DON'T BUY ALL THE BOOKS!

Now that I'm 7/8 of the way done with med school, I'm starting to compile some of my better advice, and hopefully one day can publish it.  Here's an excerpt; not that anyone ever comments, but if anyone has suggestions or requests, let me know!

Like college textbooks, medical texts can be outrageously pricey. Embarrassingly, I was “that person” who purchased every single book on the “required book” list.  I think it was probably around $2000. (Yes, I bought them new from Amazon.)  Sitting in orientation surrounded by people complaining about said booklist and realizing that I was literally the only one who had purchased any books at all, I vowed to pass on the word.
You definitely don’t need much right away- the lecture notes are compiled, universally known as “The Syllabus,” which usually requires a 3” binder. You’ll get a feel for what topics are more important to know, and what references aren’t online.  Of course, there are a few staples that you can’t avoid buying:

Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy by Frank Netter

Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basic Disease - Kumar, Abbas, and Fausto

Grant’s Dissector by Patrick W. Tank

Bates' Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking by Lynn Bickley

The First Aid books (for the USMLE exams, etc) are decent references. For the gunners out there, it might be useful to pick up a copy of First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 as a supplement during first year.  It’ll give you a good idea of what’s important for Step 1, and it is full of review tables and mnemonics.

Just as overwhelming as the book list is the equipment list.  Cotton swab applicators? Tongue depressors? Otoscope/ophthalmoscope??  First of all, you’ll definitely need a stethoscope (our school provided ours as a “gift” during our White Coat Ceremony)- of course, Littmann is unquestionably the best.  (I spoiled myself and got an electronic one- yep, with Bluetooth capabilities, which I’ve used like, twice. The Littmann Cardiology III is the standard model, about $150.)  The penlight is handy as well.

Ok, yeah I bought everything on that list, too.  The only time I ever used the other supplies was while studying for the clinical exam, Step 2 CS, and even then it wasn’t necessary.  I’ve found my otoscope to be really handy in a few situations, but not enough to warrant $600 (I would’ve wanted it anyway, it’s fun to play with, and if you have your own you can spend more time getting comfortable with it).  Most exam rooms have the wall-mounted ones.