What to Pack for Medical School

Started by Fedxup
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Fedxup

Fedxup

Full Member
7+ Year Member
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It is about 4-6 months until the school year starts. Just wondering if you can get a list of essentials for medical school! I have been a commuter student throughout college so suggestions are welcome. We can potentially make a list of things!
Edit: Besides the obvious things.
 
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Are you asking what to take to class? When I actually go to class, I literally just take my laptop and charger.
 
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178759636980_fkcxDz6H_l.jpg


Don't want to get dehydrated
 
A big white board. I used white boards all the time when I studied for classes like Immunology or Biochemistry in UG, was a huge help.
Otherwise, I can't think of anything else that's not considerably 'obvious'.

I'm also set on buying a completely furnished apartment, so that I can simply walk in and start living lol
 
duct tape, a ball gag,petroleum jelly, and some vodka.... oh wait, that's another list... 😉
 
Things you'll want to invest money in above the baseline cheap first apartment grade:

Bed - sleep becomes scarce so the little bit you get should be high quality. Consider blackout curtains as well for post call.

Desk and desk chair - given the shear amount of hours you will spend there, make it comfortable. Remember to move Q2 to avoid decub ulcers and DVTs.

Coffee Maker - you'll use a lot of caffeine. Alternatively costco membership for a pallet of energy drinks.

Whiteboard - As mentioned above is clutch for repeated writing out pathways, anatomy etc. I used it also as my giant to do list pre test and during boards.
 
Drrrrrr. Celty said:
Espresso machine >>>> Keurig


That's more > then MD vs DO btw.
Click to expand...

Second this.

I'm a first year. On several occasions I have used my espresso machine multiple times per day.

Other than that-- you need whatever you'd ordinarily need to furnish an apartment? Crock pots are nice. And so are whiteboards. Although dry erase markers also work great on mirrors and windows.
 
How many first/second year's actually bought and used a standard notebook? I always enjoyed re-writing notes as a method of studying, is that even comprehensible in nonclinical years?
 
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Desired Member said:
x2...I study the same way and have been wondering the same thing...
Click to expand...

x3. I still have about 20 blank cheap spiral bound notebooks in my closet. During undergrad, when they were on sale for like 29 cents a piece I would buy whole fleets of them to rewrite ad nauseum things that were confusing.
 
X4 lol... I dont like to take notes on computers, rather write them down, especially when you have to draw a pathway or diagram and the teacher keeps adding or erasing things.

I always thought that the act of writing it down also triggers your memory, and helps learn it.
 
exacto said:
X4 lol... I dont like to take notes on computers, rather write them down, especially when you have to draw a pathway or diagram and the teacher keeps adding or erasing things.

I always thought that the act of writing it down also triggers your memory, and helps learn it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have always been a fan of printed power points, a spiral notebook, and a pencil...Then if I wanted to neaten things up, do some sort of summary outline of each lecture on the computer after lecture. I have no clue how this will work once I get started in med school. We will have iPads, but I am not sure how much more efficient I can be on that rather than a printout....We shall see, I suppose.
 
exacto said:
X4 lol... I dont like to take notes on computers, rather write them down, especially when you have to draw a pathway or diagram and the teacher keeps adding or erasing things.

I always thought that the act of writing it down also triggers your memory, and helps learn it.
Click to expand...
X5!!!!

I draw things out a lot and helps much more than typing and even wrote things down for pharmacology (undergrad) to help my memory.

I will say I enjoy the OneNote on the iPad.
 
AM508 said:
Yeah, I have always been a fan of printed power points, a spiral notebook, and a pencil...Then if I wanted to neaten things up, do some sort of summary outline of each lecture on the computer after lecture. I have no clue how this will work once I get started in med school. We will have iPads, but I am not sure how much more efficient I can be on that rather than a printout....We shall see, I suppose.
Click to expand...

Dude, we are the same person lol
 
MedNation907 said:
How many first/second year's actually bought and used a standard notebook? I always enjoyed re-writing notes as a method of studying, is that even comprehensible in nonclinical years?
Click to expand...
I do that sometimes. It depends on the subject. Honestly, you'll find different ways to study each subject. One thing I like using is a whiteboard.
 
