I did it; however I have a rather sublime feeling of quite despair. What exacatly did I get myself into? I’m a 40 y/o single dad who has met his life’s calling to be a physician. I would truly appreciate everyone’s input for dealing with the stress of the first year of med school. I’m sure there is little difference between allo and osteo, I have matric’d into an osteo program.
I would like to get a jump on biochem and gross, any suggestions for books, videos, whatever that may blunt the initial blow of these topics?
My son is 4 y/o, how did you folks do all this and maintain a healthy (fun) relationship with your children…
Oh, if you could think of any other suggestions or experiences you had I sure would appreciate them. I want to be the best doc I can be…I truly want to offer the best care I can to folks who really need it, especially my son.
Thanks shenry…
SHenry;
The absolute BEST thing you could do is to relax & enjoy as much quality time as you can with your son, other family & friends. “Getting a jump” on med school is not really practical nor is it particularly high-yield. The way med school works, unless you have been there, it is impossible to engage the process effectively. Since you are in & started, that part is inevitable & you will be sharing it with an entire class. So, why sacrifice time with the people who mean the most to you in lieu of a low-yield thing that will only increase your stress? Believe, once med school gets rolling - that is day 1 or 2 at the latest - free time will become an extremely precious commodity & you will regret not giving more to yourself, your son & family/friends if you do not grab this opportunity.
Hey Shenry, congratulations.
I might want to temper OMD’s statement a bit depending on your background. You’re a non-trad like the rest of us, so you may be coming from an unrelated field. If you do not have a firm grasp on biochem, anatomy or physiology, then when you get hit with them in med school you will be buried – that is why time becomes so precious. If you have the time I would highly recommend any of those three subjects. It is important to spend time with your family, so do this when you have free time, when the children are in school or in bed. This will pay huge dividends over watching TV, the favorite pass time of America.
Thanks bacmedic and David!
As far as my background goes I have worked in a levl I ED of an inner city community hospital. The reason for my concern was during my interview the panel “requested” I prepare for these classes.
I’ll do some casual review, but enjoy the time as I have it. Especially since I’ve just got engaged! 
If anyone else has any other advice please feel free, on the other hand, I think I’ll learn how to just smell the roses once again…shenry!
Congrats on the engagement!
If the AdCom requested that you review certain subjects, that certainly places another ‘spin’ on the request for advice. In that light, I would recommend that you pick up a med school, Board-style review book to study. There are several series, personally - I preferred the “BRS” or “Board Review Series” published by Lippencott, Williams & Wilkens; a/k/a “The Checkerboard Books”. This series offers topic specific books on virtually every med school class (BioChem, Histo, Embryo, Anatomy, Pharm…) AND they are now rolling out a clerkship/clinical specific series )OB/Gyn, Gen Surg, Int Med, Peds) to accompany the initial series. As a general rule, if you have sufficient mastery of the topic at the level presented in these books, you can land an 85% or better in a med school class. The larger benefit, in my humble opinion, you’re also studying for Board from day one.
Essentially, a Board-style review books are info dense/text light text books & usually in an outline-ish form. If you have looked at any of the First Aid books - then you know the style. In fact, most med students study far more from these styles of texts than they do from traditional textbooks costing mucho more! In fact, before the midpoint of year one, I stopped buying the high-dollar, snazzy textbooks & only purchased the BRS series…unless, of course, the full-textbook was to sexy to pass up!
I was looking at the BSR books to begin with. Yea, I had a poor semester in my post-bach that raised some concern, but was overlooked if I would consider getting a jump start on review. Hay, whats a few more buck on two books considering what I’ve invested just to get a blessed acceptance. Actually, I’m a bit excited to begin, it will assist in the sinking in process. You know that “yup, I really made it!”
Oh, thanks, I’ve warned her of what shes getting into, but she tolerated these past three years and said that she enjoys me and the medical school stuff is just the interesting annoyance going on at the moment. 
Thanks again!
PS interesting fact about PCSOM, all text books, OMM table, exam equipment/stephascope,etc…,loaded wireless laptop, white coat, full comlex I&II kaplan review, and memberships are paid in full and given at start so everyone begins on the same page, as far as resources are considered…I thought this a neat perk!
Hi there,
I would strongly caution you about even buying review-type books for study at this point. You can’t review what you have not learned in the first place. Your best preparation for medical school is rest. If you are dying to read something, make it medical ethics but there is very little you can do to “get a jump” on your medical topics.
