Packing for Medical School

[Realest]

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What were the most important/useful items you packed for medical school? I suppose you can be "deep" and say things like "a sense of humor", but I'm also looking for advice on:

When to look for texts - should I buy them now, or wait to see what my school requires?

Note-taking supplies. Do you find it easier to have binders to stuff all the syllabus work into or notebooks that keep everything together...or maybe both? Do you even take notes? (it seems like a lot of people don't go to class...)

Good cases for laptops - I'm liking the idea of those big backpacks that have a compartment for laptops - any opinions?

Kitchen utensils if you cook...good cookbooks with simple and tasty recipies.

Anything else? Old texts/notes? Lab supplies (altho I believe you buy these through the school...)? I know this is a boring thread, but I'd really appreciate your responses!

 

[medgirl20]

Books def wait until you start and also talk to the years ahead and find out which books you really need and which ones will collect dust in the corner.

I liked to print out the power-point notes and bring them to lectures with a little pad of sticky paper scribble and extra notes on the sticky paper and then when I'm going over the notes that evening write them into the powerpoint. I know you can do the same on your laptop but I learn best from paper. I stored them in binders.

Also nice pens index notes and skiny lined paper small things but I liked them for studying.

The Jansport backpack with the compartment for a laptop is good loads of poskets to store all the random bits and pieces you always end up carrying and big enough to fit everything.

A rice cooker, wok, strainer check whats available in the dorms if you're staying there. I like Jamie Olivers cookbooks.

Disecting kit, plenty of gloves, lab coat for anatomy, loads of pics etc.

 

[wends]

im taking my stuffed animals 😀

 

[GenSurg]

The second year med students that you meet early on will be able to tell you the best texts to get when you get there. If you're lucky, they will also let you borrow class notes or transcribed lectures from the year before. Many are often repeated.

Our first semester, the lecture notes were given to us. After this, we had to take notes on an outline handed out. Most found that laptops were to difficult to take notes with and few actually used laptops. An exception would be a school that had on line lecture material that you need to print out.

Your basic needs items should be very similar to what you needed for undergrad. You can save youself some money if you can cook for yourself at home as opposed to eating out every day. Save that for when you are a resident and your institution gives you money for food.

Good luck, and importantly try to have fun this year.

http://www.freeiPods.com/?r=20049323

 

[UCLAstudent]

im taking my stuffed animals 😀

Me too. 😳

 

[Realest]

Thanks guys - great tips! I was a little worried at first because they give us this huge list of recommended texts for each class and I wasn't sure which to get. Keep 'em coming!

Btw medgirl - love the avatar...yay for scrubs!

 

[lnn2]

Is this PG or R rated thread? 😕

 

[nutmegs]

wait on buying books. while I liked the laptop backpacks too, I ended up getting a soft case for mine, with a nice shoulder strap. the strap detaches so I can actually fit the whole thing in my backpack, but I can also just throw some notes and pens in the bag and just carry that if I so choose. I'd recommend it.

a crockpot. leave ALL your old notes etc behind. it's a whole new game. I'd recommend investing in the pack of highlighters that has 10 different colors- look at office depot, good highlighters are sooooooooo key 😉

 

[drdr2010]

i've said it before on here, and i'll say it again: MP3 player!!

i also have to have colored pens. when all your printed out lecture notes and powerpoints are in black, it helps me to write my own notes in different colors.

a travel mug for coffee (not to mention a good coffee maker, then you don't have to waste money at starbucks every morning) and a nalgene water bottle. could not last through a day of lectures without them. i also stole, i mean borrowed, all my mom's Ziploc containers so that I could bring my lunch to school (again, tryin to save money).

 

[wends]

Me too. 😳

is your avatar the corpse bride? i cant wait till the movie comes out! yay for johnny depp 😛 😎

anyways, i got my laptop, my webcam so i can talk to ppl on msn instead of long distance bills, my digital camera, my cell phone, 4 suitcases of clothes, shoes, and purses. oh yeah, and my mini rice cooker.

