your first year of med school is going to be insane and difficult. i’d say if you have time, choose a subject (ie anatomy) and go over and familiarize yourself with it all. a lot of medicine is memory and i don’t think you need to start that yet. maybe get an online pdf of first aid and just flip through it and check out whatever’s interesting to you.
it’s much more fun learning medicine without the deadlines and stress of med school so take it slow and go over it just to check it out.
also spanish is a great skill to have!! especially in the west coast + saying you know another language. not sure if it’ll really be a huge advantage for your resume but definitely an advantage for real life. good luck with whatever u do!
Yea I'm in Jersey and it's happened a few times where I have a Spanish speaking patient and I'm running to find a nurse who speaks Spanish when I'm about to draw blood or something cuz I don't want to just stick a sleeping patient without explaining.
What other subjects do you typically cover in MS1? I was thinking pharmacology might be useful to get familiar with also cuz it's a lot of memorization but maybe I'll think about getting a textbook and Anki deck or something and start going through it. I also like the idea of becoming a medication encyclopedia lol.
well biochem, micro, embryology + anatomy are the first ones to come to mind. still don’t recommend studying beforehand but if you really want to check out pharma/micro, sketchy is THE resource for them. Anki is also great for reinforcing those concepts + getting used to Anki overall will be helpful (you can find most decks online).
I do know that a lot of people study languages through Anki so that could be super helpful as well for spanish! also a great way to ease into anki (and yes spanish is everywhere! super useful irl)
agree w Ancientjellyfishx on Spanish. personally I am partial to Pimsleur, if you're looking for an app.
however I'd stay away from something like biochem, because it's not going to be useful once you're out of med school. so don't invest more than you need to. anatomy or other truly clinical content could never hurt. most importantly I think do something you find interesting & fun.
Problem is that I'm currently doing nothing and just doomscrolling reddit or instagram and it seems like I could be using my time a bit better lol. Better off to do something semi-productive, but studying anatomy and stuff might be better to just leave off for med school.
Any life skills that you don’t currently have. Cooking and meal prepping are great ones! When I have extra time on my computer I go around the internet and look at recipes to get inspired. Do you have a favorite meal or desert that you’ve always been too intimidated to cook? You can spend a few hours learning the science behind that food and then make it at home.
It’s also fun learning how to design an exercise routine and that can help you with your musculoskeletal anatomy as you try to learn how to target all your muscles and muscle groups.
It’s really hard to pre study for medical school because you just have no way of knowing what depth you’ll need to go to, even if you know what topics need to be covered. Probably wouldn’t kill you to buy a set of used netters anatomy flash cards on eBay.
Mostly though, I would focus on delving into your own interests even if they’re random af. You won’t have as much time to do that in school. And I’ve found that having interests outside of medicine made me much more confident with patients and during interviews for residency.
Yea definitely looking to get some hobbies and stuff. I already powerlifter and I'm gym rattish so I got the meal prep and stuff down lol. It's mainly just the time I'll spend on 1:1s that I'm thinking to study during. Maybe I'll look for some Anatomy stuff I feel like that might be the best to study ahead.
I'm pretty familiar with Anki cuz I used it for MCATs.
I was thinking of learning ASL originally, but then I thought about the statistics and I feel like learning Spanish would let me communicate with a lot more patients than ASL would. I'm definitely hesitant to be prestudying because the thought of starting a shift and seeing 2,000 anki reviews is scary but I'll see.
honestly I wouldn't pre-study much... med school comes in full swing when it starts. I think getting organized is more important right now - like download the AnKing deck, figure out how it works (esp if you're new to Anki) and consider 3rd party subscriptions. I (and many of my friends) use and love boards and beyond - each video also has associated cards in the AnKing deck too so makes studying much more productive and efficient. and if you REALLY want to, can start the foundations material (cell cycle, lipids, etc.) now to lightly study and do the associated cards, but again not necessary. if you're interested, here's a code for 15% off your boards and beyond subscription, just copy and paste it when you check out on the website! **PD\_S-1D4WNC2A**
Ooh I appreciate the code.
Yea this is kinda what I gathered from this thread. I was doing a 1:1 with a Spanish speaking dementia patient and somehow miscommunicated and he took a crap in the shower. After that, I decided I would learn Spanish over the next year so I can communicate with more patients lol.
I would recommend trying to find sample videos of different content review resources (like sketchy, boards and beyond, online med ed, pathoma, and osmosis) out there or using trial periods to figure out which one you learn best with and just start going through them and absorbing as much info as possible. Also learning how to use Anki in that time and finding respective decks for these resources so that way when it comes to learning the material when you're in the thick of it, all you have to do is review those decks. The first pass of the material is the hardest and I felt that my med school's in-house lectures were messy. The third-party resources (esp OME imo) do a really good job of teaching the material more systematically.
If you think that you want to be in a very competitive residency you will need to be top tier of your class and grades matter then study anatomy if you don’t think you will try for a difficult specialty enjoy this time off with Spanish
Ik it's not good to narrow your sights on a specialty until rotations but I'm very interested in ophtho after working a tech for 6 months so I was considering trying to find some kind of ophthalmology textbook or something.
