So what do you learn in medical school beside the obvious stuff

[Fakhter]

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You're supposed to take physics and organic chemistry. Recommended to take biochemistry and Calculus. Do you actually apply any of the knoweleged attained in these classes in medical school? Or is it just to test your academic and learining skills?

 

[Geebeejay]

You're supposed to take physics and organic chemistry. Recommended to take biochemistry and Calculus. Do you actually apply any of the knoweleged attained in these classes in medical school? Or is it just to test your academic and learining skills?

It's gonna be a lot harder to understand metabolic acidosis if you never took biochem and never learned about cellular respiration

 

[Fakhter]

It's gonna be a lot harder to understand metabolic acidosis if you never took biochem and never learned about cellular respiration

Can you go into a little more depth?

 

[Geebeejay]

Can you go into a little more depth?

Well, I answered your question - it is NOT just to test your academic and learning skills. I can't go more in depth because I have not attended medical school yet.

If you look at the curriculum block descriptions of pretty much any medical school at the university websites, maybe this will help you.

 

[487806]

You're supposed to take physics and organic chemistry. Recommended to take biochemistry and Calculus. Do you actually apply any of the knoweleged attained in these classes in medical school? Or is it just to test your academic and learining skills?

If you actually used the search function, you would see countless threads discussing this topic tirelessly. Biochemistry and biology are the most useful, followed by general chemistry. Organic chemistry and physics, not so much, but they are tested on the MCAT.

 

[mmmcdowe]

O chem has some implications for pharmacology, physics has some implications for physiology. Chem, as others have mentioned, has more value, but yeah 90%+ of what you learn in college will not have applications or implications in medical school.

 

[NickNaylor]

Here's what I can think of with respect to utility of pre-reqs:

General bio:
-basics of genetics
-basics of cell structure and function

General chem:
-things related to biochem topics: equilibrium (yes, just this morning I had a question come up asking to predict Keq given a delta-G), free energy change, activation energy in catalysis

General physics:
-basics of hemodynamics and respiratory physiology
-anatomical stuff (eg, actions of muscles)

Ochem:
-drug mechanisms, though nothing near the detail you learn in ochem

Biochem:
-basics of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics
-principles of enzymes and how they are altered, manipulated, etc.
-metabolism
-membrane dynamics

Calculus:
-nothing (really), though I guess you could really stretch it and say biostats (but not really)

So in effect, nothing useful.

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[image187]

If by "what" in "what do you learn in medical school?" you are referring to those subjects mentioned above and how they apply to the subjects in medical school classes then yes, I would say the above is accurate. But none of this is unique to medical school, You can just Wikipedia stuff for 8 hours a day for 2 years straight and memorize it all and take tests. The real thing that you should be looking forward to will come in your 3rd year. Then, you'll learn ALOT of things in medical school that aren't quite "obvious" to you right now. You'll learn how to interact with strangers who entrust themselves and most intimate private information to you even though you know nothing, based solely on the faith that you're out for their best interests. You'll learn how to filter through a bunch of crap they say and grab the 2 or 3 things important to your history or diagnosis. You'll learn how to do a proper physical exam, and how to listen, feel, see, and even smell important objective physical findings, as well as perform exam maneuvers properly. You'll learn how to develop yourself professionally, how to act in front of people, and how to communicate with a dying patient, and tell what you're thinking to people who speak totally different languages. You'll learn how to be a doctor and do everything that doctors do. This is what you should be looking forward to. not biochemistry

 

[NickNaylor]

If by "what" in "what do you learn in medical school?" you are referring to those subjects mentioned above and how they apply to the subjects in medical school classes then yes, I would say the above is accurate. But none of this is unique to medical school, You can just Wikipedia stuff for 8 hours a day for 2 years straight and memorize it all and take tests. The real thing that you should be looking forward to will come in your 3rd year. Then, you'll learn ALOT of things in medical school that aren't quite "obvious" to you right now. You'll learn how to interact with strangers who entrust themselves and most intimate private information to you even though you know nothing, based solely on the faith that you're out for their best interests. You'll learn how to filter through a bunch of crap they say and grab the 2 or 3 things important to your history or diagnosis. You'll learn how to do a proper physical exam, and how to listen, feel, see, and even smell important objective physical findings, as well as perform exam maneuvers properly. You'll learn how to develop yourself professionally, how to act in front of people, and how to communicate with a dying patient, and tell what you're thinking to people who speak totally different languages. You'll learn how to be a doctor and do everything that doctors do. This is what you should be looking forward to. not biochemistry

While I appreciate that perspective, I really wish I was able to take such a romantic view.

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[Cinclus]

Besides the obvious stuff? You learn to write an ethics work-up.

 

[passionformed]

I heard med schools have a class on statistics. Is that true?

 

[Pons Asinorum]

Here's what I can think of with respect to utility of pre-reqs:
...
So in effect, nothing useful.

This. If all you take from ochem is an understanding of what the hell enantiomers are and what a racemic mixture is, you'll be far ahead of the curve.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

I heard med schools have a class on statistics. Is that true?

You will have to know some basic biostats for Step 1, so most, if not all, schools feed you enough to cover that. You have to remember most schools don't really have "classes" any longer. What would have been taught in semester-long intro to biostats class in undergraduate will be taught in two or three hours of lecture time scattered over the course of a year along with some application of the principles in case-based forums.

 

[Fakhter]

The reason why I asked this question because I am simply trying to gain some piece of mind. I was intimidated knowing there would be so much memorization in under grad that I will forget a lot of it after taking the MCAT. Consequently I would be lost in Medical School and not do well. Now that I know most of it really isn't even tested in Medical School I can stop trying to remember EVERY single thing I learn in my Prerequisites.

 

[Planes2Doc]

The reason why I asked this question because I am simply trying to gain some piece of mind. I was intimidated knowing there would be so much memorization in under grad that I will forget a lot of it after taking the MCAT. Consequently I would be lost in Medical School and not do well. Now that I know most of it really isn't even tested in Medical School I can stop trying to remember EVERY single thing I learn in my Prerequisites.

They start you off at step one. Plus anything you might have memorized from an undergraduate human anatomy course will be absolutely nothing compared to what you do in medical school.

It's a new experience for everyone.