Undergraduate Medical Education
The School of Medicine provides an unparalleled education that prepares students to be excellent, well-rounded physicians. Our three-fold mission is medical education, research and clinical care.
Undergraduate Medical Education in the School of Medicine—the program leading to the M.D. degree—provides the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to become a competent, caring physician. The curriculum fosters the education of physicians who have strong basic science knowledge and clinical skills by promoting integration between the two curriculum areas, between the clinical education program and the practice environment, and between the College and the community.
The core of the first-year curriculum is supplemented by clinical case correlations and the two courses, biostatistics and epidemiology and community and preventive medicine. A case-based course in biomedical ethics runs through both the first and second years.
The second-year curriculum, with its strong focus in pathology/pathophysiology, medical pharmacology and medical microbiology, emphasizes small-group discussion, problem-based learning and self-study, with a smaller percentage of class time spent in large lectures.
During the first year, students are placed in the office of a primary care physician. In conjunction with small group seminars and the clinical skills course of the second year, this early clinical exposure allows students to learn basic interviewing and communication skills and the essential competencies of primary care practice. Students also have the opportunity to work with standardized patients and mannequins to learn specific parts of the physical exam.
Third-year clinical clerkships include rotations in medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, clinical neuroscience and family medicine. The school's location (just north of New York City) and large network of hospital affiliates afford clinical training opportunities in demographically and clinically diverse settings.
Fourth-year requirements include a medicine or pediatrics subinternship, surgical subspecialties, geriatric medicine or chronic care pediatrics, and anesthesiology/rehabilitation medicine. Electives can be taken at either NYMC or another institution, and some students choose to enroll in international electives each year.
Grading is Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail. Passing Step 1 and Step 2 CK of the USMLE are graduation requirements. In recent years the pass rate on student examinations has been 95 to 100 percent. Students are required to pass New York Medical College's Comprehensive Clinical Examination at the end of the third year and take USMLE, Step 2 CS, prior to graduation.