what are the college textbooks you still keep in med school?

[punktux]

What are the premed textbooks you are keeping? I am definitely selling calculus,college physics,gen chem and ochem.

not sure if i should keep Campbell Biology and Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry. pls advise.

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[Nikki2002]

keep the biochem book. in our biochem class, the profs told us we could just use a biochem book from undergrad if we still had it.

as for the bio book....I don't think you really need that.

 

[punktux]

ok thanks

 

[Zona Pellucida]

I had Lehninger's in undergrad. I sold it. I don't regret it.

 

[Forthegood]

How the Immune System Works by Sompayrac and Clinical Micro Made Ridiculously Simple.

Save any biochem text or immune text. Save any anatomy atlas. Basically, save anything you really liked and sell the stuff you don't. You probably won't use much of it either way, but if you like it you can brush up faster and get a general picture.

 

[AlexMorph]

lol, campbell biology. sell every book

 

[reedman]

i saved a few textbooks from undergrad. right now my old biology and biochemistry texts are underneath my monitor. so is robbins pathology.

keep whatever you want, it doesn't matter. i have never once looked back at those books. maybe keep your calculus textbook in case you need to brush on your math if you are doing research.

 

[DrYoda]

Sell, sell sell! The only textbooks I saved were either ones that were no longer worth anything when the class ended (f'n edition turnover) or that I bought for like $5 to begin with. And now that I look at it I should have sold all of those. Dollar menu over books, my friend.

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

SELL THEM! SERIOUSLY!!

I kept my pre-med text books (O-Chem, Gen chem, calc, Biochem etc)for these reasons
1) I was still teaching the MCAT and DAT for Kaplan
2) I thought I'd use them in Med School
3) For nostaligic purposes

Now I'm an M4 and I didn't touch them at all since I graduated college. All they do is collect dust and take up space. The worse part, they are in EXCELLENT condition but I can't sell them now since the company is now 4 editions ahead 😡! You will NOT use your undergraduate textbooks, get as much booze money now while you can! Heck, I barely even used my medical school text books.

 

[swamprat]

You should def keep your organic textbook its helped me so much since I've started.

 

[LRAccord624]

You should def keep your organic textbook its helped me so much since I've started.

Me too, I've read it front to back probably 15-20 times since school started and I aced all my biochem tests!!!

 

[thedoctor8706]

The only reason I still have books from undergrad is because by now they are old editions and I can't sell them anymore. They are just sitting on my living room bookshelf making me look smart. Get rid of them if you can.

 

[OveractiveBrain]

I've kept only one book. Boron&Boulpaep Medical Physiology. Loved it in undergrad, murdered physio with it first year, was completely useless for the rest of medical school.

But if ever there is a physio question, its a great resource. That, and there is a very strong nostalgia for the class I used it in during undergrad.

I just purged myself of every book I have ever owned, undergrad and medical school. The only books I've retained are First Aid Step 2, and Current Medical Diagnosis, which is a recent purchase.

 

[Jolie South]

There isn't a single undergrad book that will be helpful to you. The focus in med school is completely different. Either your undergrad books will be too in depth or lacking in detail.

 

[shouldBstudying]

Sell, sell sell! The only textbooks I saved were either ones that were no longer worth anything when the class ended (f'n edition turnover) or that I bought for like $5 to begin with. And now that I look at it I should have sold all of those. Dollar menu over books, my friend.

this.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I saved my astrophysics and biochem texts. They are equally useful.

 

[KarateSocks]

The embryology class I took in undergrad used the exact same textbook that had the recommended readings for my med school. since embryology was particularly poorly taught here, I was glad I kept it.

Otherwise, all of my undergrad textbooks (the ones i kept only because I didn't manage to sell) were utterly useless

 

[Hecate]

I actually just used Lehninger the other day. Sold, gave away or trashed every other undergrad text book ages ago and haven't missed a one. (And to be fair, if I had a stand-alone biochem course in med school I probably would have dumped Lehninger too and not have suffered a lick for it).

 

[katarina90]

I kept my favorites because I'm a book junkie.

I did peruse my undergrad Human Anatomy and Biochemistry by Berg was useful for a few, super-specific, not-on-the-test burning questions.

Undergrad physio text was completely worthless. Mostly it was about tuna fish, birds, and other animals so the stuff didn't translate well to medical school.

Mostly Marks Basic Medical Biochemistry got me through my biochem class, and BRS did the job for the shelf. (FYI you can get either of these used old editions for 3-4$ online--its a pretty sweet deal; unlike micro biochem doesn't seem to change too often.)

 

[Law2Doc]

There isn't a single undergrad book that will be helpful to you. ...

Depends how you define "helpful". I think one came in handy for squashing a spider, and another was good to keep a window propped up that kept slipping. They probably make decent kindling as well, and the bigger ones make formidable projectiles if someone tries to break into your house at 2am.

But I agree you are never going to use a college reference in med school. Just like you were not going to use your grade school primers in college. The jump from level to level is so significant that whatever you thought you were doing that was useful at the prior level shows itself for what it really is, a very mild flavor for background, but none of the meat. You won't use them, so lose them.

 

[caseofthemndays]

Lehninger Principles of Biochem was "suggested but not required" for biochem in med school. I kept it but never touched it after college. Sell sell sell!!!

 

[dukejen04]

I kept my Janeway Immunobiology book- and it was useful for the three weeks we did immuno.

Other than biochem- trash it (or sell it if you can- I took made the mistake of holding on to them too long and not being able to re-sell b/c of more than one edition update). Make room for new books you won't read!

Already looking forward to dumping all of the useless textbooks I bought this year (grumble grumble)- Snell especially was a poor choice. As was the embryo book that I didn't look at once.

 

[CBG23]

I would keep "Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry". Although it has more detail than what you need to know for med school biochem, it's good to use a book you are familiar with for this course if only for the overview/ pathway regulation figures/ Also, the snippets throughout the book that explain the purpose of the pathways and their role in the larger context of metabolism was useful.

 

[xanthomondo]

i <3 having the books around, so i saved them all

I did use my Guyton + Hall Medical Physiology from ugrad. I also used some biochem texts just when i wanted to look something up for my own knowledge.

Plus you never know when youre going have a quesiton about transition state theory and need to pull out your pchem text

 

[mindthegap]

i'll be bringing bevington's complete works of shakespeare with me in august. amidointhisrite?

 

[KeyzerSoze]

But I agree you are never going to use a college reference in med school. Just like you were not going to use your grade school primers in college. The jump from level to level is so significant that whatever you thought you were doing that was useful at the prior level shows itself for what it really is, a very mild flavor for background, but none of the meat. You won't use them, so lose them.

Undergrad and medical school level biochemistry are pretty much the same level, and the courses often require the same textbook.

Not that you should be using a textbook for biochem in medical school, though.

 

[CrunchBerries]

Introduction to Underwater Basketweaving

 

[startswithb]

This thread was helpful to me when I decided to get rid of all my undergrad textbooks. I have made around $300 selling or trading in my books. Amazon Trade-In gives the best price usually, and it deposits the trade-in value into a gift card account. So now I have money to buy new medical school textbooks. All the online book selling/trade in/donation sites seem to have free shipping. 👍

 

[metallica81788]

None of mine were useful so I sold them all, but some classmates had Lippincott's Biochem and that was great (because we used it). Some also had our Histo textbook, but who uses a textbook for Histo anyway?

 

[reedman]

cambell's biology is doing a good job of elevating my monitor to eye level.