Hello, everyone!!! I hope my pre-med family is doing well. I was wanting a little input from you guys on something. My mother works as a tech in our city’s coroners office, so they get several people per day for that county who have been killed or die suspiciously. She works on these bodies everyday, trying to recover evidence (kinda like the people in CSI) to use in court. I think she does an amazing service for these people and their families and I couldn’t be more proud of her. The cool thing is that she’s just as proud of me becoming a doctor and has asked one of the doctors she works with if I would be allowed to come and view some autopsies. The doctor thought it was brilliant and is more than happy to show me everything she can, and I have agreed to join in on my first one tomorrow morning. I know that personally this is a good experience for me to have under my belt, but I was wondering if you guys thought this opportunity would be an advantage for me going into medical school? The reason I ask is because I could make a regular thing out of viewing these autopsies if anyone thought it might help my education on the human body a little bit. Let me know what your thoughts are. 
Thanks.
JCE,
Go for it! I don’t think attending autopsies alone will get you into med school, but it won’t keep you for getting accepted either! For sure it might give you a good topic to talk about when you get an interview! It will probably be helpful for your anatomy class! I have never taken anatomy, and I’m already dreading it, although the anatomy block doesn’t start for next 3 weeks.
Good luck and have fun!
Kasia
I’ve had the privilege of viewing a couple autopsies as an EMT student (with a couple of paramedics) and it was pretty helpful for me. The coroner pointed out a lot of anatomical landmarks that were particularly relevant to EMS folks (e.g. structure of ribs, vasculature of the heart & lungs, etc.) Every chance I get to look at the real thing is an opportunity to learn something new and interesting. I’m not sure how useful it would be if I didn’t have someone pointing out exceptional details. It definitely sounds like great interview fodder, though! 
Tim
you’ll be very comfortable in gross anatomy lab, and it’ll be even more helpful if they show you the structures and landmarks during the procedure. Get a Netter’s Anatomy or similar and look stuff up on the spot or soon afterwards. Seems like a good move. As for helping you get in–well they’re looking for people who are committed to the profession, so if you can explain how this demonstrates your commitment, great. Do spend some time with live patients as well, though.