quick word of advice to prospective students....

please don't buy all the textbooks before getting here. You will hardly use most of them. Just wait till you arrive and people will let you know exactly which books are worth purchasing.

My "worth it" list:

First Semester:
Anatomy- BRS Gross Anatomy by Chung and the Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy
MCB I-  none
histo- none

Second Semester:
MCB II- Lippincott's Biochem is useful, but not necessary
Physio I/II- BRS Physio by Costanzo
Immuno- none

Third Semester:
Pathology I/II- I recommend Goljian... love that guy if you couldn't already tell, but the class notes are sufficient
Microbiology- none

Fourth Semester:
Neuroscience- none
Behavioral- none
Pharmacology- none (although the Kaplan videos/book for ANS are awesome)

Fifth Semester:
I'll let you know when I'm done

About time for an update

I'm officially a 5th semester student. Can we just take a moment to let that sink in?

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....
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thanks.

Fourth semester, you tricky tricky son of a gun. Everyone will tell you that third semester is really the toughest of basic sciences, but not me. Not for a second. The only reason fourth doesn't seem as bad at first glance is because the workload is about the same as third and you're already used to it at that point. You fall into a sort of lull when the semester kicks off with Path, Neuro and Behavioral. Path is the same as last semester, Neuro is like the return of anatomy rearing its ugly head, and behavioral is just not a real class. I apologize to all the behavioral enthusiasts out there, but it isn't and don't try to pretend that it requires any real work to do well in it. If you are a human being who is able to communicate and empathize with others, you'll be fine. For all you non-human, socially awkward, emotionally stunted individuals... you will still be fine.  Most of the information you learn is common sense except for maybe one thing--

POP QUIZ: When a patient says to you that he wants to kill himself, as a physician what is the very next thing you say?

a. "Don't do it! You have so much to live for"
b. "Why do you want to kill yourself?"
c. "How do you plan on killing yourself?"
d. "Please don't talk that way."

If you chose option C, "How do you plan on killing yourself" you clearly have taken a behavioral class before. C is the correct answer because apparently, a physician can assess how serious a patient is in committing suicide when they have a concrete plan for HOW they plan on doing it. Makes sense I guess. And then you would ask some of the other questions like why. Gold star for all those who got this right. I definitely got this wrong the first time I saw the question.

Now continuing on with my 4th semester rehash.

It isn't until after block 2 exams where the trouble starts. Behavioral ends and then pharmacology takes its place. And to make matters worse, ICM 4 starts and for the first time in med school your performance in ICM is actually being graded. You have quizzes per usual but then you have to take time outside of class  to prepare for focused interviews and write reports. That's never fun. And then you have a lovely ICM final which isn't too bad, but it does come two days after block 3 exams when people are just so done with studying that they don't even care about the final (like me).

Block 3 might have been the most emotionally and mentally taxing block of my med school career. I came out of it mostly unscathed, but I'm disappointed I had let my Path grade slip. Block 3 is the block to sacrifice your best class for the betterment of the rest of your grades and it just so happens that Path was that class for me. Oh well. Block 4 happened. No ICM there so the three classes were a lot more manageable. And then finals came and went. Although I found fourth semester to be just as hard as third, all and all I did pretty well in my classes and came close again to making Dean's List. One abysmal Neuro exam sunk that ship for me pretty quick, but I like how I came back and responded.
But fourth semester is easily the most sneaky semester when it comes to failing people. I already know of some people who had never failed a class yet they failed one or two fourth semester. Part of the problem is that when you do poorly in one of your classes in the beginning, that class takes precedence and people neglect pharm and end up failing that instead.  It's a slippery slope indeed. May you never be in that position.

I was going to take time here to have a stirring and meaningful reflection on my time on the island for the last year and half, but I think I will save that one for another rainy day.


~I'm not dead,
Andrea

You must absolutely buy this book for pathology

All I've been hearing these days is pathoma pathoma pathoma. Well you know what? Pathoma is fine and all, but I would put it at the level of the Kaplan videos and book, but with even slightly less detail. If you want to take it a step further, I highly recommend getting Rapid Review Pathology by Edward Goljan. I don't know if you all remember, but I had purchased this book just before 3rd semester and I stupidly never used it. Such a mistake. For this semester, I've been using Goljan alongside the class notes and I can't get over how much deeper my understanding is on all the material. Not only does it match up perfectly with the class lectures, but it offers a detailed yet succinct account on each of the diseases. I really can't say enough good things about it. Now I understand why this book is considered the premier study guide for Step I pathology. Additionally, I highly recommend getting the pirated Goljan audio lectures. There should be 38 lectures in all, each about 55 minutes long. I've been listening to one lecture pretty much every night as I drift off to sleep and it's just another good way to expose yourself to the material.

Back to the grind

Some of you may be asking... wait, didn't you just have exams yesterday? YES! And they actually went pretty well, but unfortunately I get about 16 hours to enjoy those wonderful feelings of accomplishment and freedom before I have to gear up for the next round. I did manage to get to class this morning despite the fact I've slept 8 hours in the last two days, and even more surprising, I went to the library and put in another 4 hours of work. I can safely say that was a first. To be honest I'm not quite sure what's gotten into me lately. I  haven't felt this motivated since block two of my second semester but I guess I can attribute some of the newfound initiative to my awesome three week break over the holidays. Since the five semesters at AUC go back-to-back-to-back, you can imagine how exhausting it can get. Winter break is the longest vacation we have the whole year and those three weeks really did me wonders. I came back to the island refreshed, focused, and I just hope I can keep this rolling for as long as possible.

Sorry this is another short post. I can barely keep my eyes open right now. Definitely going to be an early night for me.

p.s. WE'RE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOO PATRIOTS!!!!!!!!!

Patriots-Bills Jan 1, 2012

Boy it's been awhile

Hey guys, I realize it's been MONTHS since I last posted anything. I'm not really sure what happened back there. I guess I just ran out of things to say or I just got tired or maybe school took an overwhelming toll on my life third semester. Anyway, I'm proud to say that I successfully passed all my classes Woo! Physio turned out being my best class followed by Microbiology and lastly Pathology. I didn't do that well in Pathology overall. It's sad because path has been my favorite class in med school so far. If a class is your favorite, there is no reason why it shouldn't be your best class. Unfortunately, I was never able to give it the attention it required. I spent most of my days struggling with all the minute details of med micro and as someone who has a terrible memory to begin with, it took that many more hours to learn all those viruses and bacteria.

Anyway tomorrow are my first block exams for Semester FOUR. This semester I'll be taking Behavioral Science I, Pharm I, Neuroscience, and Pathology II (I'm hoping for some serious redemption in path). Block I exams are tomorrow and I don't know why out of all the time in the world I've decided to post a new update NOW when I should very well be studying. Maybe that just goes to show how ready I'm feeling for tomorrow. I'll post a longer account of what's been going on in my life later in the week.
For right now I just want to say thanks for the people in the first semester class who have come up to me and thanked me for my blog. It actually feels rewarding to think I've helped people in some small way in making their decision to come here.  I guess it's no real coincidence that I decided to write a new post after some of these students approached me Friday when I was helping out with the first semester reading project (Short White Coat).

Back to studying, and thanks again!

GO PATRIOTS!!!!!!!