PREMED CLASSES

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Ron

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To all you folks already in med school,

What undergrad classes have helped you the most? What classes do you wish you would have taken to better prepare you

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Any class you will get an 'A' in. Forget about taking courses to be more prepared. Take courses you enjoy and can learn something interesting and do well in them
 
Make sure you take a basic physiology course and a basic biochemistry course. That's all you really need to get through med school. Others you could take that would help out some would be embryology, some higher level physiology and biochemistry courses, microbiology, and immunology. That covers most of the hard-core science, but I would also recommend taking some "soft" courses includng psychology, English, Latin, ethics, ... These courses will also be quite useful for med school. Premed is also a great time to learn about some topics you are interested in, but not interested enough to do a degree in, or to devote a career to. Many people take music courses, history, art, ... It is also important to try to get a few courses each year that are GPA-boosters. I know it doesn't feel right to think of courses in this way, but it is reality. That should just about do it. goodluck
 
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Beside all the science classes, take some humanity classes as well psychology. As Dogboy has said, no matter what you do, do it well.

Not only in your science classes, do well in all your liberal arts courses too.
 
The problem with being a pre-med whatever your major is, is that you often times feel like you have to avoid certain courses (and professors) that have a reputation of being extremely hard, even though you may learn alot from them. This is because come application time, they look at the bottom line mostly: what is your GPA and MCAT score. They often times could care less that you took harder courses or had a harder major. For instance, a 3.25 in Engineering may be better than a 3.5 in Psychology, but they have so many applicants that it may be overlooked. My advice to you since it is this way, is similar to DOGBOY's, take the courses you can get an A in on top of the required pre-med courses. Admissions, unfortunately, is partly a game. Just my opinion (especially when I'm feeling cynical).
 
VM,

I guess i would tend to agree with you, and i'm not feeling cynical! My question was what classes might most help me in med. school. I have already taken all the liberal arts classes i need, i was just curious about other classes med. students might recomend to make things just a LITTLE easier down the road.
 
Ron,

I'm an MSII and would tell you that it doesn't really matter - take what you enjoy. The rest of your life will be filled with science and medicine. However, if you really want to take some classes to help you out with med school, I would try to take the classes we actually take in med school. They will give you a good background and familiarilty with the subjects. I would suggest: Anatomy/physiology, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Genetics, anything that deals with neuroscience, etc... These are mostly 1st year classes - the 2nd year is filled with things like pharmacology, pathology, psychiatry, etc..

Good luck! I hope this helped!
 
Hey everyone, I hope all of you are doin well inside and getting to medical school. I have a question for those in med school: I started off taking some basic courses at a junior college to save money and as a gateway to a better 4 year school. If I take biology at a 2 year school, do you guys think that med schools might have a problem with this? Is it not reccomended to take science courses if you're a premed major at 2 year school? Please let me know, I'd really appreciate all of your help. Thanks.

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-Sam: [email protected]
 
I took ALL of my pre-req. courses at a junior college. It didn't seem to matter to my interviewers at all. If you do go this route, make sure to really concentrate on your MCAT...they will look very closely at your score to see that you learned as much at that school as you could have at a four year.

Good luck,
stephens1
 
I'm not in med school, but I have also asked this question. I am always told, BIOCHEM. They only spend a day or two on it, and you have to know it. Otherwise, anything you see before you get there is good. But then again, Harvard would prefer you take Brittish Lit or The History of the Third Reich, and leave the medical sciences to them.
 
My med school literally spend weeks on biochem in our Principles of Medicine course. It is very true you have to know it, and more and more med schools require it rather than simply suggesting having taking biochem. The more you know going in, the better. My course also incorporated clinical application and other integrated ideas, but as the material is extensive, go for it before you get to med school.

If you're bored (ha!) and want to brush up in a way that is most condusive to med school, I might suggest Basic Medical Biochemistry (Marks,Marks,Smith) -- with Streyer's biochem as a backup for some of the mechanisms that remain fuzzy after BMB. This text was used in my classes and is a bit more touchy-feely than other texts (including board review books, which are also excellent supplemental texts for ANY med school course!).

While Harvard may prefer to indoctrinate their own version of medical sciences, I find this a weak excuse for not taking classes of interest as a premed which will help you understand later concepts in med school. Immunonology and embryology especially come to mind. While you need your school's slant for the sake of their tests, it is still a good idea (if you have room/time/interest) to be exposed to these concepts early.
 
Learn Spanish. Or, at least take a few semesters. There are so many Spanish-speaking patients in teaching hospitals and you will get to translate for residents, attendings, other students, and
A)look like a star
B)really help out the people who give you your grade

If I could do it over, I'd have taken a couple of semesters of Spanish my senior year.

Also, take Biochem,physiology, and immunology and micro if you are so inclined.
 
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