Clerkship Block

Welcome to the Clerkship Block

During the clerkship block (~12mo), students continue to build core medical knowledge and skills and to clarify career options by fully immersing themselves in one of 8 core specialties: Family Medicine. Internal Medicine, Neurology, Ob-Gyn, Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Surgery as well as two career exploration electives.

The block starts in the winter of 2nd year with a weeklong clinical orientation following the ~18mo pre-clerkship block and USMLE 1. The core clerkships are scheduled in six 7w blocks. Family medicine clerkship is 6w long with the first week of the block dedicated to a career exploration elective. OB-Gyn clerkship is also 6w long and includes a career exploration elective week. Neurology and psychiatry are 3.5w each with students changing sites halfway through the block. Students have an opportunity to customize both the block order (ranking and lottery) and each clerkship (typically via an intake form).

The Pediatric Clerkship is one of the core specialties with ~32 students rotating with us during each block. Third year students additionally have an opportunity to spend additional time on Pediatrics through Career Exploration (PED-302). The Surgery and Neurology clerkships both include pediatric options. Family Medicine includes the option of requesting offices where pediatric patients make up a significant portion of the panel.

New in 2020 the clerkship grades were split into the NBME grade determined solely by the NBME national percentile and a separate clinical performance grade. The split served students considering Pediatrics well. Those with great knowledge and test taking skills can still excel. Now those who are great in the clinical environment but not necessarily great test takers can excel as well. It’s an exciting year during which vast majority of students figure out or confirm where they fit best.