The Top 3 Free Online Courses Every Pre-Med Should Consider Taking

Starting Medical School is a lot like learning how to drive a car.  There are a lot of new things that you may not be used to and there will be inherent apprehension as you being both for the very first time.  When you start Medical School, you are no longer cruising along the residential streets at 25mph but instead, you are thrown onto the interstate and expected to travel at 70mph.  The pace can be overwhelming and intimidating and there is no great way to prepare for it.  

The best approach is to just buckle up and try your best to keep moving along but there are some resources that can make this transition slightly less stressful.  Trying to master Anatomy before you start Medical School, or any class for that matter, is a foolish venture because you will have no reference in order to map the connections in your mind. Tracing the anatomy along a cadaver is much more solidifying than buying Netter's Anatomy and drawing out the pictures.  Nevertheless, there are some interesting and fun courses that you can take for free online in order to ease your transition into this new chapter of your life.  In this article, I will present the Top 3 Free Online Courses that you should take if you are on a Pre-Med track.  

Number 1:  Anatomy and Physiology:  A Free Web Course hosted by Carnegie Mellon

There is no point trying to memorize Anatomy before the start of your school year but it is wise to familiarize yourself with terminology that you may have never heard of before.  That is why this course provided by Carnegie Mellon is a useful endeavor for you to take before you start your first day of Medical School.  During the course, you will have a basic overview of complicated topics that you will focus on during your first years in Medical School.  This can be useful because even a basic understanding can help you take all the information in faster.  

This course is divided into 4 subcategories that will help improve your understanding of Anatomy and Physiology before you start classes.  They are the Structure and Function of the Body, Homeostasis, Levels of Organization and the Integration of the Systems.  The system is designed to provide you with interactive practice, targeted theoretical training, opportunities for practice questions, and an interactive 3D anatomy interface so you can manipulate and pick out structures.  These tools are spread out over 13 different units so you will be able to target specific topics like the Muscular System, Cardiovascular System, and even Lymphatic System to name a few.  

READ An In-Depth Review of the Kaplan MCAT Prep Course

As I have stressed already, it is not possible to learn Anatomy from a computer screen but using a system like this can help a young student visual some of these pathways.  When you are manipulating a cadaver, there are often anomalous structures or it could be difficult to identify smaller components like the lymphatic system so having an image already in your head of what to expect will be a good way to give yourself a general understanding of the theme.