Which undergrad class helped prepare you the most for DO school?

[SupraDOc]

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Which class in your undergrad/pre-med years helped the most to help prepare you for courses in DO school?

ie, microbio, cell bio, immunology, genetics...etc

I'm trying to pick a subject or 2 to study during my 1 year break from school as I start DO school fall 2009. Thanks!

 

[DannMann99]

People will tell you not to study.

I'd say if you have no background in something it doesn't hurt.

If I were in your shoes I would pick up a cheapo anatomy text, and just go over attachment sites and innervations for al the muscles until I knew them.

Of course I wouldn't go over the top with it though, i'd make it leisurely and to do that in 1 yr is not a tough goal to complete

 

[Kappy1]

Which class in your undergrad/pre-med years helped the most to help prepare you for courses in DO school?

ie, microbio, cell bio, immunology, genetics...etc

I'm trying to pick a subject or 2 to study during my 1 year break from school as I start DO school fall 2009. Thanks!

I took Biochem. and Genetics which were very helpful. I would recommend any of the above courses. Take what interests you. To be honest most of what you learn you will probably forget, but when you see it again it will take less time to relearn.

I would add A and P and Histology as well. If you are taking them make sure you have the proper amount of time to do well on them. Don't overload yourself with more then you can handle. You have plenty of time for that in med-school. 😀

 

[tideleonheart]

Which class in your undergrad/pre-med years helped the most to help prepare you for courses in DO school?

ie, microbio, cell bio, immunology, genetics...etc

I'm trying to pick a subject or 2 to study during my 1 year break from school as I start DO school fall 2009. Thanks!

I unfortunately didn't have any of the classes in medical school before I got here and I am struggling a little more than others who have seen the material before.

If I could do it over again, I would take Human Anatomy and Biochemistry before I started.

 

[Founder]

I'd buy a basic anatomy text with pictures. Moore and Dally Clinically Oriented Anatomy is what we use. As suggested go over the muscles and where their insertions and innervations. I'd also study the concepts there like development, gait, extensors/flexors, nervous system, etc.

If you do that you'll be way ahead. Knowing what nerves go where, what they do, and where the muscle attach and insert and what they do is a big leg up.

I'd forgo a genetics book. They are probably more complicated than what you will do in class.

I'd look at a basic biochemistry book like the ones Lippincott makes.

A little physio is also good.

Don't study. Just read and learn and quiz yourself then move on. When you do it again your first year it will then be easier to grasp. The review will be easier than learning it for the first time.

 

[Cp22kjer]

Which class in your undergrad/pre-med years helped the most to help prepare you for courses in DO school?

ie, microbio, cell bio, immunology, genetics...etc

I'm trying to pick a subject or 2 to study during my 1 year break from school as I start DO school fall 2009. Thanks!

Good question. I'm not studying in the summer much (maybe some anatomy as suggested) but want to line up classes for next semester.

I have to take Cell Bio for a grade.

I've heard bio chem can be really tough so I'm thinking I'll take it P/F next semester to get an idea about it.

 

[aecuenca2]

Junior college anatomy with lab

cheaper, easier, and nice intro.

 

[SupraDOc]

As suggested go over the muscles and where their insertions and innervations. I'd also study the concepts there like development, gait, extensors/flexors, nervous system, etc.

If you do that you'll be way ahead. Knowing what nerves go where, what they do, and where the muscle attach and insert and what they do is a big leg up.

I'd forgo a genetics book. They are probably more complicated than what you will do in class.

I'd look at a basic biochemistry book like the ones Lippincott makes.

A little physio is also good.

Don't study. Just read and learn and quiz yourself then move on. When you do it again your first year it will then be easier to grasp. The review will be easier than learning it for the first time.

I took a pretty grueling A&P class my last year in college but I'll def take a good review of the insertions/innervations. Also took Biochem. Reading/learning/quizzing was def the way I was going to go with it. I guess I'll take a look at some of the ones I listed in my first post then. Any more advice is very much appreciated!

 

[BCLumas]

There are a lot of things that people will advise you to take or to steer away from in your last free year of life before medical school. If you would like the advice of anyone, I guess I am good enough to answer too. I guess I will be "that guy" and offer you the advice of not studying and relaxing. The reasons are many, but I will highlight my main reason.

