Anatomy/Physiology in High School?

<p>I'm currently a sophomore in high school and the time to register for new classes has come.
I've chosen all my other classes except my last elective class. I'm thinking of taking anatomy/physiology to help prepare me for pre-med, but to take it, I'm going to have to sacrifice taking band (which I happen to LOVE and have been taking since junior high). Is taking anatomy/physiology my junior year worth it? If i take it my junior year, I can take advanced anatomy, so will that be worth it? I've been very torn between sacrificing band for my future, but I'm willing to do it if needed. But is it worth it to take those classes?</p>

<p>On a completely unrelated note, should i take Physics in high school? I'm not a fan of it, so I'm thinking of taking it in college, even if I won't be able to take AP Physics.</p>

<p>High school anatomy & physiology classes really won’t advantage you in any way in your pre med classes in college.</p>

<p>Most medical schools don’t even require college-level A&P for admissions.</p>

<p>If you are planning on applying to medical school, you MUST take 2 semesters of physics (with labs) in college. It’s a universal admission requirement and its one of the core subjects on the MCAT.</p>

<p>Although you’re not a fan, I would suggest you strongly consider taking physics in high school (AP Phys B if you’re going to take AP, you don’t need Phys C), just so you have some exposure to the material. It’s useful to have seen the material at least once before you take a high value pre-req in college. (Especially since most your competition will have had a physics course in high school.)</p>

<p>DD 2014 is taking Anat/Phys this year. She loves it! They also visit the A&P lab @ the Yale School of Medicine, work on cadavers/take tests with the medical students. Not sure if you will have that added benefit of doing part of your class in a lab. On another note, isn’t it a great way to see if one can stomach that kind of work? I know a few people who wanted to practice medicine, but working on cadavers was a deal breaker for them. They couldn’t stomach it. Could this be a good way to see if this is something that fascinates you or completely grosses you out?</p>

<p>Most high school A&P classes use ADAM ™ software to teach anatomy and use virtual dissection tools. For that matter so do most colleges. There are very few (probably fewer than 50) colleges left that actually have human cadavers in college anatomy classes.</p>

<p>And there’s a HUGE experiential difference in dissecting a frog, cat or fetal pig (which you will do in high school A&P) and a human being.</p>

<p>Unless one’s high school is adjacent to a medical school, there is zero likelihood of seeing a actual human cadaver.</p>

<p>~~~</p>

<p>BTW, every med student/physician has something that squicks them: dead bodies, blood, vomit, sputum, feces, urine, crepitus, putrifaction, gangrene. They learn to deal with it using thru a process of desensitization.</p>

<p>interesting, I didn’t know that human cadavers were becoming a thing of the past. Very interesting. Isn’t that the best way to learn? (this is just my thinking but probably isn’t the case at all)</p>

<p>Human cadavers are not a thing of the past. They still very much a part of medical education. It’s just that there are practical, legal and ethical problems in the use of cadavers. </p>

<p>Anatomical specimens all come donors who specify in their will that their body is to be used for educational purposes. Additionally the immediate surviving family all must agree to honor the wish to donate. There is no legal compulsion to prevent the survivors from cremating or interring the deceased if that’s what they want. The result is there just aren’t enough specimens to go around.</p>

<p>Human anatomical specimens are used not just by medical students, but also by PT students, nursing students and by surgical residents and surgeons training to learn specific surgical techniques. (Hope you didn’t think they practiced on living patients.)</p>

<p>they’re becoming a thing of the past everywhere except medical schools for sure. They are expensive and hard to come by and obviously medical schools will always be on the top of the totem pole for them.</p>

<p>You definitely do not want college to be your first physics exposure. You’ll be in an intro class with people who have taken AP physics so you definitely want at least a basic class.</p>

<p>If you don’t want to give up band, don’t. I dont think any college is going to be too impressed by the A&P class.</p>

<p>cross posted with WOWmom</p>

<p>Although everyone else pretty much covered this, a high school A&P class will not at all prepare you for a college one. You should take it if you want to, but in no way should you feel obligated to do so. By the sound of your post, I would recommend that you continue to take band, seeing as it is something that you love to do and long-time dedication to a certain hobby such as that is nice to have on a college application. </p>

<p>I would also definitely recommend taking the highest level of physics you can in HS - in part because it helps to have a foundation, but mainly because most students take physics junior year in college and you may not have covered all the material by the time it comes to taking the MCAT.</p>