Physio vs anatomy vs micro vs advanced biochem

[DokM3m3]

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Hey current or previous md students, I can only fit one into my last semester. Which will help me the most in med school (not for the mcat)? Tried to do my research, but they all seem helpful. If you could take one, which would it be?

 

[getdown]

Physiology. Having a strong physiology background makes understanding why, how, what of medicine that much easier. You'll use this every day of your professional life.

 

[Catalystik]

Physiology.

+1

 

[KU Brendan]

I agree physiology can help with your professional life and is the most important of those; I would say, though, that anatomy helped a huge amount in med school itself (but not as much after).

 

[DokM3m3]

Thanks guys! So I can take physio and anatomy, but that would be 21 credits. To maintain anonymity, I can't say what the rest of my schedule is like, but it is doable (I've taken 21 a couple times before); it'll just be an incredibly busy semester. Or I can just take physio. Should I go through the extra "pain" or just deal with anatomy when the time comes.

 

[thatchemguy]

It really isn't worth stressing yourself out your last semester of senior year. Go relax, enjoy graduation, and take it easy. Take physio if you really must. But from what I've been told by med student friends, the physio/anatomy you learn in undergrad is pretty much useless because med school will teach it to you completely different. The physio you learn in one semester in undergrad might take only two weeks in med school.

 

[Oso]

They all help (except advanced biochem if it's like, super advanced and straight up chemistry).

So I would just take whatever you're most interested in.

And you just have to accept that whichever subjects remain will just **** you up in med school.

And don't forget, whichever subject you do take, will still probably **** you up in med school too.



So I guess what I'm saying is, it won't make a significant difference in the end, so just take what you wanna take.

 

[trobinsonmd]

Honestly, none of them will help you. The physiology that you learn in undergraduate is taught way differently than what is taught in medical school, and I have heard of a few medical schools recommending that their applicants actually do not take physiology because it is kind of like forming a bad habit that will have to be broken eventually... you will go much more in depth in medical school and your classmates who have taken physiology will have absolutely no advantage over you... I would say take it easy and don't risk getting a B. if you HAVE to take one, I would say biochem since it is basically straight memorization and it will be nice to recall some of the stuff in medical school instead of seeing it for the first time

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Honestly, none of them will help you. The physiology that you learn in undergraduate is taught way differently than what is taught in medical school, and I have heard of a few medical schools recommending that their applicants actually do not take physiology because it is kind of like forming a bad habit that will have to be broken eventually... you will go much more in depth in medical school and your classmates who have taken physiology will have absolutely no advantage over you...

Eh I actually disagree. I came in thinking this but it became apparent rather quickly that my physiology degree gave me a leg up on my classmates when it came to physiology. It allowed me to focus on the minutia because I already knew what the bigger picture was.

OP, put up another vote for physiology. Anatomy is helpful in that you learn the basic terminology but med school anatomy goes into far more depth than UG anatomy to the point where it doesn’t really give out any sort of lasting benefit outside of the first few days when everyone is still trying to understand the terms.

 

[trobinsonmd]

Eh I actually disagree. I came in thinking this but it became apparent rather quickly that my physiology degree gave me a leg up on my classmates when it came to physiology. It allowed me to focus on the minutia because I already knew what the bigger picture was.

OP, put up another vote for physiology. Anatomy is helpful in that you learn the basic terminology but med school anatomy goes into far more depth than UG anatomy to the point where it doesn’t really give out any sort of lasting benefit outside of the first few days when everyone is still trying to understand the terms.

physiology course or degree? I think that undergraduate physiology is taught very surface level, so that will not confer much benefit in my opinion, but of course a physiology degree would be helpful... obviously this is just my opinion from my experiences, maybe physio at my UG was taught differently or poorly, but I feel like it was useless in medical school... seems like the majority of people disagree however

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

physiology course or degree? I think that undergraduate physiology is taught very surface level, so that will not confer much benefit in my opinion, but of course a physiology degree would be helpful... obviously this is just my opinion from my experiences, maybe physio at my UG was taught differently or poorly, but I feel like it was useless in medical school... seems like the majority of people disagree however

I’ll admit it was an advanced physiology course and was probably better taught than the average gen phys course.