Medical school is a black hole. It will (and rightly so) consume your every waking thought, your phone conversations to your family and loved ones, your time in the bathroom (shower included sometimes), and, during the first few weeks of classes, it will even invade your dreams. You will be exposed to a pace of learning which you have never experienced before and drug along until you are simply a torso behind the chariot. You may be thinking to yourself, "Well then I'd better start studying now so I can keep up!" Incorrect. Although you will rue the Pineal Gland that was placed inside your body for making you tired, there is enough time every day for you to sit down and learn the material, provided you are studious enough, while you are in medical school. Your life will suck and there will be nothing you can do about it. The world will seem to blur, days will feel like seconds, weeks like days, and months like years. Before you know it, you will be finishing your first year and embarking on your last summer vacation of the rest of your life. Enjoy your time now with every ounce of yourself. Go exploring, do something outrageous, eat something disgusting, and act in a way that you never thought you would act before. Enjoy your life and everything that is around you. There will be no time to miss it.

I hope that I did not scare you. I did not want to paint a flowery picture of medical school, but I did not want to scare you either. Instead, I was hoping to show you how I feel that medical school is going for myself personally, and how I wish I would have spent my free time before medical school began.

If you are really looking to "learn" before medical school, then I would possibly pick up an Anatomy Atlas (Rohen's Atlas is always a good one, IMHO) and familiarize yourself with the pictures. Don't worry about names, innervations, vascular supply, connections, or anything. Simply look at the book and the pictures and see how everything fits together. Since you've already had Anatomy once before you could throw in some jargon, but steer away from trying to teach the material to yourself just yet. Some professors stress different information in their materials, and some names in the book may be presented differently as well (i.e., Ligamentum Teres Hepatis versus Round Ligament of the Liver).

I hope that I provided some insight. Good luck with your year off and congratulations on your acceptance into medical school!

 

[adismo]

if you must: first aid for usmle step 1

depending on you area of weakness:
netter atlas, micro, biochem

 

[SupraDOc]

There are a lot of things that people will advise you to take or to steer away from in your last free year of life before medical school. If you would like the advice of anyone, I guess I am good enough to answer too. I guess I will be "that guy" and offer you the advice of not studying and relaxing. The reasons are many, but I will highlight my main reason.

Medical school is a black hole. It will (and rightly so) consume your every waking thought, your phone conversations to your family and loved ones, your time in the bathroom (shower included sometimes), and, during the first few weeks of classes, it will even invade your dreams. You will be exposed to a pace of learning which you have never experienced before and drug along until you are simply a torso behind the chariot. You may be thinking to yourself, "Well then I'd better start studying now so I can keep up!" Incorrect. Although you will rue the Pineal Gland that was placed inside your body for making you tired, there is enough time every day for you to sit down and learn the material, provided you are studious enough, while you are in medical school. Your life will suck and there will be nothing you can do about it. The world will seem to blur, days will feel like seconds, weeks like days, and months like years. Before you know it, you will be finishing your first year and embarking on your last summer vacation of the rest of your life. Enjoy your time now with every ounce of yourself. Go exploring, do something outrageous, eat something disgusting, and act in a way that you never thought you would act before. Enjoy your life and everything that is around you. There will be no time to miss it.

I hope that I did not scare you. I did not want to paint a flowery picture of medical school, but I did not want to scare you either. Instead, I was hoping to show you how I feel that medical school is going for myself personally, and how I wish I would have spent my free time before medical school began.

If you are really looking to "learn" before medical school, then I would possibly pick up an Anatomy Atlas (Rohen's Atlas is always a good one, IMHO) and familiarize yourself with the pictures. Don't worry about names, innervations, vascular supply, connections, or anything. Simply look at the book and the pictures and see how everything fits together. Since you've already had Anatomy once before you could throw in some jargon, but steer away from trying to teach the material to yourself just yet. Some professors stress different information in their materials, and some names in the book may be presented differently as well (i.e., Ligamentum Teres Hepatis versus Round Ligament of the Liver).

I hope that I provided some insight. Good luck with your year off and congratulations on your acceptance into medical school!

