start reading med school stuff?

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kdwuma

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:eek: I have been accepted to med school for 2006, is it beneficial if i started looking at some netter's anatomy stuff, since everyone seems to complain about gross anatomy or will I be wasting my time?
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personally, I think you'd be over reacting. Got plenty of time to stress out during the school year and way beyond. Enjoy your time now, maybe a long time before you ever get any serious down time again.
 
yeah, just chill out for now and enjoy your summer. Everyone finds a way to learn anatomy just fine. Spend time in the lab, go in extra if you need to, and keep looking over your notes/atlas when you start the course. Half of anatomy won't make any sense to you if you haven't put your hands on the structures, and felt their relationships to one another in a cadaver.

Don't stress so much. You got in, so you're capable of the workload. That might sound like BS now, but when you get to the middle of your first year, you'll know what I mean.
 
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huge waste.
get a job and put away a stash of cash so you have a little extra and aren't quite as destitute. Otherwise just chill. seriously.
 
Congratulations on your acceptance!

You could flip through and familiarize yourself with the plates, but IMHO I don't think it will help much b/c you won't have any context with which to integrate it (like the others have said above). Plus, you're going to be sick to death of studying Netter when you hit med school, so I'd spend this time to just ENJOY yourself, and study something you might not have the chance to see ever again (e.g., sign up for that art history or philosophy course you've always questioned).

If you still want to buckle down, though, check out Case Files in Anatomy by Toy, and look up the plates that correspond to the cases. That way, at least, you'll be learning something relevant, rather than just memorizing illustrations out of the blue.
 
I meant to say this earlier: you should read fun books about being a Doctor. Like House of God, or "Letters to a Young Doctor," by Richard Selzer; or "Kitchen Table Wisdom," by Rachel Remin, or whatever else floats your boat. Try to get a little experience with the language of healing and health-care. That's more important before med school than anatomy. Learning to put the science into a human context will be of much more value to you, I think.

Good luck. :thumbup:
 
I agree with the others ... it'll be a waste of time.
 
kdwuma said:
:eek: I have been accepted to med school for 2006, is it beneficial if i started looking at some netter's anatomy stuff, since everyone seems to complain about gross anatomy or will I be wasting my time?
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Don't do it. Enjoy your last year off. Medical school is for studying anatomy.....
 
thanks guys, i guess i am a little jumpy since i have always read most of my material before the semester starts in my science courses and it has worked very well. The good old method of getting a leg up. I will take your advice and relax, more time for gin and juice...thanks
 
yup i'm doing nothing other than working in order to have a sweetly furnished MS1 apartment, working out because you have to think that is going to have a tendency to go downhill quick once med school begins....plenty of time to hit it hard once august comes, right?

but then again, if you have ALWAYS gone over stuff beforehand, and that's what you feel like doing there isn't any harm in buying some books and looking over them i guess. i was never the type, no matter how many times i resolved to be, to even read stuff pre-lecture. but i'm sure your GPA was also way better than mine too :)
 
looking at slides is useless

if you wanna preview, you gotta read something, like High Yield anatomy or BRS review book.
 
If you must pre-study, then read Wheater's Histology or Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease. You can't really learn anatomy until you have your cadaver lab.
 
I spent time last summer looking over stuff because I was petrified of anatomy. At the time, it gave me piece of mind, but that's all it did. It's much easier to remember things that you see in lab. Also, I wasn't studying in a logical order so I couldn't integrate things.

It was hard not to study last summer, for me, even though people told me not to. Oh, well, live and learn. But, if you can possibly tear yourself away from Netter, please do. Your brain will thank you.
 
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kdwuma said:
:eek: I have been accepted to med school for 2006, is it beneficial if i started looking at some netter's anatomy stuff, since everyone seems to complain about gross anatomy or will I be wasting my time?
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You'll have the next 4 years to devote to studying. Try and relax and take a break. You'll need it.
 
if i could do it again, i would have prestudied. Cuz then I wouldve had more time for other subjects. memorizing anatomy is a real drain on your time. I spent/wasted hours memorizing arteries, nerves, and other minutia

if your only other alternative is watching TV, then go and study some anatomy. you defintely do not need a cadaver to learn anatomy.

If you can memorize all the muscle names of the limbs, and which way they move the limbs and objects they are attached to, that's a good head start. Knowing the names (i.e. just looking at netter slides) won't do you sh**. But knowing the functions will. Then if you still have time left, study where the nerves go.
 