 

[afr0dite01]

i've said it before on here, and i'll say it again: MP3 player!!

i also have to have colored pens. when all your printed out lecture notes and powerpoints are in black, it helps me to write my own notes in different colors.

a travel mug for coffee (not to mention a good coffee maker, then you don't have to waste money at starbucks every morning) and a nalgene water bottle. could not last through a day of lectures without them. i also stole, i mean borrowed, all my mom's Ziploc containers so that I could bring my lunch to school (again, tryin to save money).

Im totally with you on the colored pens....ppl made fun of me for that but its easy on the eyes

 

[UCLAstudent]

is your avatar the corpse bride? i cant wait till the movie comes out! yay for johnny depp 😛 😎

Close. It's Sally from Nightmare before Christmas. 😀 I like Johnny, too ... did you see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

 

[fun8stuff]

im taking my stuffed animals 😀

:
A Prof of mine freshman year of undergrad told me that some magazine actually did a study (non- scientific, I'm Sure) that concluded that Students who bring Stuffed animals to college with them do better on average than those who don't .I

 

[Realest]

Great ideas guys. I think I'll bring my stuffed bunny with me too for comfort during prelims 🙂

About the mp3 player - has anyone found it useful to tape lectures? Did you buy a tape recorder for this? We'll probably need it later on anyway right?

Continue, please!

 

[medgirl20]

Great ideas guys. I think I'll bring my stuffed bunny with me too for comfort during prelims 🙂

About the mp3 player - has anyone found it useful to tape lectures? Did you buy a tape recorder for this? We'll probably need it later on anyway right?

Continue, please!

People in my class use their ipods to record lectures, although not all our anatomy demonstrators were so pleased to be recorded. . I second the coffee cup water bottle and lunch boxes food is never that great in college and expensive a well. If you're like me and have a favourite pillow bring it too.

 

[wends]

:
A Prof of mine freshman year of undergrad told me that some magazine actually did a study (non- scientific, I'm Sure) that concluded that Students who bring Stuffed animals to college with them do better on average than those who don't .I

alright! 😀 👍

 

[virilep]

What were the most important/useful items you packed for medical school? I suppose you can be "deep" and say things like "a sense of humor", but I'm also looking for advice on:

When to look for texts - should I buy them now, or wait to see what my school requires?

Note-taking supplies. Do you find it easier to have binders to stuff all the syllabus work into or notebooks that keep everything together...or maybe both? Do you even take notes? (it seems like a lot of people don't go to class...)

Good cases for laptops - I'm liking the idea of those big backpacks that have a compartment for laptops - any opinions?

Kitchen utensils if you cook...good cookbooks with simple and tasty recipies.

Anything else? Old texts/notes? Lab supplies (altho I believe you buy these through the school...)? I know this is a boring thread, but I'd really appreciate your responses!

I'm taking my air purifier, if u don't have one, get a sharper image one, it's so amazing. makes me sleep easy. i was also thinkin about gettin the memory matress pad. the swedish ones are so good. other than that, i'm waiting for orientation week

 

[myodana]

People in my class use their ipods to record lectures, although not all our anatomy demonstrators were so pleased to be recorded.

how do you record a lecture on your ipod? can you enlighten me?

 

[UCLAstudent]

Gosh, I haven't even started packing and I leave tomorrow. 😳 Most of my stuff is still packed from college, though, so hopefully that will take care of most of it.

 

[Deleted member 72527]

Gosh, I haven't even started packing and I leave tomorrow. 😳 Most of my stuff is still packed from college, though, so hopefully that will take care of most of it.

Packing sucks! My kitchen is in boxes. My bathroom is almost done. Probably 1/2 of my clothes are packed. UGH. My office and bedroom to go!

 

[medgirl20]

how do you record a lecture on your ipod? can you enlighten me?

Thye use this or something similar do a search on amazon for different models too tired to look now

 

[uspostal]

toilet paper! 🙂