Yes, advice from anyone is appreciated. You have provided insight and no you didn't scare me one bit (what I'm expecting med school to be like haha). You aren't the first to say enjoy the entire year, I just hear of some that haven't taken lots of sciences in undergrad struggling more than others their 1st year. But you do have a lot of good points and thanks!

 

[group_theory]

My advice (from someone who has gone through med school)

Don't bother. Why spend your free year studying one or two subjects that will only be covered in 8-18 weeks of med school (this includes anatomy although some programs may be longer)? This is 8-18 weeks out of 4 years of medical education. And its impact on your overall medical education will be minimal. And right now, there are no professors or syllabus to guide you so you don't know what to study. How much anatomy should you memorize? How much will you forget come start of the school? Immunology is a huge field - what should you study? Biochemistry is a huge field - what should you study? Same goes for genetics. And each of these courses will be covered in the same time span as each other. Are you willing to spend your entire year so that you may have 1-2 days head start?

My advice - spend your free time on yourself and improving your horizon. A spanish class perhaps. Or a sign language class. Maybe some business or economics classes (doctors are severely underprepared to deal with macro and microeconomics of healthcare). Or a bartending class. Read a few great books - whether it is great world literature or a trashy supermarket novel, a review on the legacy on Lincoln or a review on the Presidency of Millard Filmore.

Do something that you will enjoy and later on can look back with no regrets. There is no equal to medical school, and no one can prepare you for it or simulate it, or prepare for it. Just like there is no equal to residency

But my advice - take something non-medically related (biggest bang for your buck will be spanish, or business/econ)

 

[adismo]

Or a bartending class.

But my advice - take something non-medically related (biggest bang for your buck will be spanish, or business/econ)

i couldnt disagree with you more. a bartending class is required before the start of residency, not medical school.

spanish is great, but it has to be medical spanish. more "tienes dolor" less "donde esta la biblioteca". also, First Aid Step 1 is, IMHO, the gunner's secret weapon to getting ahead before and during MS1/2....

... cue salivation of every premed on the forum.

 

[eag]

To an extent I agree with the people that say enjoy your last year and do nothing. I definitely think you should relax and have fun so that once you start medical school, you would have all of that out of your system and get focused. BUT.... Time and time again, the people who come into medical school with the bare minimum basics truly struggle during their first year, especially with Biochem. I have no idea why but that seems to be the make or break course at least at my school. I know quite a few people and have a few personal friends that have had to repeat a year of medical school because they just couldn't get the hang of biochem. At my school if you fail Biochem, you have to repeat the year, and that sucks! I'm a 4th year med student and I've seen it happen in every year. I did a post-bac program prior to med school and told myself that I will take the courses that are usually taken during the first year of med school. That was one of the best decisions I made for myself. I'm not saying first year med school was a breeze, but my first year ended up being a review for me. But compared to all the other years of med school, first year was a breeze. Yes, I studied but I wasn't learning new information. I was definitely having an easier time than my colleagues who hadn't done more advanced coursework. So my first year was a smooth transition to prepare me for the hell of second year and beyond. The relevant classes I took as a post-bac student were Biochem, Cell Biology, Virology, and Immunology. The most valuable of those classes was Biochemistry. If you do nothing else at all, I would strongly suggest and encourage that you take that. I truly wish med schools would make that an official requirement for entry into med school because it is such an impt class. If I could go back to undergrad, I would've taken it then. That's how impt I find it based on my experiences. If you wanted to add another course into your schedule, I would say next would be Anatomy and Physiology (but more so for the anatomy). And if you really wanted to go further, then I'd add Microbiology (which includes immunology/virology into the curriculum). But really, out side of those 3 classes, I wouldn't suggest going crazy and carrying such a large course load if you don't need to.
Like what many of the previous posts have said, you will learn this stuff if you don't do it beforehand. You have to know what you want and what is best for you. If you can make it easier for yourself, I don't see why you shouldn't. But please don't forget to have fun and truly enjoy your time before you begin med school. Even though you can and will have enjoyable moments after med school, it's just not the same. I hope this was helpful and good luck to you all. If you have specific questions for me, please don't hesitate to PM me.

