What exactly is Histology? Do I need it soon?

[14457]

What is Histology?
I have had a people tell me that is would be essential to take it while I am an undergrad in college. That is would help me when I enter med school. They even said if you take it as an undergrad that you may have that class waived in Med school. What do you think about this? Should I plan to take this class some how and learn some of it before med school? Or is it okay to save this class for med school? I don't know.

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[HairlessHeart]

My histo prof called histology "functional microanatomy." Basically, you learn to identify the body's cells, tissues, and organs by microscopy. In the process you learn a lot about the human body. You'll be asked questions in practicals where you're shown a slide and and asked to identify the organ, what specific layer, what is the function, etc. In the lecture-based exams you are asked questions like: what is the principal secretion of the zona glomerulosa of the adrenal gland?

Is this class absolutely essential? Probably not. You can save it if you're not interested. At the med school I'm going to I will not be given credit for it because histo is integrated throughout the year. But is it helpful? Probably so. My prof (who teaches the med curriculum also) did tell me that by doing well in his class that I have saved myself a good deal of studying time in med school and will be listening to a lot of material at a "different level" than most other studnts.

Hope that helped...

 

[jot]

i don't think its essential during your undergrad in the least - take an interesting course. medskool will teach you everything, and some evenfrown upon applicants trying to take medschool classes. cheers.
-jot

 

[14457]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by HairlessHeart:
•My histo prof called histology "functional microanatomy." Basically, you learn to identify the body's cells, tissues, and organs by microscopy. In the process you learn a lot about the human body. You'll be asked questions in practicals where you're shown a slide and and asked to identify the organ, what specific layer, what is the function, etc. In the lecture-based exams you are asked questions like: what is the principal secretion of the zona glomerulosa of the adrenal gland?

Is this class absolutely essential? Probably not. You can save it if you're not interested. At the med school I'm going to I will not be given credit for it because histo is integrated throughout the year. But is it helpful? Probably so. My prof (who teaches the med curriculum also) did tell me that by doing well in his class that I have saved myself a good deal of studying time in med school and will be listening to a lot of material at a "different level" than most other studnts.

Hope that helped...•••••TY for the advice,etc. I don't know if I'll take it. i will just take the classes to prepare me. Maybe later, but I will talk to an advisor.

"I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me." Phillipians 4:13

 

[DALABROKA]

Histology is a very time consuming class and if you can take it as an under grad it would certainly be beneficial. Some former alums that are currently medical students visited our histo class and told us that they don't bother going to their histo lab because they have already done it previously. This saves allot of valuable time that can be used to study something that you may not have had prior exposure to. Of course, this would only hold true under two conditions. One, your under grad histo class is very rigorous and rivals that which will be presented in med. school. Two, you have adequate time to spend taking the course now and will be able to devote the energy needed to learn and retain as much of the information as possible. Otherwise it would be all for nothing.

 

[MSTP boy]

Histology is the study of tissues, literally. Distuinguishing cancer cells from normal tissue is one example. It's one of the easier classes for most. I wouldn't recommend taking it in undergrad. Take a class you'll enjoy now.

 

[Resident Alien]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by HairlessHeart:
•My histo prof called histology "functional microanatomy." Basically, you learn to identify the body's cells, tissues, and organs by microscopy. In the process you learn a lot about the human body. You'll be asked questions in practicals where you're shown a slide and and asked to identify the organ, what specific layer, what is the function, etc. In the lecture-based exams you are asked questions like: what is the principal secretion of the zona glomerulosa of the adrenal gland?

Is this class absolutely essential? Probably not. You can save it if you're not interested. At the med school I'm going to I will not be given credit for it because histo is integrated throughout the year. But is it helpful? Probably so. My prof (who teaches the med curriculum also) did tell me that by doing well in his class that I have saved myself a good deal of studying time in med school and will be listening to a lot of material at a "different level" than most other studnts.

Hope that helped...•••••crap....lucky you hairlessheart . Maybe the anatomy course i took down the street will come handy

 

[TroutBum]

Histology is basically a whole lot of time spend looking at tissue under a microscope. I would NOT call it essential, but it might be helpful. If you are thinking of booting another class that you are interested in just for the sake of histology, I wouldn't recommend it. Take classes for fun while you have the chance!

 

[DALABROKA]

Saying that histology is one of the easier classes for most borders on dangerous advice. Histology is often used as the link between anatomy and physiology and incorporates many facets of both. You not only need to be able to distinguish between sections of organs and tissues, but also specific cells within these structures. And then, once you have identified what the cell is, you need to be able to describe it's role in the organ/tissue, what it's specific secretions are, and in some cases the embryological origin from which it arose. Histology is very broad and includes topics from the structure and function of cells of the cerebral cortex to the tedious task of differentiating an proerythroblast from a myelobast. While these topics are not trivial, they only scratch the surface of what lies ahead...pathology!!! (sometimes called histopathology)

 

[HairlessHeart]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Resident Alien:
•crap....lucky you hairlessheart . Maybe the anatomy course i took down the street will come handy •••••The histo prof was a pretty cool guy and an excellent teacher in my opinion. I think you'll like him.

 

[mikegoal]

your better off taking biochem or genetics

 

[Resident Alien]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by HairlessHeart:
• •••quote:•••Originally posted by Resident Alien:
•crap....lucky you hairlessheart . Maybe the anatomy course i took down the street will come handy •••••The histo prof was a pretty cool guy and an excellent teacher in my opinion. I think you'll like him.•••••If i dont snore in class! Looking forward to joining you in August.

 

[Doctortobee]

What about taking Histo as pass/fail? How would this appear to med schools?

 

[LoneSEAL]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by MSTP boy:
•Histology is the study of tissues, literally. Distuinguishing cancer cells from normal tissue is one example. It's one of the easier classes for most. I wouldn't recommend taking it in undergrad. Take a class you'll enjoy now. •••••It depends. It depends on how histology is taught at your medical school. Some schools have lab lectures that point out the key distinguishing features of the structures. Other schools -- mine for example and one of the premier medical schools in the Midwest-- give you these ******ed histology lectures on FUNCTION, but NOT STRUCTURE. They throw us in the lab with a lab manual(with no pictures, just text) and expect us to miraculously formulate the key distinctions ourselves. It was definitely a pain in the ass.

In conclusion, histology *can* be a very easy course if it's well-taught. If not, be prepared to suffer. Just a word to the wise and do your research.