<p>For current or past med students,</p>
<p>Do you recommend taking an anatomy class before the start of med school? I ask because I have the option to take an anatomy class as a pure elective next semester as a senior. I would like for my last semester in college to be relaxed if possible, and it will be with my current schedule. If anatomy isn't going to be helpful then I don't want to waste my time and add unneeded stress to my life.</p>
<p>Med schools generally discourage taking anatomy in undergrad because they want you to learn it the way they teach it.</p>
<p>Don’t add any unecessary stress - taking anatomy isn’t really going to help you much (if at all).</p>
<p>I agree with NCG and Icarus, and I’m “in the trenches” of M1 anatomy right now. I think it’s worth noting that, while anatomy is certainly important, it doesn’t end up making up much of my final grade and thus the attitude toward anatomy (for most of my classmates, myself included) is that it’s really an opportunity for enrichment and noticing clinical correlations (in addition to “getting in there” and learning about human anatomy)–rather than, say, a huge time suck that requires considerable effort and preparation.</p>
<p>Do you have your sights set on one or two specific programs? If so, you might look into how they incorporate anatomy into their curricula. If anatomy is a huge component, perhaps some early prep would be helpful. If it’s not, then I wouldn’t bother. Plus, I’ve noticed that some people who took anatomy during undergrad are practically in fits now that they’re expected to do anatomy the med school way–which I presume is slightly different than undergrad, given their reactions. </p>
<p>In the course of deciding whether to take it or not, you might ask your school whether undergrad anatomy uses cadavers or not, and you might ask your medical school(s) if they use models a lot. My UG uses models, and my med school uses almost exclusively cadavers, so I don’t know how beneficial it would be to learn anatomy primarily on models when you’re going to be tested on it using cadavers (in med school, I mean). </p>
<p>Either way, I personally wouldn’t bother taking it. If it were a requirement, it would, ya know, be required. And as far as I remember, it’s not even on the recommended list at many schools.</p>
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<p>These statements really highlight the crux of the matter. Med school courses are different than their UG “equivalents”. Even at my school, where anatomy is a separate class and is generally considered one of the most difficult of M1 year, those who took anatomy in undergrad were at no advantage. Same for biochem. I hate all things chemistry, yet did better than most people in my class who were biochem majors in undergrad simply because their degree didn’t help them much in the med school version of biochem.</p>
<p>OTOH, tonight while I was having dinner with my eldest (also a MS1) we talked about her sister (who will be taking her MCAT next summer). D1 said she’d strongly urged her sister to take A&P because of the number of anatomy related questions on the MCAT.</p>
<p>D1 said she believed the fact she had taken A&P (and at her school undergrad A&P is taught by one of the profs who also teaches the MS1s anatomy, and undergrad A&P uses actual cadaver dissection by students as an instructional method) helped her get a high pass/pass (top 25%) on MS1 anatomy. She said her lab partners who hadn’t had A&P had a much tougher time with the material. (Both the content and the sheer amount of material.)</p>
<p>Personally, I think it is a waste of time to take ANY undergrad courses that will later be taught in medical school. College will be the last formal opportunity you have to acquire and expand your knowledge about all things non-medical. Having a course in “Existentialism” and “Russian Literature” on your transcript will be more impressive to the adcoms than “Anatomy”, “Histology” or “Microbiology”, and if you are already admitted to med school… then take something you really enjoy and are curious about, just for fun.</p>
<p>Wayoutwestmom,</p>
<p>What anatomy questions on the MCAT is your son referring to? You have to know the path that food takes from mouth to anus, but other than that, I can’t think of a single question I encountered in my studies and as an MCAT teacher that required knowledge of anatomy.</p>
<p>Physio on the other hand is definitely helpful.</p>
<p>Brown–I really don’t know what my * daughter* was referring to, but that’s what she said. </p>
<p>Maybe it was the particular version of the MCAT she took. I can’t remember exactly now, but there was 2 passages on her exam I remember her talking about–one about myasthenia gravis and the physiology and structure of the nerve junction failures. (I <em>think</em> the other was on something to do with radiation and its effects on the body.) Maybe she meant physio since at her U, A&P are taught as a single course.</p>
<p>Regardless, I can’t ask her since she went back to her house to study and I won’t see her again until Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>The thing about the MCAT is that you don’t actually need any of that foreknowledge - all the info you need is in the passage. You aren’t expected to know about myasthenia gravis or radiation as an undergrad (and an anatomy course wouldn’t teach you those things anyway, as WOWMom alluded to). But they can give you a passage about those topics and ask questions that ask you to take what you’ve read and apply to that topics you learned in undergrad.</p>
