Studying PhD textbooks in Undergrad

[RowaH]

In high school I was daunted by parabolic equations. Now, looking back, I laugh at my stupidity, and how easy they seem.

I was wondering if I could apply the same logic to my undergrad. What if I were to study PhD level textbooks, in the hopes of breezing through undergrad?

If you can climb mount everest, you'd laugh when you'd have to climb a hill.

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[BozoSparky]

In high school I was daunted by parabolic equations. Now, looking back, I laugh at my stupidity, and how easy they seem.

I was wondering if I could apply the same logic to my undergrad. What if I were to study PhD level textbooks, in the hopes of breezing through undergrad?

If you can climb mount everest, you'd laugh when you'd have to climb a hill.

You can always check them out and see...but the fundamentals are key, don't skip them! Sometimes the simple explanations/examples in basic text books are much better than the advanced versions.

...btw, a PhD is more like digging a ditch.

 

[RowaH]

You can always check them out and see...but the fundamentals are key, don't skip them! Sometimes the simple explanations/examples in basic text books are much better than the advanced versions.

...btw, a PhD is more like digging a ditch.

Hey, at least diggin a ditch leads somewhere!!!

Anyways, someone messaged me with extremely helpful advice, and I do plan on checking out those textbooks.

Hello,

There really isn't any PhD level textbooks. However, there are books specifically written in detail about specific topics. That is what a PhD textbook would be.

Your chemistry, biology, and the like are just intro level books used across the country. If you read textbooks about pathology that are general-basic like, you won't really get much by reading those books as those are the types of books that nurses use in their classes. What you would want is a book like Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease. These books have a good number of detail. One of my favorite books is: Brenner: Brenner and Rector's The Kidney, 8th ed

If you want to become really educated in molecular biology, a good book is:Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition: The Problems Book (Paperback)

 

[physiologyguy]

Yes, studying "on a PhD level" would do very little for you as an undergrad. As a PhD student, your job is to 1) learn alot about one feild, 2) learn alot about a specific area in one feild, and 3) make an original contribution to that one area in that one feild. Thus, there really aren't textbooks, but you read lots of current research in your area. There are textbooks on very specific areas, but usually these are just a more user-friendly version of the original research. So, trying to do PhD studying really would help very little. Of course the other parts of doing a PhD will help alot with a career in medicine (presenting papers to colleagues, defending your decisions logically, finding mistakes in others work, being cirtical, thinking creatively, etc).

Of course, I am yet to do the MD part of my training and many people tell me that many things from PhD training are not well received in medical world! (group thinking, debating, journal club, not yeilding to heiarchy, etc)

 

[Nomdeplume]

I can't really say much about studying at a PhD level, but your logic is not necessarily flawed.

I've heard from several people that science is "learned in the lab, not the classroom." Considering the complex nature of lab work, that statement kind of suggests to me that "jumping in" to the deep end of a field can encourage an accelerated learning of its more basic elements.

 

[Quix]

There aren't "PhD level textbooks" - the books used in graduate school are designed to give you specialized, field-specific knowledge at a level frequently beyond that of most undergraduates (e.g., why study an advanced organic chemistry textbook when it assumes you're *already* very familiar with all of the reactions from your undergraduate textbooks, since they use them as building blocks). Further, as physiologyguy mentioned, fields tend to move so quickly that researchers rely on new articles, which are published much more frequently than textbooks. In some sciences, the material covered in textbooks is already outdated by the time of publication, so there is no benefit or advantage to looking to upper level material (or presentation style) to help you grab the basics. At your stage of the game, it's more a recipe for frustration.

 

[physiologyguy]

Well said, Quix. The best advice to an undergrad is to study broadly (I would even say it pays to do well in languages, english, religion, etc) and know your basic sciences VERY well. You will be surprised (Atleast if you do masters-phd route) how often you come back to the basics. Usually "the basics" aren't really correct (biochemistry and kinetics come to mind), but the give you a framework from which to operate and solve more complex problems. Furthermore, many textbooks aren't actually "Correct," but it you need to know some models before you can understand why they don't explain everything. This is perhaps the most fun part of phd type study (wait, you mean induced fit nor lock and key explain the phenomena??) Also, good advice to a msaters/phd/researcher would be to get in the lab and dig in! Book smart is a lot different than lab smart!

It wont hurt to know the basics really well, regardless of your pursuits.