preparing for medical school during this summer!!

[Negin-the universe]

i knoo this sounds a bit nerdy but does any current medical student suggest us newbies reading up on anything before we start at UCL in september??? i kno it has been mentioned on a different thread that we should read up on DNA but is that all??

thnx

ps. the title should read medical school not medicla!!!! sorry

[S Knights]

Hello there.

I would not suggest doing any pre-reading... And I think most people would agree with me - you have a fantastic long summer to enjoy, and it really would spoil it!

You will learn everything that you need to know once you get to university, and to be honest there's no point reading one or two topics that you'll learn about anyway. If you would like something to occupy you until you start then I can recommend two classic medical novels: House of God by Samuel Shem, and Bodies by Jed Mercurio.
They won't be useful in the general sense of the word... but they do make damned good before-medical school reading!

[Mattie]

I would warm against doing any pre-reading. PMS actually discourage it. I would read the House of God... very good book. You are going to be studying medicine for the next 5 years of your life and then beyond that... have a break, go travelling, come to med school rested and raring to go!!!

[Negin-the universe]

thanks alot for the advice, I'll read the recommended books, it should be good to keep the thought of results day out of my head :-S

[Negin-the universe]

by the way, do you think a first year medical student would have enough time to take up an evening foreign language class throughout the academic year??

[Mattie]

I can't really comment specifically on the UCL course but I've found that if you want to do something at uni you can do it if you really want to. It's very easy to say "i'm too busy" or "there's too much work to do" but there will always be work to do. The course at PMS allows you to do your own personal study any time i.e. if you don't do it one evening you can make it up at the weekend for example.

[Negin-the universe]

oh ok, its just that I did spanish GCSE and beginning to forget what I've learnt which is unfortunate so I'm thinking of picking an evening class to learn it fully (speaking only obviously!!)

[yeliab_cram]

agree with what steven said at the top completely.

Just want to add a third book: Bedside stories by michael foxton.

excellent set of short stories from the life of a british doc, from his life at medical school, to the first day on call, to life as a consultant.

[Madimi]

I've got one as well: 'Complications - A surgeon's notes on an imperfect science' by Atul Gawande. Fantastic book! Gives you lots to think about and actually came in handy for my med school interviews too!

[TSN1984]

'Complications' is a fantastic book, his writing style is quite easy to understand. I also found 'The Dressing Station' by Jonathan Kaplan a great book. The way he describes 'life' as war, and being a doctor is fighting in this war, is inspiring!

The only preparation iv decided to do before sept is to go through anatomy of the relavent modules in my first year, since iv heard it can be quite time comsuming. So when i get taught it at uni, hopfully i'll understand it better, since all the names and concepts won't be completely new to me.. well thats the idea anyway.