Many premedical students enroll in courses whose content will be encountered again during their medical education. Presumably, students believe this practice will lead to improved academic performance in corresponding medical school courses. Therefore, this study was undertaken to determine whether a premedical gross anatomy and/or histology course resulted in increased performance in corresponding medical school courses. A second aim of the study was to examine whether the type of premedical gross anatomy and/or histology course differentially affected medical school performance. A survey that assessed premedical gross anatomy and histology coursework was administered to 440 first-year medical students. The results from this survey showed that students with premedical gross anatomy (n = 236) and/or histology (n = 109) earned significantly more points in the corresponding medical school course than students without the premedical coursework (P < 0.05). Analysis of premedical course types revealed that students who took a gross anatomy course with prosected specimens (n = 35) earned significantly more points that those students without premedical gross anatomy coursework (P < 0.05). The results from this study suggest: 1) premedical gross anatomy and/or histology coursework improves academic performance in corresponding medical school courses, and 2) a premedical gross anatomy course with prosected specimens, a specific type of undergraduate course, significantly improves academic performance in medical gross anatomy.

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This article discusses Mann's model of power and its application to the sociology of gender. The model is used in a cross-national study of gender power in Poland and in the United States. It is demonstrated that the collective power of American men and their distributive power over women have been higher than the power of Polish men. Moreover, the power of American men has been diffused and extensive, while that of Polish men has been authoritative and intensive throughout most of the period since World War II. The nature of gender power is shown to influence the levels of sex segregation in higher education. Sex segregation in the Polish system of higher education was lower than in the American system in 1965 and in the 1970s, but it was slightly higher in the 1980s. These results are interpreted as reflecting historical changes in both countries: the increase in the collective power of American women and shifts in the reach of political and ideological power in Poland.