Advanced Introduction to Clinical Medicine Semester Added

I haven’t blogged in a while because MD3 studies occupy a lot of my time. Sometimes it’s overwhelming, especially microbiology.

Last week the dean came to the MD3 room and gave an announcement on a solid decision made by the Chicago office administration. He said: “I have good news, and I have bad news. The bad news is we have the so called ‘5th semester’ in Chicago right after Basic Science classes. Now the good news is, I am still the dean. ” Lol…he started off with his random jokes because apparently this 5th semester is bad news to a lot of people in class.

What’s the Scoop
So, here is what we got about the 5th semester, Advance Introduction to Clinical Medicine semester; it’s basically the clinical rotations moved up 4 months. AICM is also done by Ross Medical School in Miami, FL but SJSM will do it in Chicago, IL. The initial plan is that after basic sciences students get about 4-6 months to study, to prepare, and to take the USMLE Step 1. However, with this change in curriculum, students are now required to complete the AICM semester before they are allowed to take the USMLE. They said the new semester is supposedly created to help students pass the Step 1. The semester is a complete 16 weeks semester, with 8 weeks for just clinical clerkships, and the other 8 weeks with Kaplan-style reviews. Then we get 2 months to take the test and to get rotations set up.

The new semester is part of clinical sciences so it’s not $4,500, it’s $7,200. The $7,200 covers both the tuition and the hospital fees, but in addition to it the student has to pay a $800/year liability insurance. Apparently they have jacked up the tuition price from $6,900 originally; we have to pay $400 more per semester now. I just hope they keep the prices how it is until my class graduates.

The 16 weeks in Chicago count for the 96-weeks clinical clerkship so, now we have 80 weeks to cover for clinical clerkship. ACGME requires 72 weeks in order for students to sit for the Step 2, but I’m unclear on why SJSM requires 96 weeks.