AlteredScale said:
X5!!!!

I draw things out a lot and helps much more than typing and even wrote things down for pharmacology (undergrad) to help my memory.

I will say I enjoy the OneNote on the iPad.
Click to expand...

X6...I like to write everything down too. Then re-rewrite it on Microsoft Word to make it look clean and organized, with pictures.

OneNote free for iPad? Don't really like using a stylus with Tablets. Or maybe I haven't tried getting a good stylus.
 
MedNation907 said:
How many first/second year's actually bought and used a standard notebook? I always enjoyed re-writing notes as a method of studying, is that even comprehensible in nonclinical years?
Click to expand...

I'm a first-year. This was how I studied in undergrad as well, but it wasn't efficient enough to really work for me in med school, so now I mostly type. I do use my spiral notebooks for studying, re-drawing things that I'm still making sense out of, and doing practice questions.
 
On a serious note, anyone recommend to study along side supplemental books for board exams while in the first two years ?
 
AlteredScale said:
X5!!!!

I draw things out a lot and helps much more than typing and even wrote things down for pharmacology (undergrad) to help my memory.

I will say I enjoy the OneNote on the iPad.
Click to expand...

OneNote hmm? Do you use apple products? I currently do and have been going back and forth between using OneNote and Notability. Do you have any opinions on using one over the other?
 
On a more serious note, what are people with families (i.e. lots of crap) doing for long distance moves? uHaul was at least 1300$ 🙁
 
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xBODOMx said:
On a more serious note, what are people with families (i.e. lots of crap) doing for long distance moves? uHaul was at least 1300$ 🙁
Click to expand...
Penske is cheaper. Be careful using PODS. I learned that the hard way when my destination wasn't where they deliver so I had to go to their warehouse 3 hours from where I moved to and unload my POD onto a Penske truck and get my stuff to my destination myself.

Cost me $5000 to move from Alaska to medical school. My husband pulled out his retirement and we used credit cards.
 
xBODOMx said:
On a more serious note, what are people with families (i.e. lots of crap) doing for long distance moves? uHaul was at least 1300$ 🙁
Click to expand...
Budget is also cheaper.

I did some rough math and for a 1000 mile drive Uhaul is approximately $500 more expensive than Penske and Budget. The difference between Budget and Penske are roughly +/-$50 each other so you cant go wrong with either one, just go with whichever one is closer to you. For a 1000 mile haul I think Budget or Penske ends up being like $1300? If you are under 700 miles then Budget wins by a landslide because if its under like 679 miles (or something like that) then you dont have to pay per mile which is a huge bonus.

Personally I am going with budget. I did Uhaul 2 years ago for a 1000 mile trip and it cost me an arm and a leg.
 
Off topic a bit, but as mentioned above for taking notes in class in med school is it feasible to use spiral bounds/etc? My UG banned using computers in class and ever since high school I've used a spiral bound and folder for each class. I suppose I should get with the times, but old habbits...
 
For all of you considering the spiral/handwritten note thing, it may interest you to check out one of the threads I started. There is some good discussion happening there.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/surface-pro-3-vs-macbook-for-med-school.1123009/

Keep in mind that the Macbook prices are very likely to drop in June/July.

Also keep in mind that the Surface pro 4 is rumored to come out in July and apparently there will be a 14 inch version which turns it into a real contender.

Also also keep in mind (lolz) that windows 10 is coming out in October and is supposedly dramatically better and easier to use than windows 8.

@kafratta , @Azmah , @AlteredScale , @AM508 , @exacto , @Desired Member , @MedNation907
 
MarshMedic said:
Off topic a bit, but as mentioned above for taking notes in class in med school is it feasible to use spiral bounds/etc? My UG banned using computers in class and ever since high school I've used a spiral bound and folder for each class. I suppose I should get with the times, but old habbits...
Click to expand...
I just printed the powerpoints and wrote my notes on those.
 
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