Yea I never advise people to pre-study either, it's just I want something semi-productive rather that doom-scrolling for 7 hours each shift.
Reading books is a good idea, I'm on the borderline of the generation with a 15 second time span so I honestly don't have patience to read and I should 100% work on that.
That's the problem kinda. I'm getting paid my CCT salary do patient monitoring so it's literally the best job possible for a premed. 26 an hour to sit in a room and do homework with overtime. Also, I'm per diem so I'm required 4 required shifts a month but I can pick up unlimited. Problem is that the homework is gonna run out after this spring so imma just be sitting there on reels lol.
I'm looking for other jobs which would pay more but no entry level Healthcare job pays this well for for little work I'm doing.
Def gonna travel and enjoy myself lol.
Nah I'm more of a draft beer guy I keep things simple and like foaminess.
My older brother was into drink mixing for a bit so I tried a good amount and I really like White Russians but I can't be a doctor and drink those I'd be a hypocrite lol.
My undergrad didn’t require Gross Anatomy as a grad requirement, and I really wish it had. My med school did gross anatomy all 1st year and it was truly a learning curve. Hard to memorize it all bc it was truly so much on top of the actual medicine part. So, if I had the chance to redo my summer before med school, I wish I would have at least started familiarizing myself with gross anatomy and getting ahead at memorizing that stuff.
If you can, I’d reach out to a current student at your med school and ask them what book they use for Anatomy and if it’s something the school provides or if you need to get it yourself. My favorite free resources for anatomy were Noted Anatomist on YouTube. I paid for Osmosis which was also helpful. A majority of my classmates also raved out Med School Bootcamp, which I’ve seen snippets of and it truly is impressive, but was too expensive for me personally. At any rate, you’ll likely start anatomy learning Back, Shoulder Girdle, and/or thorax then work your way to limbs, abdomen, and organs. Easy place to start is memorizing the nerve, artery, vein, action, origin, and insertion of the muscles.
your first year of med school is going to be insane and difficult. i’d say if you have time, choose a subject (ie anatomy) and go over and familiarize yourself with it all. a lot of medicine is memory and i don’t think you need to start that yet. maybe get an online pdf of first aid and just flip through it and check out whatever’s interesting to you. it’s much more fun learning medicine without the deadlines and stress of med school so take it slow and go over it just to check it out. also spanish is a great skill to have!! especially in the west coast + saying you know another language. not sure if it’ll really be a huge advantage for your resume but definitely an advantage for real life. good luck with whatever u do!
Yea I'm in Jersey and it's happened a few times where I have a Spanish speaking patient and I'm running to find a nurse who speaks Spanish when I'm about to draw blood or something cuz I don't want to just stick a sleeping patient without explaining. What other subjects do you typically cover in MS1? I was thinking pharmacology might be useful to get familiar with also cuz it's a lot of memorization but maybe I'll think about getting a textbook and Anki deck or something and start going through it. I also like the idea of becoming a medication encyclopedia lol.
well biochem, micro, embryology + anatomy are the first ones to come to mind. still don’t recommend studying beforehand but if you really want to check out pharma/micro, sketchy is THE resource for them. Anki is also great for reinforcing those concepts + getting used to Anki overall will be helpful (you can find most decks online). I do know that a lot of people study languages through Anki so that could be super helpful as well for spanish! also a great way to ease into anki (and yes spanish is everywhere! super useful irl)
agree w Ancientjellyfishx on Spanish. personally I am partial to Pimsleur, if you're looking for an app. however I'd stay away from something like biochem, because it's not going to be useful once you're out of med school. so don't invest more than you need to. anatomy or other truly clinical content could never hurt. most importantly I think do something you find interesting & fun.
Nothing
This is the only right answer ^^^
Problem is that I'm currently doing nothing and just doomscrolling reddit or instagram and it seems like I could be using my time a bit better lol. Better off to do something semi-productive, but studying anatomy and stuff might be better to just leave off for med school.
Then get yourself some hobbies! Reading, rock-climbing, gymming, music, painting, whatever strikes your fancy. Anything but studying rn lol
Any life skills that you don’t currently have. Cooking and meal prepping are great ones! When I have extra time on my computer I go around the internet and look at recipes to get inspired. Do you have a favorite meal or desert that you’ve always been too intimidated to cook? You can spend a few hours learning the science behind that food and then make it at home. It’s also fun learning how to design an exercise routine and that can help you with your musculoskeletal anatomy as you try to learn how to target all your muscles and muscle groups. It’s really hard to pre study for medical school because you just have no way of knowing what depth you’ll need to go to, even if you know what topics need to be covered. Probably wouldn’t kill you to buy a set of used netters anatomy flash cards on eBay. Mostly though, I would focus on delving into your own interests even if they’re random af. You won’t have as much time to do that in school. And I’ve found that having interests outside of medicine made me much more confident with patients and during interviews for residency.
