r/premed • u/EmberJuliet • 1d ago
❔ Question How common are cadaver courses in undergrad?
I was chosen to participate in a highly selective gross anatomy course at my institutions, where only the top 10 A/PII students are accepted. It's a lab where we participate in dissection on cadavers. The participants then TA the A/P course, where we do demonstrations of anatomy on the cadavers for the students to aid in their learning (also, all of their exams are on cadavers, not models, so it's an integral part of the course).
The instructor keeps highlighting how amazing of an opportunity this is, especially for medical school. How common is this?? I'm curious now.
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u/NoCoat779 ADMITTED-MD 1d ago edited 1d ago
I went to a T1000 undergrad and had this class lol.
It is a cool, worthy experience but not ultra exclusive. I feel like if your school has a cadaver lab then it has this “advanced anatomy” course. They like students prepping the cadavers for lower anatomy classes.
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u/BookieWookie69 UNDERGRAD 1d ago
Are you talking about undergrad? I’ve never heard of undergrads doing cadaver labs
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u/NoCoat779 ADMITTED-MD 1d ago
Yea undergrad had cadaver labs. Sorry you didn’t have cadavers my boy
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u/BookieWookie69 UNDERGRAD 1d ago
My school offers it at the main campus, I don’t know if it would be worth it though
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u/NoCoat779 ADMITTED-MD 1d ago
It’s not necessary but a pretty good learning opportunity if the teacher is cool. You often do presentations and go in depth on the anatomical systems
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u/BaforSale ADMITTED-MD 1d ago
I currently go to a large state school and have a cadaver course to learn from and a cadaver dissection course available. I am told and from conversations with other premeds that this is rare so I’d take advantage of it. A huge part of my application was taking and then being a TA for these courses so I’d recommend taking advantage fully, as it led to multiple As for me!
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u/Atomoxetine_80mg ADMITTED-DO 1d ago
Yeah, very rare.
There was an Advanced Anatomy course at my college but I had not taken the prerequisites for it at the time.
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u/sphenopalatine5 1d ago
Went to a large state school and also had a gross anatomy lab with cadavers. There is a plaque in the courtyard for the people who donated their bodies
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u/flapjack0077 MS2 1d ago
My undergrad had a class almost exactly like you're describing. Went to a large state school. That being said, this sounds like a great experience. Having experience in a cadaver lab before getting to medical school will make medical school anatomy easier.
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u/TheFifthPhoenix MS2 1d ago
It’s not the rarest thing and I wouldn’t make it the focus of your app or anything like that, but it is a really good opportunity regardless of how much or little it helps on your app
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u/Delicious_Bus_674 MEDICAL STUDENT 1d ago
I took two cadaver-based anatomy courses in college and it helped me a ton when I got to med school. Probably not common though and definitely not required.
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u/Pristine_Ad_2015 APPLICANT 1d ago
went to a t5 and took a cadaver dissection course. there was also a less hands on class where you could learn from cadavers that were already dissected. i do think its a rare opportunity, and beyond that, an incredible privilege to learn from the bodies of real people that donated for our education.
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u/Physical_Advantage MS1 1d ago
I went to a random liberal arts school nobody has heard of, we had a cadaver lab, although I never took the anatomy class just physiology. Not every college has a cadaver lab but it’s also not some hyper exclusive club. I would say like 25% of my classmates in med school had done cadaver lab before. It will help you once you get to med school, probably won’t matter for admissions tho
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u/AbdominalSepsis178 UNDERGRAD 1d ago
extremely rare, i have had one cadaver lab for my neuroanatomy class (so brains and spinal cords only, no bodies), and i haven’t heard of anyone who has access to these labs otherwise
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u/milkywhay MS4 1d ago
My school had 0 potential for dissections, but had a partnership with a body farm which was cool
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u/eucelia 1d ago
a what now
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u/milkywhay MS4 1d ago
It was like this facility that studies human decomposition for mainly forensic sciences I think. People would donate their bodies, then they'd be just kind of left out to decompose in different situations/scenarios, like in the snow, underwater, with/without clothing, etc.
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u/Ecstatic-Cap-8883 1d ago
We had a cadaver lab my my community college I took in high school. Super cool opportunity but not as prestigious as you may think it is
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u/gothtopus-108 1d ago
Meanwhile the school I go to is literally the only one in my state that lets undergrads touch cadavers lol
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u/kkmockingbird PHYSICIAN 1d ago
I went to a probably middle tier private school and we didn’t have it but it was offered where I studied abroad (bigger name U.K. uni). I didn’t take the class though bc it was on Friday afternoons and I wanted to travel lmao
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u/NoCountryForOld_Zen 1d ago
Extremely rare. I've had maybe 2 or 3 different undergrad medical/allied health careers and zero cadaver labs.
I was extremely lucky to be a part of 10 autopsies at the county medical examiner as a requirement to pass paramedic school, apparently even that is rare. But cadavers are hard to come by. It's mostly medical students and PA students who get access to these labs.