Time to pick classes

[TallScrubs]

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Hello,

It's time for me to pick classes for my last semester at college. I want some advice from med students about whether or not any of these would help in any way:

anatomy- buddy of mine at NJMS told me it was a huge help
molecular bio- also told it would help but i've heard awful reviews of the class
molecular neuro-
exercise physio-
virology-

Is it worth to go through the huge headache of taking molecular? Does it help that much? Any suggestions?

 

[blueflower]

Hello,

It's time for me to pick classes for my last semester at college. I want some advice from med students about whether or not any of these would help in any way:

anatomy- buddy of mine at NJMS told me it was a huge help
molecular bio- also told it would help but i've heard awful reviews of the class
molecular neuro-
exercise physio-
virology-

Is it worth to go through the huge headache of taking molecular? Does it help that much? Any suggestions?

I'm not a med student so you can ignore my thoughts if you'd like. But I have a lot of med friends and they all say you should take classes completely unrelated to med school in your last semester of college. You're going to be doing science for the rest of your life. Now is the last opportunity to be a young college student taking classes you most likely won't ever have the opportunity to take. In my last semester of college, I took art, sociology, and Spanish classes. And I don't regret it one bit.

But if you really do want to take classes that prep you for med school, I think anatomy is a good choice because if you're coming out as a bio major, anatomy is probably the class that is least like anything you've had before. All the others are typically similar to things you've most likely had (ex. biochem, microbio, physio, etc.). First year med students have told me that anatomy was typically the most initially difficult class to adjust to.

 

[JamesLMT]

Anatomy, biochem, and genetics are the three i hear thrown around alot for good classes to have taken in undergrad, if you have those and a good science gpa, you are golden. Anatomy will give you a head start for the anatomy in medical school and will put you ahead of the game. The others, i don't see as necessary. Just a personal opinion though.

 

[TallScrubs]

I've taken: evolution & ecology, cell bio, genetics, ethology, physiology, advanced intergrative physiology, immunology, and microbiology.

I decided against taking biochem this fall because the lab here is ridic. Would you guys suggest just taking anatomy and saying screw it to molecular? I mean, if it comes down to it and there are no other suggestions, i'll just take it and do well with it regardless. it is whether or not it would be helpful/worth it

 

[JamesLMT]

I've taken: evolution & ecology, cell bio, genetics, ethology, physiology, advanced intergrative physiology, immunology, and microbiology.

I decided against taking biochem this fall because the lab here is ridic. Would you guys suggest just taking anatomy and saying screw it to molecular? I mean, if it comes down to it and there are no other suggestions, i'll just take it and do well with it regardless. it is whether or not it would be helpful/worth it

Seriously, if you have genectics, take anatomy and then whatever else you like. I took biochem my final semester, got a C, and destroyed my upward trend. Any major can apply to medical school music, phychology, history, etc. All you need is the core courses and if you have a good sgpa then I don't see a reason to torture yourself during your final semester of college when senioritis kicks you in the face.

 

[TallScrubs]

I hope this is evident and I don't know if this is what you're getting at or not, but I've already gotten accepted. This is just whether or not this will help me once i'm there.

 

[JokerSeven]

If you're looking for classics that would help you to prepare for med, I would personally suggest Anatomy, Systems Physiology, Pathology, and Immunology. They should really help you build a good foundation when you learn about them later in med. You should look into who's teaching the classes as well. At least in my school, our Systems/Integrative Physiology instructor the person who taught the second hardest class in the M.D program, so it was incredibly tough and helped a lot.

 

[JamesLMT]

D'OH... my powers of observation of the size 20 font must be lacking.... Anyways, definately anatomy, but take some stuff you are interested in otherwise. You will be grinding your gears for two years in the immediate future. If you have nothing else, I would definately agree with systems pathology as well.

Also...http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=172020

 

[MightyMoose]

I hope this is evident and I don't know if this is what you're getting at or not, but I've already gotten accepted. This is just whether or not this will help me once i'm there.

If you don't need any of those classes to meet a requirement for your degree, I would take underwater basket weaving or the equivalent. You aren't going to get enough out of an anatomy class to make it worth the pain it will be to complete the course.

I would opt for:

Tennis, Golf, martial arts, or some type of gym course to decompress, but that's just me.

 

[rawman]

I'd say anatomy...maybe. I never took anatomy prior to medical school and thought it was a pretty challenging course. I won't even get into the annoyances that come with anatomy lab and trying to dissect out tiny little nerves . However, I ended up doing fine. On the other hand, it seemed that a couple of my classmates that had taken anatomy before had an easier time with the material.

So you could go ahead and take anatomy. Though if I were you I'd just take all the fun and easy classes I could.

 

[DesertStorm]

I'd definitely recommend taking anatomy. As for the other classes, only take them if you want to (don't take molecular bio if there are horrible reviews). Anatomy will help quite a bit, I also took it my last semester to prepare for med school. Undergrad anatomy is not nearly as detailed as med school's is, so it's really nice to have a good foundation in the structures, so that when you re-learn structures it comes back easier and you can focus more on the new ones. Especially if your undergrad has cadavers, then it's really nice. Anatomy lecture without the lab just seems a little ineffective, although I've never had it without lab so what do I know 🙄

Anyways - Anatomy: yes. The others: only if you want. Take other classes you are interested in, as this is your last semester to pick your classes and take non-science/non-medicine classes.

 

[Everglide]

Anatomy - yes but only if the class is not brutal, the class is only going to be good for terminology and basic understanding

Biochemistry - This will actually help a lot but don't tank your gpa with it

Physiology - This will actually help a lot but don't tank your gpa with it

Some sort of basic immunology or alike.

Also for your sanity, don't take them all. They only offer a small benefit relative to the time you have left to enjoy.

 

[TallScrubs]

Already taken physio, advanced physio, and immuno.

I just decided to take Anatomy and some other non-science classes.

Thanks for the help everybody (thick Dr. Nick)