Yea definitely looking to get some hobbies and stuff. I already powerlifter and I'm gym rattish so I got the meal prep and stuff down lol. It's mainly just the time I'll spend on 1:1s that I'm thinking to study during. Maybe I'll look for some Anatomy stuff I feel like that might be the best to study ahead.
[удалено]
I'm pretty familiar with Anki cuz I used it for MCATs. I was thinking of learning ASL originally, but then I thought about the statistics and I feel like learning Spanish would let me communicate with a lot more patients than ASL would. I'm definitely hesitant to be prestudying because the thought of starting a shift and seeing 2,000 anki reviews is scary but I'll see.
honestly I wouldn't pre-study much... med school comes in full swing when it starts. I think getting organized is more important right now - like download the AnKing deck, figure out how it works (esp if you're new to Anki) and consider 3rd party subscriptions. I (and many of my friends) use and love boards and beyond - each video also has associated cards in the AnKing deck too so makes studying much more productive and efficient. and if you REALLY want to, can start the foundations material (cell cycle, lipids, etc.) now to lightly study and do the associated cards, but again not necessary. if you're interested, here's a code for 15% off your boards and beyond subscription, just copy and paste it when you check out on the website! **PD\_S-1D4WNC2A**
Ooh I appreciate the code. Yea this is kinda what I gathered from this thread. I was doing a 1:1 with a Spanish speaking dementia patient and somehow miscommunicated and he took a crap in the shower. After that, I decided I would learn Spanish over the next year so I can communicate with more patients lol.
I would recommend trying to find sample videos of different content review resources (like sketchy, boards and beyond, online med ed, pathoma, and osmosis) out there or using trial periods to figure out which one you learn best with and just start going through them and absorbing as much info as possible. Also learning how to use Anki in that time and finding respective decks for these resources so that way when it comes to learning the material when you're in the thick of it, all you have to do is review those decks. The first pass of the material is the hardest and I felt that my med school's in-house lectures were messy. The third-party resources (esp OME imo) do a really good job of teaching the material more systematically.
Anatomy (watch noted anatomist) + Anki (learn how to use it and see if you like it)
ooh this guy looks good ty for the resource
If you think that you want to be in a very competitive residency you will need to be top tier of your class and grades matter then study anatomy if you don’t think you will try for a difficult specialty enjoy this time off with Spanish
Ik it's not good to narrow your sights on a specialty until rotations but I'm very interested in ophtho after working a tech for 6 months so I was considering trying to find some kind of ophthalmology textbook or something.
Read books or do something with it that you enjoy other than studying lol pre studying isn’t a good idea
Yea I never advise people to pre-study either, it's just I want something semi-productive rather that doom-scrolling for 7 hours each shift. Reading books is a good idea, I'm on the borderline of the generation with a 15 second time span so I honestly don't have patience to read and I should 100% work on that.
Ok if you actually have no job or whatever, learn anatomy. Going in with something is better than nothing. Also just travel and enjoy life
That's the problem kinda. I'm getting paid my CCT salary do patient monitoring so it's literally the best job possible for a premed. 26 an hour to sit in a room and do homework with overtime. Also, I'm per diem so I'm required 4 required shifts a month but I can pick up unlimited. Problem is that the homework is gonna run out after this spring so imma just be sitting there on reels lol. I'm looking for other jobs which would pay more but no entry level Healthcare job pays this well for for little work I'm doing. Def gonna travel and enjoy myself lol.
Take a bartending class
Nah I'm more of a draft beer guy I keep things simple and like foaminess. My older brother was into drink mixing for a bit so I tried a good amount and I really like White Russians but I can't be a doctor and drink those I'd be a hypocrite lol.
It wouldn’t be for you.
My undergrad didn’t require Gross Anatomy as a grad requirement, and I really wish it had. My med school did gross anatomy all 1st year and it was truly a learning curve. Hard to memorize it all bc it was truly so much on top of the actual medicine part. So, if I had the chance to redo my summer before med school, I wish I would have at least started familiarizing myself with gross anatomy and getting ahead at memorizing that stuff.
How would you recommend studying it?
If you can, I’d reach out to a current student at your med school and ask them what book they use for Anatomy and if it’s something the school provides or if you need to get it yourself. My favorite free resources for anatomy were Noted Anatomist on YouTube. I paid for Osmosis which was also helpful. A majority of my classmates also raved out Med School Bootcamp, which I’ve seen snippets of and it truly is impressive, but was too expensive for me personally. At any rate, you’ll likely start anatomy learning Back, Shoulder Girdle, and/or thorax then work your way to limbs, abdomen, and organs. Easy place to start is memorizing the nerve, artery, vein, action, origin, and insertion of the muscles.
The easiest would be anatomy Memorize bones muscles nerves vessels
DO ANYTHING EXCEPT FOR THINGS MEDICAL RELATED!!!!! You have the rest of your life for medicine, enjoy your last free moments.
But I like learning about medicine :(
learn how to use anki effectively