I recommend reading Katzung's Basic and Clinical Pharmacology. Just start at the beginning and you'll breeze right through it :thumbup:
 
rpkall said:
I meant to say this earlier: you should read fun books about being a Doctor. Like House of God, or "Letters to a Young Doctor," by Richard Selzer; or "Kitchen Table Wisdom," by Rachel Remin, or whatever else floats your boat. Try to get a little experience with the language of healing and health-care. That's more important before med school than anatomy. Learning to put the science into a human context will be of much more value to you, I think.

Good luck. :thumbup:
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I agree, I don't think there's too much you can do to "pre-study" for med school. It might be useful to understand anatomy a bit but really I can't imagine gaining anything from looking through Netter's or Grant's or whatever without any kind of context.

I agree with rpkall about reading "fun" books about medicine. Kind of motivate you and get you excited about what you'll be doing for the rest of your life.

Another good one I recommend, "Becoming a Doctor" by Melvin Konner. The beginning may come across as a bit pompous (it did to me) but once you get past that it's really good. And besides, he probably does have just cause to be at least a little pompous :laugh:.
 
kdwuma said:
:eek: I have been accepted to med school for 2006, is it beneficial if i started looking at some netter's anatomy stuff, since everyone seems to complain about gross anatomy or will I be wasting my time?
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I'd say mostly waste of time. Unless you get a good book and see if you can read most of it, leisurely over the next few months. It might give you a little bit of a moral boost going in knowing something. But then again you can do well without doing it. But anatomy makes a lot more sense when you see things in the lab. I'd say if you got nothing better to do then go for it.
 
I had a desk job over the summer so I read through Netter's flashcards and don't regret it. Esp if you've taken some form of anatomy in undergrad, it helps you become reaquainted with terms and give you a review. Be sure to take alot of time though to read for pleasure and relax.
 
As a former completely-freaked-out-about-starting-med-school first year, I can now confidently tell you NO, you do not need to and should not study med school material before actually starting med school. I considered studying Biochem (my first block) this summer because I was COMPLETELY convinced that I would not be able to handle/pass med school classes, but had no idea where to begin. Turns out it would have been pretty useless anyway.

Needless to say, I survived, as did the huge majority of my classmates.

If anything, try to take a good anatomy or histo class this spring if still possible. If there was anything else I think would help besides relaxing and being prepared for the mental ride of your life (sigh ;) ) I'd tell ya.

Work as hard as you can, ask for help when you need it, and don't lose sight of why you want to be there (believe me, its very easy to)--and you WILL make it.
 
kdwuma said:
:eek: I have been accepted to med school for 2006, is it beneficial if i started looking at some netter's anatomy stuff, since everyone seems to complain about gross anatomy or will I be wasting my time?
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this would be a complete waste of your time. you will retain little to nothing of what you read.
 
If you're a visual person, you can go through the Netter CD -- it allows you to cover the labels and try to type them in, or will flash a label and you choose the corresponding structure. That will both get you used to the Netter images (which are what will stay with you), and get you used to the language.

Anka
 
It would be a giant waste. I just finished up my anatomy course, and I have already forgotten a lot of it. Hell, I would forget most of the stuff from test to test. There is such a vast amount of info, that you do actually have to learn for each individual test and just let go of the details after. Not only that, but what you see in Netter's is only the tip of the iceberg.

THe only thing that would actually help is taking a true gross anatomy course next semester if your u-grad offers one.
 
Well- I agree with all of the above posters (personally I did nothing but travel the summer before M1)... However, in retrospect - some schools offer placement exams over the summer... so let's say you study your biochem pretty hardcore for like a month or two (or.... take an advanced biochem class if you're still in undergrad)... and just pass out of biochem for M1.... you'd be doing yourself a HUGE favor.... Classes like anatomy and physio "might" be a "bit" harder to pass out of, unless you have previous experience... but I do think that biochem is very doable. I'm not saying it's easier- just better suited for independent study. Oh.. and if by any chance you decide to use my advice... you should read "Lippincott's Review: Biochemistry" and "Master Medicine: Biochemistry (mostly for questions in addition to BRS)"... to easily pass a placement exam.

Good luck!!
 
kdwuma said:
:eek: I have been accepted to med school for 2006, is it beneficial if i started looking at some netter's anatomy stuff, since everyone seems to complain about gross anatomy or will I be wasting my time?
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Waste of your time. If won't alter the grade even on your first exam.

