Hi everyone,
I'm finishing up a three week clinical preceptorship program at Mayo, and will go back to Philly for a few days (I want my Temple mailbox contents!) before going home for the rest of the summer. I plan to enjoy my last full six weeks ever of freedom and *hopefully* come back a licenced driver. 😳
Here's my take on the classes...
Anatomy - simple, you don't miss class! It's a course which obviously requires a lot of effort, and you'll save yourself a lot of stress if you don't let yourself get behind. If you want honors you must excell in both the multiple choice and practical sections, which is definitely a challenge and exceedingly time consumming...so you have to decide if it's worth the fight. Definitely try to make the most out of all your lab times and conferences (which are usually extremely good with clinical correlations), and come prepared because the professors will ask you questions!
Histo - unfortunately very likely to be a least favorite class, but I honestly think you have to show up to lectures, take good notes and pay attention in lab (try to look at the CD slides beforehand) if you want honors. If you just want to pass, skip all you want (which I admittedly did, though I regret not having put more effort).
Embryo - if you want honors, show up to class for the pop quizzes which count for extra credit and review, review review the material that Dr. Marino posts online as well as his handout notes. However this is a class that's very easy to blow off in comparison to anatomy and histo, at least if the same grading scheme is kept. Don't make it more difficult than it has to be - chances are you're never going to understand everything perfectly, so just try to get the general principles...and don't freak out if you've followed very little in lecture!
Behavioral science - you can put in as much or as little effort as you like, so long as you don't expect to pass without some real studying. Again, if you want honors it's best to go to class and take good notes (see a pattern emerging?) 😛
Ok, second semester:
Physio - you can pass without going to class, but it won't serve you well. This is really not a subject you want to have a weak understanding of, and the handout notes aren't always enough by themselves. Definitely put in effort (comparable to anatomy), do as many questions as possible and avail yourself of the professors for help.
Neuro - just passing requires at least a decent amount of work, and honors is (at least IMO) more trouble than it's worth, unless you have an aptitude for the subject. Try to go to class, but it's not that huge a deal to skip as long as you know the handouts and look at the class slides. Hopefully you'll find conferences more interesting than I did. Basically it's a good subject that could have been taught better.
Biochem - if you can pick it up easily, there's little need for class. If not, or if you're a good auditory learner, go. The protein lectures with Dr. Grubmeyer are worth attending (he gives exam hints), and Dr. Masker's notes aren't very fun to go through, so going to class can help. But if you can't retain anything, there's no point in going. And DO OLD EXAMS!
Hope this helps! And thanks kcrd for the info.