 

[MossPoh]

Everyone says biochem, but I'm in it now and have a hardtime believing I'm going to remember ANY of this in a year. We are covering the entire textbook in one semester and biochem does rule my life right now but I have a hard time seeing how it'll really help me. There is no clinical focus with it even though it is "human biochemistry". About the only help i could see is that it familiarizes you with some of the terminology, but hell....you could do that with a lot of stuff.

 

[Anton Chigurh]

I think biochem would be a waste of your time. Undergrad biochem is taught very differently from biochem in med school. You're learning the same things, but under a much different light.

 

[psy]

I have taken all of the classes the OP mentioned as part of my undergrad degree. As of now, i remember nothing. However, when I do open up a biochem book, the information looks familiar and not so confusing as it did the first time I learned it. Learning those things may seem like a waste of time, but I rather waste the time doing SOMETHING rather than nothing. Most likely, none of the information will stick, but at least I got some familiarity with them, and that would help ease my transition into Med school.

 

[Terpskins99]

if you must: first aid for usmle step 1

depending on you area of weakness:
netter atlas, micro, biochem

First Aid isn't going to make much sense to a pre-med.
Nor will Netter's atlas (there is no text in that book, its just pictures with labels).

I'm another one that subscribes to the philosophy that you would be better off just relaxing before starting medical school. But if you really want to read something, pick something conceptual so some of the information will stick. A physiology text is a good choice (Linda Costanzo has a nice physio review book that I thought was easy to read). As would be an embryology book.

Don't bother with microbiology or pharmacology just yet. Biochemistry, I would wait until med school.

If you absolutely have to start some anatomy, I suggest Moore & Dalley (yes, it is pretty thick but just pick a chapter that catches your eye and read it... it does a great job illustrating the clinical importance of whatever anatomical structure you are studying).

 

[Anton Chigurh]

First Aid isn't going to make much sense to a pre-med.
Nor will Netter's atlas (there is no text in that book, its just pictures with labels).

I'm another one that subscribes to the philosophy that you would be better off just relaxing before starting medical school. But if you really want to read something, pick something conceptual so some of the information will stick. A physiology text is a good choice (Linda Costanzo has a nice physio review book that I thought was easy to read). As would be an embryology book.

Don't bother with microbiology or pharmacology just yet. Biochemistry, I would wait until med school.

If you absolutely have to start some anatomy, I suggest Moore & Dalley (yes, it is pretty thick but just pick a chapter that catches your eye and read it... it does a great job illustrating the clinical importance of whatever anatomical structure you are studying).

Embryology conceptual? Really? I've really tried making sense of it this way, but have always resorted back to brute memorization.

 

[Terpskins99]

Embryology conceptual? Really? I've really tried making sense of it this way, but have always resorted back to brute memorization.

Yeah, I was kinda reaching there. I don't remember diddly for embryo.

Seriously, the OP would be better off reading a novel. Check out Samuel Shem's stuff. Hopefully he'll still show up to orientation after reading it. 🙄

 

[singinfifi]

So, I'm not sure what this says about my undergraduate education... but uh, the class that's helped me the most so far (In histology, biochemistry and physiology) is...AP Biology...that I took my senior year in high school.

I'm not sure if that's amazing or awful...

The place I feel the MOST deficient is anatomy, though I did look over it over the summer and I found that it didn't really help all that much.

Cell bio would probably be *very* useful (as the first part of physio is cell bio pretty much and so is a lot of histology).

 

[DOindahouse]

coloring

 

[psy]

I bought 2 set of color pencils!

 

[DILF]

archery...

it helped aim straight

 

[DannMann99]