<p>My MS1 D. mentioned that anatomy was her most usefull UG class. Because it made her familiar with vocabulary and she had experience with dussection instrument. She said that she had somewhat easier time (but Med. School is very very hard, do not get me wrong here) than people who did not have anatomy in UG. She did not mention anything about encouraging or discouraging taking anatomy in UG by Med. schools. In addiditon, keep in mind that some Med. Schools (one on D’s list) are adding Anatomy to requirements. So, investigate Med. Schools on your list. D. took Anatomy AFTER she took MCAT. For MCAT, genetics and physiology were the most usefull (according to D.)</p>
<p>My son also an MS1 took the same A & P class wayoutwestmom is referring to at the same university as an undergrad. He is in the anatomy portion of med school as we speak and he also says he is having an easier time of it then those who did not have A&P as an undergrad.</p>
<p>On the other hand he is really enjoying it, where some of his other classmates are not. He is getting proficient with the bone saw and he has not had the same gag reflexes others on his team and other teams have had lately. Think he found his calling!</p>
<p>Of course he is telling me this over dinner and my gag reflexes kick in! Nice. He says for some reason he it doesn’t really smell bad to him where everyone else really notices the offensive smell. Probably all those years playing a stinky sport and sitting around a really gross locker room with awful smelling cleats, and uniforms and helmets. His stuff made his room smell, the car, him…and that’s when it was clean.</p>
<p>His underarmour stuff after a workout would make the dog bark. </p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>^^D1 reports that her med school opened a brand new cadaver lab last year. Each dissecting table has its own multi-speed downdraft ventilation system. No smell!</p>
<p>Also men’s and women’s locker rooms just outside the lab so the students can shower off before leaving to go elsewhere.</p>
<p>"he has not had the same gag reflexes others on his team "
-D. is also very fortunate not to have it. She never did. She always liked dissections, but ruled out surgery long time ago. Big NO, not her thing. I have to ask her if they are using bone saw. We are not talking too much about academics though. She said that current block is somewhat easier, since it uses lots of Biochem. She never liked it in UG, was way too easy at her school, she complained about wasting her time and learning nothing. Her opinion turned around 180. She just mentioned that she did not realize before how much she actually learned in UG Biochem. Well, I was happy to hear that it was not waste of time after all. I guess here is another class to consider in UG.</p>
<p>My DD two anatomy courses in UG, the school used cadavers (well recycled) and she loved those classes, they were part of what cemented her certainty in applying for med school. When she was an MS1 she must have had the right attitude, she just felt like the prior experience gave her a tiny boost in terms of being comfortable with what they were doing. MS1 anatomy was much more intense, but taking it as a block class with hours each day, it was nice to have some familiarity with the subject.</p>
<p>While my D did not take anatomy, she did take histology and biochem and some other courses that she felt helped her in MS1. But she didn’t take them to the exclusion of Peruvian (or Chinese) Women in Literature , Racial Politics in the US, or Buddha, Confucious, and Mohammed. (So, I guess I she sees the advantages of both. ;))</p>
<p>D1 says there’s not much use for graduate quantum mechanics in med school either. (Or advanced conversational French, Greek philosophy, macro economics, or introduction to architectural engineering.) But she doesn’t regret any of her choices.</p>
<p>Quantum remains one of her favorite classes ever.</p>
<p>(And biochem is a requirement for our state med school–so no choice about whether or not tot take it.)</p>
<p>DD took anatomy as part of her bio major, but she had room for those ‘fun’ classes because she used her AP bio to skip that first year basic bio & lab, something her school recommended against, they were wrong. It was perfect for her. After surviving chem, ochem, physics, calc, she was ready to NOT be in a basic weeder class and ready to have a relationship with the prof and do some interesting things. Her other class was endocrinology, which was both very enjoyable and something she also found helpful in MS1. </p>
<p>No, taking an UG class is not going to make that same topic easy in MS1-2, but if it gives you breathing room for a couple of weeks and if you simply feel more comfortable with the subject, that is a very nice thing in the fire hose of information one absorbs in MS1</p>
<p>My D’s fun was her Music Minor. Still remains fun participating in opera prduction (major fund rasing for free clinic). We are looking frorward for Decempber to see it and I am donating some of my peices for pre-performace art sale fot the same charity, very proud to be asked. Other fun were her neurocsience (psych) classes, had to drop this minor being short 2 classes for completion because, yes, added requirements of Anatomy and Biochem at state Med. School. Ironically, D. got in, but choose to go to another Med. School, but thankful that she was forced to take both.</p>
<p>thanks for the responses everyone. From what I can gather, it looks like UG anatomy would be most helpful if it actually included a cadaver lab aspect to it. The anatomy class I am considering is actually a class geared toward pharmacy students and doesn’t include any lab portion to it. So it seems as though it may not be as helpful as I had originally thought.</p>