get minimal if any advantage having already had it.
Biochem is probably the only course worth getting a head start, and even that is not insurmountable if you see it for the first time in med school. Physiology might be useful, but only if your college course is really really strong.
In general, med school will teach you everything you need to know, and few college courses will adequately give you enough of a leg up for it to be worth it. The work is far more volumnious in med school and the focus can be totally different.
In my opinion, use your credits to take something totally different from medicine -- it will be your last chance to do that.
Their reasoning was to minimize the studying for that class in med school and maximize the other classes.
 
BrettBatchelor said:
Their reasoning was to minimize the studying for that class in med school and maximize the other classes.

Maybe, but any benefit is pretty short lived and sometimes only ends up creating slacking study habits. The folks who hit the ground running full tilt because they think they know nothing are often in better shape.
 
Law2Doc said:
Maybe, but any benefit is pretty short lived and sometimes only ends up creating slacking study habits. The folks who hit the ground running full tilt because they think they know nothing are often in better shape.
True. They (n=4) had all taken it b/c they were bio majors so they were going to take it anyway.
 
i'd say biochem or animal/human physiology... butttttt, since you're already accepted to med school, just take whatever... maybe bartending 101?
 
Please don't go to med school without the following:

Biochem
Medical Microbiology
Human Physiology


These are essentials and I believe you will be at a disadvantage without
them
 
I'm going to go out on a limb and recommend Psychology for understanding patients. Won't be covered, but you'll understand a lot of things about patients that you might not learn in med school.
 
boomerang said:
Please don't go to med school without the following:

Biochem
Medical Microbiology
Human Physiology


These are essentials and I believe you will be at a disadvantage without
them

Micro is usually a second year course. Lots of luck remembering anything by then.
 
Compass said:
I'm going to go out on a limb and recommend Psychology for understanding patients. Won't be covered, but you'll understand a lot of things about patients that you might not learn in med school.
I don't know what your entry level Psyhcology classes taught but the one I took was a waste of time. I couldn't have even come close to understand my patients with the information I was given. Now the higher level psyc classes might help. I don't know if I'm the only one that thought Psychology 101 was useless for application.
 
I was told by an academic advisor that there was a poll taken concerning the most relevant undergrad courses for med students.

I think these were the top 4:

Hematology
Physiology
Biochem
Immunology

Pretty much any course that deals with one aspect of the human body in detail is a good preparation course for med school.
-Dr. P.
 
I strongly recommend developmental biology.

If you study your ass off for your college course in your senior year, you won't be totally lost in med school with it. (It's not an easy subject)
 
Dr. Pepper said:
I was told by an academic advisor that there was a poll taken concerning the most relevant undergrad courses for med students.

I think these were the top 4:

Hematology
Physiology
Biochem
Immunology

Pretty much any course that deals with one aspect of the human body in detail is a good preparation course for med school.
-Dr. P.

Again, you only get a leg up if you still remember anything. Taking undergrad courses in material you won't even get to in first year of med school at most schools generally means you won't remember it anymore when you need it, even if the college course was good. Thus two or your top 4 will not still be in your head when you get to them. Stick with biochem and maybe physiology, and otherwise don't worry about it.
 
Probably the best advice, since each university's undergrad program has varying degrees of difficulty in each "pre-medical school" class, is to ask one of the 1st or 2nd year medical school students at your state's medical schools that graduated/went to your university. They should know what classes at your particular university helped them the most.

At my university, they recommended...

  • Biochemistry
  • Human Physiology
  • Gross Anatomy (it's offered at my school with cadavers)
  • Histology
  • Clinical Neuroanatomy
  • Hematology/Hemostasis

They were recommended for two reasons: one, they help alleviate some of the study stresses in medical school. two, they help to show adcoms that you are interested in medicine, and depending on the class difficulty and grades you get, whether or not you can handle upper-level coursework and therefore medical school coursework.
 
Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the responses... :thumbup:
 
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