Should I take CVA??

[RoadtoMed]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi,

I am signing up for my schedule of Fall 2009. I am currently enrolled in a 7 yr BS/DO program so it's kinda hectic trying to squeeze in all the required courses in addition to courses that would be good for med school in general.

This semester I was going to take Organic I (I've taken it before) and Molecular Biology. I figured I can concentrate well on the two with a few other GEs thrown in. But Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy is offered ( a 5 credit course, 3 hrs including lab two times a week). Everyone is saying that it's really good for med school. I can't drop Orgo or Molecular cuz they are pertinent to the track I'm in, so I have to take CVA along with those two.

I wanted to know how helpful CVA is for med school and if I can get by without taking it and instead taking something like Animal Physiology or Human Anatomy next semester.

 

[nlax30]

Human physio or anatomy would be much more helpful. CVA just wasn't appealing to me, useful if you were going to go further up the bio degree ladder but I don't see it being much help for med school.

If you're looking for other optional sciences here are some I would suggest: physio, maybe anatomy, molecular bio, genetics, immunology, biochem/metabolism (if it's not already required) and/or maybe some sort of nutrition class..... sometimes a intro to biochem/metabolism type of course is offered that is more focused on big picture metabolism regulation and less biochem minutia.

 

[FlaMedic]

Now when you say CVA do you mean cerebrevascular accident or christian vegetarian association?

 

[scpod]

Now when you say CVA do you mean cerebrevascular accident or christian vegetarian association?

CVA Cerebrovascular Accident (stroke)
CVA Christian Vegetarian Association
CVA Certified Valuation Analyst
CVA Connecticut Valley Arms
CVA Company Voluntary Arrangement (UK company-creditor term)
CVA Central Virginia
CVA Cash Value Added
CVA Clean Vessel Act (Florida)
CVA Current Value Assessment
CVA Commonwealth Veterinary Association (UK)
CVA Attack Aircraft Carrier
CVA Cardiovascular Accident (stroke)
CVA Canonical Variate Analysis
CVA Costovertebral Angle
CVA Carrabassett Valley Academy
CVA Customer Value Analysis
CVA Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist
CVA Corporate Value Associates
CVA Customer Value Added
CVA Carrier-Attack
CVA Commanditaire Vennootschap op Aandelen (Dutch)
CVA Commercial Vehicle Aftermarket
CVA Canadian Vintners Association
CVA Concurrent VLSI Architecture
CVA Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy
CVA Colorado Velodrome Association
CVA Canadian Virtual Airlines
CVA Connecticut Volkswagen Association
CVA Current Vulnerability Assessment
CVA Circular Viterbi Algorithm
CVA Crime Victims' Advocate
CVA Characteristic Vector Analysis
CVA Canadian Virtual Assistants
CVA Central Verifications Activity
CVA Clandestine Vulnerability Analysis
CVA Computer Virus Association
CVA Concurrent Viterbi Algorithm
CVA Confederate Veterans of America
CVA Chopper Vane Angle
CVA Colorado Veterans Affairs
CVA Compliance Verification Assessment
CVA Convergent Voting Algorithm
CVA Corporate Valley Associates
CVA Communications Vulnerability Analysis

With thanks to Freedictionary.com

 

[TexasTriathlete]

My first thought was cerebrovascular accident, and I thought this was a weird question.

As for your actual question, take whatever you want. If your program requires you to take this course, then you should probably take it.

 

[Rollo]

Definitely take Human Anatomy & Physiology instead of CVA. What good would it do for you to learn about fish skeletal system?

 

[bellakk]

I was required to take CVA for my Biomedical Sciences bachelors. This past summer I took Human Anatomy as a post bac and I found that CVA did help me. Yes, learning a chicken skeleton and a shark's vasular system does seem kind of stupid, but it helps you to develop anatomy critical thinking skills (Ok, so the cat's arteries are arranged like this so the human arteries should probably flow like this). CVA is a bear though so dont misjudge it! In either kind of anatomy you will be spending lots of outside time in the lab studying for practicals. If you arent required to take CVA for your degree, I wouldnt. Take human anatomy instead. If you do decide to take it the prof is an important consideration, at my school there was one who only did it in the fall and one in the spring (for lecture, lab always the same grad students). One of profs loved fish and taught a fish biology course and did research on fish so she pretty much only taught about the evolution of fish. The other prof was much more broad and spent more time on all the different vertebrate classes. Ultimately, any sort of anatomy will help you so take what fits your schedule!