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Hello all,
Just a bit of reflection about my first year of medical school. Hoping this motivates a few of you undergrads to push yourself next year or, for those of you planning out your last years of undergrad, to not plan a completely B.S. cushy schedule 😉
Classes: (we haven't gotten to micro/pharm/path yet so micro isn't listed)
1.) Human physiology (HUGE help)
2.) Human anatomy
3.) Cadaver anatomy (HUGE help)
4.) Immunology
5.) Pharmacology
6.) Pathophysiology
Applied Physiology: Physiology, immunology, pharmacology, and pathophysiology are all very physiology-dense classes. I hardly remember any of the drugs from pharmacology, but I remember APPLYING THE CONCEPTS OF PHYSIOLOGY. Same goes for pathophysiology, I remembered a disease or two, but the most helpful part about it was practicing APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY. As for immunology, it is highly conceptual and if you can I would definitely take this class before you get to medical school. It helped me tremendously in our immunology unit and it is another way to practice applied physiology. IMO you should take as many of these types of classes as you can to keep practicing physiology. There is a lot of memorization in medical school, but if you understand the big picture, there is a lot of stuff you won't have to memorize.
Anatomy: You aren't going to remember all the anatomy you learn in undergrad - and that's not what it's about. It's about seeing the weird names (e.g. sternocleidomastoid, pterion, zygapophyseal joint, etc.) before you get to medical school, that way when you see them again in medical school it will be less of a "WTF" rxn and more of a "ugh. I remember that" rxn. I should also add that anatomy is relatively conceptual too believe it or not. There are a lot of naming patterns involved with anatomy that, if you recognize, you won't have to memorize nearly as much (e.g. naming ligaments. They usually have a super intuitive name.) Another thing that helps for anatomy is truly understanding how a muscle contraction works - this will help you to rationalize origin/insertion/action and you'll never have to waste your time memorizing that. This comes with experience in anatomy.
Classes I Didn't Take that Would Have Helped Even More:
1.) Human embryology (basically witchcraft - but it's cool & conceptual)
2.) Neurophysiology/Neuroanatomy (masochists only)
3.) Biochemistry II (I only took 1 semester)
4.) Cellular & molecular biology
Summary: It's not about remembering the mV of the threshold of a neuron, it's about conceptualizing that a neuron doesn't fire without reaching that threshold. It's about getting exposure to and understanding concepts before you get to medical school so that when you get there, you've at least got a little exposure and it will help make things a little less stressful for you.
Final Thought: Don't you dare think about studying the summer before medical school. By that time it's too late. 😉 jk. you'll be fine though no worries - studying during the summer is fruitless. Enjoy friends/family.
That is all, back to cramming neuroanatomy
-NF
Just a bit of reflection about my first year of medical school. Hoping this motivates a few of you undergrads to push yourself next year or, for those of you planning out your last years of undergrad, to not plan a completely B.S. cushy schedule 😉
Classes: (we haven't gotten to micro/pharm/path yet so micro isn't listed)
1.) Human physiology (HUGE help)
2.) Human anatomy
3.) Cadaver anatomy (HUGE help)
4.) Immunology
5.) Pharmacology
6.) Pathophysiology
Applied Physiology: Physiology, immunology, pharmacology, and pathophysiology are all very physiology-dense classes. I hardly remember any of the drugs from pharmacology, but I remember APPLYING THE CONCEPTS OF PHYSIOLOGY. Same goes for pathophysiology, I remembered a disease or two, but the most helpful part about it was practicing APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY. As for immunology, it is highly conceptual and if you can I would definitely take this class before you get to medical school. It helped me tremendously in our immunology unit and it is another way to practice applied physiology. IMO you should take as many of these types of classes as you can to keep practicing physiology. There is a lot of memorization in medical school, but if you understand the big picture, there is a lot of stuff you won't have to memorize.
Anatomy: You aren't going to remember all the anatomy you learn in undergrad - and that's not what it's about. It's about seeing the weird names (e.g. sternocleidomastoid, pterion, zygapophyseal joint, etc.) before you get to medical school, that way when you see them again in medical school it will be less of a "WTF" rxn and more of a "ugh. I remember that" rxn. I should also add that anatomy is relatively conceptual too believe it or not. There are a lot of naming patterns involved with anatomy that, if you recognize, you won't have to memorize nearly as much (e.g. naming ligaments. They usually have a super intuitive name.) Another thing that helps for anatomy is truly understanding how a muscle contraction works - this will help you to rationalize origin/insertion/action and you'll never have to waste your time memorizing that. This comes with experience in anatomy.
Classes I Didn't Take that Would Have Helped Even More:
1.) Human embryology (basically witchcraft - but it's cool & conceptual)
2.) Neurophysiology/Neuroanatomy (masochists only)
3.) Biochemistry II (I only took 1 semester)
4.) Cellular & molecular biology
Summary: It's not about remembering the mV of the threshold of a neuron, it's about conceptualizing that a neuron doesn't fire without reaching that threshold. It's about getting exposure to and understanding concepts before you get to medical school so that when you get there, you've at least got a little exposure and it will help make things a little less stressful for you.
Final Thought: Don't you dare think about studying the summer before medical school. By that time it's too late. 😉 jk. you'll be fine though no worries - studying during the summer is fruitless. Enjoy friends/family.
That is all, back to cramming neuroanatomy
-NF
Last edited:
This post was just advice for people scheduling classes in undergrad.
