Neuro vs. Histo?

[ilovebiology]

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Hey everyone!

So I have the choice of taking Neuroscience or Histology this coming Fall...I am interested in both, but can't take both as I am already taking Biochem and doing more research among other gen.ed. classes. I have talked to different profs at my school and asked what would be best to take before medical school...all have said that it is what I am more interested in because both is covered in med school...my question is, if you had the choice of taking Neuroscience or Histology, what would you take and why?

Thanks! 😀

 

[premed1437]

Neuroscience. It controls everything, mannn

 

[ilovebiology]

Take histology. If you go to PCOM, you can test out of histology lab if you've already taken it.

Wow...that is clearly an advantage. hmm thanks for the input!

 

[ilovebiology]

My pleasure. I should also mention, it needs to have a lab with it. This is what they have posted for us:

Histology Place-out Exam Information
If you have already participated in a Histology course that contained a laboratory component, you may be eligible to take the exam we provide to place out of the laboratory component of Cellular Anatomy (histology) in the Structural Principles of Osteopathic Medicine (SPOM) course. More details will be posted here as soon as they are available.

Yes it has a lab 🙂 this is definitely a good push toward histo right now. haha Do you know of any other schools that do this?

 

[TeamZissou]

If you don't get to test out of histo then take neuro. Neuro is much more difficult and covers more details. Although pathology is histo's evil cousin from what I hear.

 

[MightyMoose]

Neuro was my favorite class in undergrad.

I think you should pick which one you really want to take. It won't make a difference for medical school, unless you plan on attending and get in to PCOM or another college that allows you to test out of histo. I would have liked to have taken histo, but would have never swapped it for neuroscience.

 

[Instatewaiter]

Neuro was my favorite class in undergrad.

I think you should pick which one you really want to take. It won't make a difference for medical school, unless you plan on attending and get in to PCOM or another college that allows you to test out of histo. I would have liked to have taken histo, but would have never swapped it for neuroscience.

Histo is absolutely worthless. Unless you are going to be a pathologist, histo is next to useless. On the orther hand, neuro is clinically useful

 

[katarina90]

I agree. Take what you want to take. But, my two cents:

You'll take both in medical school.

Histo: will be more useful for med school, this is what I've heard from several adcoms who have said "You should take histology if you get the chance".

Neuroscience: In my opinion, would be more exciting and fun for you. I never took neuroscience because my school didn't offer it, but I did take some psych classes that had a strong neuroscience basis. Also did research in neuroscience which was awesome because I learned how to give eegs.

 

[nutellaicecream]

I took both during a semester. I see the benefits of being familiar with both; histology for knowing that what you're looking at isn't just a bunch of cells or tissues but rather structures that relay to function and neuroscience (neuroanatomy actually) for...everything I learned in it.

Histology definitely made me refresh my physiology and all that and now, I believe I understand and can recall phys a lot better (or maybe because my phys background wasn't great in the first place...but now I have the picture of the tissue in my mind). And I'm definitely an expert with the microscope now haha

Neuroanatomy was pretty awesome though. Tough, but worth it. There's just so much covered.

Take whatever you're more interested in, but if you want to "prepare" yourself for what's coming in medical school, neuro might be better, I think.

 

[crazynate]

As a neuro major, I'm biased but Neuro was def one of my most interesting classes of undergrad and it helps with understanding other areas of the body as well

 

[ilovebiology]

Wow! Thank you everyone for all of your insights! I agree with all of you on all points...I am already signed up for Neuro, but just wanted to reassure myself the choice I was making was a good one 🙂 A lot of my classmates are taking histology so I kind of felt pressured to take it as well, but I just need to think about the reason why I chose that in the first place. 😀 Thanks again!!

 

[premed1437]

Bahahah I knew I would come out on top 😉

Good luck!

 

[ilovebiology]

Hahaa! 😉 of course! Thanks you too!

 

[jkhamlin]

Hey everyone!

So I have the choice of taking Neuroscience or Histology this coming Fall...I am interested in both, but can't take both as I am already taking Biochem and doing more research among other gen.ed. classes. I have talked to different profs at my school and asked what would be best to take before medical school...all have said that it is what I am more interested in because both is covered in med school...my question is, if you had the choice of taking Neuroscience or Histology, what would you take and why?

Thanks! 😀

What you may want to consider:

Neuro will be the hardest class you take in medical school, most likely. It kicks everyone's butt. After that, unfortunately, it won't be terribly useful on boards.

Histo in med school is the basis for almost everything else you will take, but it may or may not be a strong course wherever you end up. It will help with pathology and neuro, and definitely on boards.

Either one is a difficult class in undergrad/grad school, and are definitely risky if you need GPA boosters.

All that said, probably NEITHER premed courses will prepare you for the courses in med school or for boards, so in the end, it's probably a toss up.

 

[p30doc]

I'd take neuro, it would have been more beneficial to have some neuro background than histo background, to tackle the med school version of the classes imo.

 

[echolalia16]

I have never been so challenged nor stimulated as much as I was in my undergrad neuro class. Granted, I also had an absolutely kickass professor, but I can't deny the interest of the content.

 

[ilovebiology]

I have never been so challenged nor stimulated as much as I was in my undergrad neuro class. Granted, I also had an absolutely kickass professor, but I can't deny the interest of the content.

Ya, my prof for that class will be the same prof that I had for my Cancer Bio class...he is so amazing, which was one of the deciding factors for me actually choosing neuro over histo. 😀 I'm more excited and confident about taking the class now that I have received all of this great feedback! So thanks again everyone! 🙂

 

[brownco]

I actually took both as part of my masters last semester. Histo is extremely boring, while Neuro is the best class I've ever taken.

 

[nlax30]

Another vote here for Neuro. Personally I find it much more interesting, and will probably be more clinically useful for you during med school and beyond.

What you need to know for histo will be covered plenty in med school, and unless you go into pathology it's really not going to be a big part of what you need to know.

 

[Kevin Baker]

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[Isoprop]

is this a requirement for your major? are you trying to pull up your science GPA? otherwise, why take either? both are going to be covered in med school. one of my regrets from undergrad was taking all these stupid courses that i'm going to have to retake again, only harder.

and looking at what the med students have to learn in MSI&II, i don't think it'll give me a head-start. high school chemistry didn't give a head-start in o-chem.

should've been a physics or astronomy or even chemistry major in college.