Read House of God, By Shem
 
are you crazy? go travel around europe or something.
 
Good things to do before starting med school:

- make money
- get some nice clothes for clinic if you don't have any
- find a nice place to live while at school
- make non-medical friends or spend lots of time hanging with your non-medical friends...you'll need them later
- learn to cook if you don't know already
- have a stable relationship or no relationship...but don't be in a weak relationship

Note that getting books and studying aren't on this list. The only book I would suggest reading is Iserson's so that you can get an idea of what you should be doing first year, which is learning about specialties and getting mentors.
 
Just putting my 2 cents. Pre studying makes sense if you have been out of school or have not recently done any science courses. whether you are a non science major or your past performance on sciences.

All of these characteristics may indicate a potential benefit for review. For me, pre-studying before classes helped me to structure a study shedule with working out, eating and all of those essential things.

Choose a topic that might be difficult for you. If you can get in touch with a student at your preferred school, he/she may give you an idea about the most difficult courses, whether teaching is mostly based on research, whether a particular book is helpful.

I would say go for it but still try to have fun...You will have less and less time for yourself as you progress through med school.

hope this helps.
 
Gerry_Doc2b said:
Just putting my 2 cents. Pre studying makes sense if you have been out of school or have not recently done any science courses. whether you are a non science major or your past performance on sciences.

All of these characteristics may indicate a potential benefit for review. For me, pre-studying before classes helped me to structure a study shedule with working out, eating and all of those essential things.

Choose a topic that might be difficult for you. If you can get in touch with a student at your preferred school, he/she may give you an idea about the most difficult courses, whether teaching is mostly based on research, whether a particular book is helpful.

I would say go for it but still try to have fun...You will have less and less time for yourself as you progress through med school.

hope this helps.
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This is exactly how I feel. I would have been out of school for 2 years. I have already had my vacation. I feel I need to refresh so I wouldn't be in trouble when school starts.
 
Hi Guys!
I've been accepted for 2006 too, and I'm going to disagree. Partly because I couldn't "relax" if I wanted to, I'm so excited. Although I'm not reading anything technical, or studying, I've been deluging myself with information about the trade, reading about what to expect, histories of medicine, and a fabulous compilation of essays called "Compassion's Way". I feel there is so much to learn and know just about what it means to be a med student, I would be doing a disservice to go in blind.
 
ingamina said:
Hi Guys!
I've been accepted for 2006 too, and I'm going to disagree. Partly because I couldn't "relax" if I wanted to, I'm so excited. Although I'm not reading anything technical, or studying, I've been deluging myself with information about the trade, reading about what to expect, histories of medicine, and a fabulous compilation of essays called "Compassion's Way". I feel there is so much to learn and know just about what it means to be a med student, I would be doing a disservice to go in blind.
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Yeah, you learn plenty about this once you actually are a med student. And all that humanistic stuff sorta goes out the window (as awful as that is to say).
 
kdwuma said:
:eek: I have been accepted to med school for 2006, is it beneficial if i started looking at some netter's anatomy stuff, since everyone seems to complain about gross anatomy or will I be wasting my time?
Click to expand...

Find somebody attractive and play doctor for the next few months. Any other kind of review before school will be a waste of time. Besides, your professors are going to focus in on and emphasize what they think is important, so no point trying to learn every minute detail of anatomy when only a subset is going to actually be on your tests.
 
Law2Doc said:
Find somebody attractive and play doctor for the next few months. Any other kind of review before school will be a waste of time. Besides, your professors are going to focus in on and emphasize what they think is important, so no point trying to learn every minute detail of anatomy when only a subset is going to actually be on your tests.
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I heartily second that motion :).
 
Read Moore's Clinically Oriented Anatomy from cover to cover and commit it to memory. You will be glad you did.
 
Moore makes too many mistakes. Take a look as his discussion of peritoneal arteries. He mislabels diagrams and does a royal job getting the position of vessels wrong. I was so confused that I had to check other sources just to make sense of it all.
 
deuist said:
Moore makes too many mistakes. Take a look as his discussion of peritoneal arteries. He mislabels diagrams and does a royal job getting the position of vessels wrong. I was so confused that I had to check other sources just to make sense of it all.
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oh no! just ordered it, well, that is what one gets for trying to get a leg up :idea:
 
deuist said:
Moore makes too many mistakes. Take a look as his discussion of peritoneal arteries. He mislabels diagrams and does a royal job getting the position of vessels wrong. I was so confused that I had to check other sources just to make sense of it all.
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bull$hit. every anatomy book has mistakes in it. and you know what? they're not actually all mistakes because anatomy has so many variations it's hard to get a definitive reference for every single topic. netter is notorious for having many mistakes (take his inclusion of the inferior vesical artery in females, for example), yet it's still considered the bible of anatomy. gray's anatomy mislabels the lobes of the liver. so, in my humble opinion, big moore is a great text. read whatever your class is going with, and get yourself a copy of rohen AND netter, and weir for radiology.
 