To an extent I agree with the people that say enjoy your last year and do nothing. I definitely think you should relax and have fun so that once you start medical school, you would have all of that out of your system and get focused. BUT.... Time and time again, the people who come into medical school with the bare minimum basics truly struggle during their first year, especially with Biochem. I have no idea why but that seems to be the make or break course at least at my school. I know quite a few people and have a few personal friends that have had to repeat a year of medical school because they just couldn't get the hang of biochem. At my school if you fail Biochem, you have to repeat the year, and that sucks! I'm a 4th year med student and I've seen it happen in every year. I did a post-bac program prior to med school and told myself that I will take the courses that are usually taken during the first year of med school. That was one of the best decisions I made for myself. I'm not saying first year med school was a breeze, but my first year ended up being a review for me. But compared to all the other years of med school, first year was a breeze. Yes, I studied but I wasn't learning new information. I was definitely having an easier time than my colleagues who hadn't done more advanced coursework. So my first year was a smooth transition to prepare me for the hell of second year and beyond. The relevant classes I took as a post-bac student were Biochem, Cell Biology, Virology, and Immunology. The most valuable of those classes was Biochemistry. If you do nothing else at all, I would strongly suggest and encourage that you take that. I truly wish med schools would make that an official requirement for entry into med school because it is such an impt class. If I could go back to undergrad, I would've taken it then. That's how impt I find it based on my experiences. If you wanted to add another course into your schedule, I would say next would be Anatomy and Physiology (but more so for the anatomy). And if you really wanted to go further, then I'd add Microbiology (which includes immunology/virology into the curriculum). But really, out side of those 3 classes, I wouldn't suggest going crazy and carrying such a large course load if you don't need to.
Like what many of the previous posts have said, you will learn this stuff if you don't do it beforehand. You have to know what you want and what is best for you. If you can make it easier for yourself, I don't see why you shouldn't. But please don't forget to have fun and truly enjoy your time before you begin med school. Even though you can and will have enjoyable moments after med school, it's just not the same. I hope this was helpful and good luck to you all. If you have specific questions for me, please don't hesitate to PM me.

I could not agree more. Right now i'm in anatomy which consists of histo/anatomy/developmental

i have no history in any of these classes and it is kicking my ass. Whereas you see kids who have some form of history in a class do pretty well. Every single term I learn every day is completely new for me. That puts me at a disadvantage and in turn makes it harder for me to have that great class rank...

I wouldn't listen to group_theory. If i could do it again I would take it easy, but also review some of that information through a class or book or something.

you can't go wrong with anatomy. you will need to know every muscle in the body. you will need to know where they attach. you will need to know their innervations. you will need to know every bone in the body. you will need to know every landmark. you will need to know a vast majority of arteries and major branches...

 

[scdocusc]

For me it's Physiology. Its the only class that can bring all your first year classes together perfectly. Everything makes more sense when you know what each structure or molecule or hormone does. If you know the process then knowing the mechanics is cake.

 

[Chrysanthemum]

There are a lot of things that people will advise you to take or to steer away from in your last free year of life before medical school. If you would like the advice of anyone, I guess I am good enough to answer too. I guess I will be "that guy" and offer you the advice of not studying and relaxing. The reasons are many, but I will highlight my main reason.

Medical school is a black hole. It will (and rightly so) consume your every waking thought, your phone conversations to your family and loved ones, your time in the bathroom (shower included sometimes), and, during the first few weeks of classes, it will even invade your dreams. You will be exposed to a pace of learning which you have never experienced before and drug along until you are simply a torso behind the chariot. You may be thinking to yourself, "Well then I'd better start studying now so I can keep up!" Incorrect. Although you will rue the Pineal Gland that was placed inside your body for making you tired, there is enough time every day for you to sit down and learn the material, provided you are studious enough, while you are in medical school. Your life will suck and there will be nothing you can do about it. The world will seem to blur, days will feel like seconds, weeks like days, and months like years. Before you know it, you will be finishing your first year and embarking on your last summer vacation of the rest of your life. Enjoy your time now with every ounce of yourself. Go exploring, do something outrageous, eat something disgusting, and act in a way that you never thought you would act before. Enjoy your life and everything that is around you. There will be no time to miss it.

I hope that I did not scare you. I did not want to paint a flowery picture of medical school, but I did not want to scare you either. Instead, I was hoping to show you how I feel that medical school is going for myself personally, and how I wish I would have spent my free time before medical school began.

If you are really looking to "learn" before medical school, then I would possibly pick up an Anatomy Atlas (Rohen's Atlas is always a good one, IMHO) and familiarize yourself with the pictures. Don't worry about names, innervations, vascular supply, connections, or anything. Simply look at the book and the pictures and see how everything fits together. Since you've already had Anatomy once before you could throw in some jargon, but steer away from trying to teach the material to yourself just yet. Some professors stress different information in their materials, and some names in the book may be presented differently as well (i.e., Ligamentum Teres Hepatis versus Round Ligament of the Liver).