If your schools passes out summer review problems, then work through these but otherwise, enjoy your summer and find a way to pile up money for those lean times.
Natalie 
I also had the sinking feeling when I got in…like, “what have I done? do I really want to do this?” Even though it is often difficult, I am glad to have had this chance.
If they suggested sticking a toe into the Biochem pool, then I recommend the Lippincott Biochemistry review book by Champe. It is very complete, and I used this as a textbook for my MSI biochem course.
The important thing is to start getting used to the language, so it doesn’t freak you out. So you look over a chapter, and you don’t try to learn everything, but when you see words like “enzyme” “fatty acid” “glucose” “ether” “amino group” “peptide bond” and you think “yeah, I think I learned that for the MCAT,” you go figure out what they are. These are the things that make first year much easier - a familiarity with the terminology, so you don’t get freaked out by all the new language in class. You can review basic concepts like the structure of the eukaryotic cell, organelles, cell cycle, mitosis, meiosis, G-proteins, etc. which get covered in class in about 5 minutes each, but underlie a lot of what we learn in first year in a traditional curriculum. (I wish I had a better understanding of all these things.) If you find something that interests you, then learn about it - like diabetes - use that as incentive to get into the science. Just sharpening the mind for half an hour a day will be good.
What is ironical about this entire thread is that frankly, if you begged us to admit it, none of us went to the vast majority of our anatomy or biochem lectures. I know I didn’t and I still passed very well.
I used some medical biochem websites and audio lectures from reviews to learn the basic concepts and integrate them with other subjects later on. So in the end, chances are, you are going to wind up teaching yourself this subject a some others as well because going to lecture might be the biggest waste of time in terms of staying up with the material.
I think its up to you and what you think will work. Try the newer Biochem book in outline format by Dr. Ed Goljan and Dr. John Pelley. It also has a disk with it and questions at the end of each section. Worth getting and it is easily understandable.
Well, I can’t believe all the things being said here. As a first year inmate, I never had time to read or study. I spent all of my time working out so I could avoid getting beat up. I tell ya, if you’re going into the big house for 4 years & have the summer off (I need the name of your lawyer) beforehand, I would invest all of my time liftng weights & training in the ring.
heh heh…that was almost funny
I’ll tell ya’. I’m three months from spending a whole month with my family back home with my son! I’m just doing some light review, making a few bucks, and just taking this time to really believe I’m going to be a doctor!
The other day I had a hilarious thought. I wondered if the admissions committee had discovered the error. You know…they placed the wrong file in the acceptance bin, and are mailing my rejection out today
Oh, I’m contemplating going to the conference as a treat and visit DC!
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The other day I had a hilarious thought. I wondered if the admissions committee had discovered the error. You know…they placed the wrong file in the acceptance bin, and are mailing my rejection out today
Oh, I’m contemplating going to the conference as a treat and visit DC!
Funny, I swore up & down that they musta had temps working the day the let me in! Had to have been a boo-boo!
You should definitely attend the conference. As is readily apparent, our conferences are directed to benefit everyone at all stages of the game.
The idea that you’re the “admissions mistake” is so universal that at our orientation session first year, the dean of admissions specifically assured us that NONE of us was an “admissions mistake.” His comment provoked a lot of nervous laughter… since most of us were pretty sure there must’ve been some mistake or we wouldn’t be there!
Mary
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The idea that you’re the “admissions mistake” is so universal that at our orientation session first year, the dean of admissions specifically assured us that NONE of us was an “admissions mistake.” His comment provoked a lot of nervous laughter… since most of us were pretty sure there must’ve been some mistake or we wouldn’t be there!
Mary
I think I would have been the one laughing the loudest. It is strange how we, as people I mean, respond to situations of success and failure. Yup, I’m in. I should just enjoy this tasty bit till the reality of the demands of MS-1 occur. Yet many, reguadless the amount of self esteem we carry, experience a twinge of doubt. Oh, Dave, thanks for the recc for BSR, they are great. I just spend about an hour a day with them and am at least appeasing my nervous sense of waiting till day one of school, and I should know by the end of next week if my fiance and I can make it to DC this year!
Again, Thanks everyone!David
Yike! I knew my orientation was the first week of Aug, but I was just informed that my school pushed up first week to the Monday following Orientation! I have not time to dawdle, I need to concentrate my persuit of idle foolishness and mindless fun! Again, thanks everyone!