deuist said:
Moore makes too many mistakes. Take a look as his discussion of peritoneal arteries. He mislabels diagrams and does a royal job getting the position of vessels wrong. I was so confused that I had to check other sources just to make sense of it all.
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Anyone actually reading Moore's description of the anatomical structures has too much time on their hands. Class notes should suffice for simple descriptions of relationships. Where Moore's really shines is in anatomy-related clinical conditions, which were very high-yield in the lecture half of my anatomy course. I found Moore's (or Chung's BRS Anatomy) to be very helpful in that regard.
 
DoctorFunk said:
Anyone actually reading Moore's description of the anatomical structures has too much time on their hands. Class notes should suffice for simple descriptions of relationships. Where Moore's really shines is in anatomy-related clinical conditions, which were very high-yield in the lecture half of my anatomy course. I found Moore's (or Chung's BRS Anatomy) to be very helpful in that regard.
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All of these books are better resources to use after you have gone through class notes. I wouldn't recommend someone trying to teach themselves anatomy from Moores from scratch over the summer. Just a waste of time.
 
Law2Doc said:
All of these books are better resources to use after you have gone through class notes. I wouldn't recommend someone trying to teach themselves anatomy from Moores from scratch over the summer. Just a waste of time.
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I fully agree, Moore's (or any book discussed in this thread for that matter) should only be used while a student is actually in the class. There is absolutely no way of knowing what kind of minutia is going to be emphasized from professor to professor, and studying for any class in med school as if you know the class format is a complete waste of time.

Trust us guys and gals, you'll get more than your fair share of basic science knowledge in a few months. Use the free time you have now to shore up familial relationships, friendships, life skills, and hobbies that you enjoy, because you'll find your time and energy in those regards severely limited when school begins.
 
DoctorFunk said:
Anyone actually reading Moore's description of the anatomical structures has too much time on their hands. Class notes should suffice for simple descriptions of relationships. Where Moore's really shines is in anatomy-related clinical conditions, which were very high-yield in the lecture half of my anatomy course. I found Moore's (or Chung's BRS Anatomy) to be very helpful in that regard.
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Unfortunately, my school does not have class notes for anatomy. We were told to read the first four chapters of baby Moore---and boy did the tests reflect that assignment. About the clinical correlations: are you talking about big Moore? Clinically Oriented Anatomy had very few of the blue boxes.

As someone else said, you need a lot of books to study anatomy: Netter, Moore, BRS, Rohen. The key is examine what one person says and then check the other three for accuracy. And yes, while anatomy is variable, multiple choice exams do not give students the option of saying, "Both external and internal iliac arteries can give rise to this vessel."
 
deuist said:
About the clinical correlations: are you talking about big Moore? Clinically Oriented Anatomy had very few of the blue boxes.
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Sorry I didn't specify--I was talking about Big Moore (Clinically Oriented Anatomy). I found there to be a large number of blue boxes during my readings in the text, and there is actually a helpful List of Clinical Blue Boxes in the front of the book for each chapter. I haven't looked at Baby Moore, so I can't compare it to its big brother, but one of those two books is probably your only option in a class without lecture notes (youch!)

Anatomy is a tough class to adapt to, because everyone has different learning styles. Some people learn best by spending 10 hours a week studying in the cadaver lab, some are better off memorizing Netter. I personally spent very little time studying in cadaver lab or looking at my Rohen, sticking to lecture notes and Netters to try to pick out high yield anatomical relationships that were easily testable.

I think the key is to find something that works quickly--definitely within or soon after the first exam and to stick to that no matter how your friends are studying. Regardless (and to bring the topic back to the OPs post), none of these strategies involve studying in June. ;)
 
I liked the blue boxes in Big Moore so much better than the puny ones in Little Moore, but felt that Big Moore had way too much information for the class. So I bought an old copy of Big Moore and read the blue boxes at night when I was tired of studying. I like clinical stuff, so it kinda stuck even though my brain was fried by that time of night.
 
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