I hope that I provided some insight. Good luck with your year off and congratulations on your acceptance into medical school!

med school really does suck my friend ... but i promise it doesn't get any worse than the first two years. 3rd and 4th year are pretty stressful too but it's MUCH more tolerable than those first two years since you can actually interact with human-beings instead of sitting at a desk for 10 hours a day.

to answer the original poster's question -- it depends on what your curriculum is like. I went to nycom and we had a system's based curriculum for every system we had the anatomy, biochem, physiology, micro, pharm, path, etc. that pertained to that system.


so if your schedule is something like that then

#1 Anatomy
#2 Biochem
.... both are really time-consuming and time is very precious in med school.

I took biochem as an undergrad and it saved me a lot of time bc i was familiar with some of the logic. i didn't take anatomy and and it was just such a pain in the ass.
I think the BEST subject to learn tho is Physiology because once you master that you can learn Pathology even more easily and that's what the basics of medicine is all about -- Pathophysiology.

So if you have a year off and you have time I suggest signing up for those 3 courses because there is no way you can study that stuff on your own without falling asleep every two minutes. when ur in med school it has a way of scaring the **** out of you so that you'd rather study than sleep. just make sure that if you're not planning to ace those classes that it won't be on your transcript and ruin your GPA. u might even think about taking at a college other than yours so that if you don't ace them you don't have to transfer those credits over.

 

[bkpa2med]

Advanced Anatomy and Advanced Physiology

 

[Lamborghini1315]

BIOCHEM, MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY...rest like physio, organic, physics don't quite translate.

 

[scpod]

The undergrad classes that helped me the most so far in DO school were Spanish I, II, and III. The stuff you need to know in the first two years will be taught to you. Consider it a bonus if you have some Biochem, but it really isn't necessary. Now, when you get out into your third year and realize that no one really cares about the Kreb's cycle, and even if you tried explain it they wouldn't understand since they have limited English skills...well, those Spanish classes start looking really good to you.

 

[SomeDoc]

Molecular Biology/Pre-med Biology

Molecular Biology: key applications in biochem (basic science laboratory applications), cell biology and general physiology.

 

[jace's mom]

I didn't take biochem in undergrad, so I took a two-week refresher course right before starting med school. It did help a lot, but it was taught at the med school I now attend. So I'm not sure how much an undergrad biochem class would help. Probably just understanding the logic of the pathways will make it easier the second time you see it; that really helped me. I memorized the pathways during the two-week course, so that when I saw it again a few weeks later I could concentrate on what the instructor was saying instead of worrying about the names of enzymes. Other possible courses might be anatomy or physiology. I hadn't taken physiology either, and if I wasn't strong in math and physics, that might have been a problem.

Also (and I might get flamed for saying this)...med school doesn't have to consume your every waking minute. I only spend about 50-60% of my week thinking about school. The rest of the time I'm spending time with family, enjoying my hobbies, or sleeping. I have four children, and I haven't missed a school event or football game yet! (Of course, I'm not a third year.) My grades are just fine, and I feel comfortable with everything they've expected me to learn. I'm telling you this so you'll know that it doesn't have to be miserable. I love what I do and am quite happy to get up and go to school each morning. It will help if you can memorize things quickly, if you are good at organizing your time, and if you can keep a positive attitude.

Best of luck to you!

 

[DiverDoc]

Immunology without question.

 

[BCLumas]

The undergrad classes that helped me the most so far in DO school were Spanish I, II, and III. The stuff you need to know in the first two years will be taught to you. Consider it a bonus if you have some Biochem, but it really isn't necessary. Now, when you get out into your third year and realize that no one really cares about the Kreb's cycle, and even if you tried explain it they wouldn't understand since they have limited English skills...well, those Spanish classes start looking really good to you.

👍 You and I are generally on the same wavelength with these kinds of threads.

 

[DannMann99]

Really BC... Really. I mean honestly.

 

[BCLumas]

Yes, Dan. Really. Thank you, though, for making sure I mean what I say.

I find it flattering that you're so obsessed with me. It really does the ego good to know that I'll always get a witty comment from you no matter where I post. Good thing that I'm consistent in my posts and you are... well, you post. Keep up the good work!

Good luck.