Helpful courses

[Guest kylerh]

What courses would you recommend taking before getting in med school(not pre req's). Any courses that you feel helped? Any that you wished you had taken to prepare you??

 

Thanks,

 

kylerh

[Guest anitabanita]

well it depends on what your school offers and what you like (obvioulsy)...but I took what I thought where really cool , fun courses! (btw I havent been accepted yet *fingers crossed* atleast I am on 1 waitlist...I digress)

Anyway! I took

Psych course - The Self

How we percieve ourselves so on and on. We did fun cases studies on how ppl think ie why would someone inflict pain on themselves for no 'apparent reason..man it was so intresting & it flowed with another course

- Abnormal Psych...I think it is self-explanatory

Philosophy - Ethics in health and Medicine

Economics - I cant remember the name but something about in and out..hahaha I mean money flow- govt money - 1 case study talked about healthcare and how financing of that works and how sometimes ppl's demands are just unrealistic based on what is available

...I think it was a 1st yr Econ class.

Sociology - the sociology of gender

Bio - Human Anatomy (Toe to head)

By far the HARDEST class yet the MOST AMAZINg class!

BioStats - awesome course as it allows you to actually use all the math in "real" life situations pertaing to bio ..ie supply of certain presciption, drug intakes, there was an assignment once on something like a doctor inject this in a patient and this and this , how much should they put in based on this and and how much should thay not put if the person will die because of this...

Those were awesome 'premed' courses!

[Guest thatuvicguy]

I think most current med students would agree that physiology is probably one of the most helpful backgrounds you can have for medicine. It's what I have wished I had several times already this year...

 

Cheers,

thatuvicguy

[Guest Jag]

I wholeheartedly agree on physiology. Take every single level of that your school offers, I regret not taking it in my undergrad.

 

Also take Histology, basic anatomy, advanced anatomy, etc. I am extremely glad I took anatomy in undergrad.

 

Psychology may also be beneficial. I took a couse in undergrad called 'ethics in medicine and law' which ended up being pretty helpful too.

[Guest flying kumquat]

Going through anatomy in first term, I really wished I had taken it in undergrad at some point. I realize I wouldn't have remembered all the nit-picky details, but at least I would have heard of, for example, extensor carpi ulnaris and knew it was in the forearm somewhere.

 

I think it is for this reason I'm glad I took micro and immuno as my undergrad degree. I may not remember all the mechanisms of different types of antimicrobial resistance or recall the exact details of the complement cascade, but at least I roughly knew the names and how they worked. I guess I found having the micro and immuno vocabulary already in place helped me focus more on the disease process and management, and I wish I had that in anatomy, too.

 

Of anything last term, however, I probably did the best in anatomy, so maybe not having it in undergrad didn't really hinder me.

[Guest kylerh]

Is Biochemistry useful? Other than on the MCAT have you ever seen the content within your med school classes. I know that anatomy and physiology are very useful but how do you manage to find room for them??? I have maybe 1.5-2.5 electives each year.

[Guest blinknoodle]

I think a lot of the "medical sciences" courses could be seen as helpful. You cover a lot of info during medical school, although some may be more challenging then others, mainly due to a new language (ie. anatomy and immunology).

 

During medical school, though, I was glad I had an undergrad background in anatomy, physiology and immunology. However, it is completely ok to be learning it for the first time while in medical school. It keeps things interesting since you haven't seen it before!

 

I am also glad I took a health policy course since we didn't cover that in nearly as much depth as I would've hoped for future healthcare professionals.

 

As for biochem, yes, there is specific time dedicated for it during medical school. At UWO, we had a biochemistry course during first year. (I cannot comment on the new curriculum starting for the 2010s). I found my undergrad courses helped, although I don't find the nitty gritty of biochem being used every day after first year.

 

It is understandable that it may be difficult to fit in a lot of electives into a rigid program in university. Simply fitting in all the pre-reqs to medical schools can be challenging enough! If you don't have room for courses, then you will have to prioritize (which do you like the most?) or take extra courses if the summer (if you like it them all so much!). But remember that your undergrad isn't supposed to be "pre-med", because they will teach you what you need to know when you get there. I'd be more inclined to pick courses that I wouldn't be able to take while in medical school.

[Guest in the hot zone]

Aside from the aforementioned suggestions by other users, I recommend that you also take general education courses that will allow you to "think" and analyze issues outside the "scientific" mode of thinking.

 

For example, when I was abroad as an exchange student, I took a course called "Ways of Seeing Things." I can attest that the lively conversations I had with my colleagues made me realize that people can have the same challenges but people, more often than not, approach it differently in their own unique ways. The knowledge I learned is of course transferable to any profession including medicine.

 

Therefore, I suggest that you diversify your course selections as well. After all, university, as originally intended, is designed to amplify knowledge....not necessarily simplify life.

 

Have a good guys!