The Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine MD program

WR2 expects much of your learning to be self-directed. Classroom hours are deliberately limited, and the MD About page puts the split at about half small-group work and half lectures. Case Inquiry is adapted from a newer form of problem-based learning (PBL) that McMaster University introduced in 2005. In PBL, a small group learns by setting its own questions from a case.

Each Foundations block covers whole biological systems, so teachers from different disciplines share them: Homeostasis, for example, pairs heart, lung and kidney physiology with pharmacology. The 2026-27 bulletin says the school pioneered the organ-systems approach in the 1950s. Every block ends with an Assessment Week that adds no new material and revisits earlier concepts in new contexts.

In the clinical years an attending physician supervises you, observes you with patients when possible and gives regular feedback. You log your patient encounters, noting what you did alone and what you reviewed with faculty. A required Friday afternoon curriculum continues through the clerkships, and you are excused from clinical duties at 11 p.m. on Thursday to attend.

The school's typical Foundations week runs Case Inquiry from 8 to 10 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then lectures, medium groups or TBL until noon. Tuesday opens with the Foundations of Clinical Medicine seminar, and Tuesday and Thursday late mornings alternate between Structure (anatomy, radiology and histopathology) and Research and Scholarship. Thursday from 8 to 10 is self-directed learning time.

One afternoon a week is assigned to clinical skills, physical diagnosis, communication or procedures sessions or your preceptorship. The rest are for study, electives, interprofessional sessions, pathways and graduate classes.

A workload policy approved in March 2026 caps formal class and clinical time at 22 hours a week and required outside work at 23, a maximum of 45. An older Key Features page still gives the original design limit of 20 contact hours a week.

On-time attendance is required at IQ, Tuesday seminars, TBL and medium groups, Research and Scholarship, anatomy sessions, interprofessional activities and all clinical skills and patient sessions. Lectures are not on the attendance policy's list. Remote attendance by Zoom still counts as an absence.

Anatomy belongs to Structure, a longitudinal block running through years 1 and 2 that combines gross anatomy, histology and histopathology (normal and diseased tissue, viewed by virtual microscopy), radiology and ultrasound. It begins in Block 1 with a peer-led introduction, in which second-year students meet weekly with small groups of first-years to work through the basics of anatomy and radiology.

The two-week dissection Boot Camp falls between Blocks 1 and 2 (August 17 to 28 in the 2026-27 calendar). In groups of four you dissect one body cavity (thorax or abdomen) and one limb, then present your region to classmates who dissected the other. A formative (practice) test ends week 1 and a summative practical ends week 2, followed by a memorial service where students and donor families honor the donors.

After Boot Camp, each GARLA session takes one theme through three rooms. In the virtual anatomy lab you study it in HoloAnatomy. In the radiology reading room you and a partner scroll through and interpret scans. In Living Anatomy, groups of four examine standardized patients with physical examination and handheld or cart-based ultrasound.

The school says its research found students learn as well with HoloAnatomy as in the cadaver lab in less time, which makes room for radiology, examination and ultrasound in every session. Structure exams test anatomy, histopathology and radiology through clinical scenarios, and you must show mastery of gross anatomy and histopathology separately. The 2026-27 calendar schedules a Structure exam in every block.

Your first weeks include community-based field experiences in Block 1. Clinical reasoning sessions teach you to build a differential diagnosis, a ranked list of possible causes. Procedures training covers skills from sterile technique and suturing to drawing blood and placing IVs.

You meet real patients in the patient-based programs. In an outpatient preceptorship you spend afternoons in a community physician's office, practicing interviews, examinations and presentations with a mentor. The 2026-27 bulletin puts it in spring of year 1, one afternoon a week for seven weeks; the curriculum site says year 1 or year 2. You also do three inpatient sessions of full histories, examinations and write-ups.

In Clinical Immersion Week, in May of year 1, you leave the classroom for assigned clinical sites. You round with inpatient teams, shadow faculty in hospital and community settings, observe procedures and join simulations. Through the Kowal Senior Advisor in Geriatrics Education (SAGE) program you also meet monthly with an older adult partner in the community.

You can also volunteer at the Student-Run Health Clinic, a free clinic founded and run by CWRU students for the Greater Cleveland community. Pairs of medical, nursing or physician assistant students assess each patient, alongside dental and social work students, and work out a plan of care with their supervising preceptor.

Foundations of Medicine and Health is graded Meets Expectations or Does Not Meet, with no class ranking, and exam scores stay off your permanent record except for MD/PhD students. Each week you submit a Synthesis Essay Question (SEQ), explaining the science behind a short clinical scenario. You then compare your answer with a model answer and get feedback from your IQ facilitator.

Each block ends with a closed-book Summative Synthesis Essay Question exam (SSEQ) of about five clinical scenarios. It lasts 3 to 4 hours on the assessment page, about 4 in the 2024 assessment policy and 3 to 6 in the 2026-27 bulletin. Formative NBME-based Cumulative Achievement Tests, longer each block, track your readiness for Step 1.

Clinical Skills Exams work like an OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination): you move through timed stations with standardized patients. You sit one at the end of each pre-clerkship year and CSE3 after the clerkships. The school's CSE3 page describes eight 15-minute encounters, each followed by 10 minutes to write a note. Passing CSE3 is a graduation requirement.

Core clerkships are graded Honors, Commendable with Clinical Distinction, Commendable, Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory. The grade combines a clinical performance rating from attendings, fellows and residents with your shelf exam result, and you must pass the shelf to pass the clerkship. Honors needs an Outstanding clinical rating and an Honors Eligible exam score, and failing the exam once rules Honors out.

The USMLE is the exam series used for medical licensing in the United States. Step 1, on the sciences basic to medicine, has been pass/fail since January 26, 2022; Step 2 CK tests clinical knowledge. School policies approved in April 2026 (Step 1) and July 2026 (Step 2 CK) make passing both a graduation requirement, with three attempts at each. You are expected to sit Step 1 by the end of the six-week study period after year 2, and Step 2 CK by the September 1 after your clerkships end.

In August 2026 the USMLE program announced a move to designated testing dates from January 2029, with Step exams offered less often each year. Its June 2026 announcement had named an earlier date, 2028. On the current schedule, a July 2027 entrant would sit Step 1 by about the end of April 2029, before clerkships start in early May, and Step 2 CK by September 1, 2030. Both fall after the change, under which the USMLE says Step 2 CK will not run in some months.

• Graduation requirements differ by source. The 2024 policy lists Step 1, Step 2 CK, CSE3, the MD thesis, financial obligations and promotion committee approval. The 2026-27 bulletin adds the ePortfolio, which a 2024 policy requires at the end of years 1 and 2; an older assessment page adds a fourth-year portfolio.
• The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accredits MD programs in the United States, and its accreditation is what makes MD students eligible to sit the USMLE. Its directory, updated July 22, 2026, lists the School of Medicine as fully accredited, with its next survey in 2032-33.
• The directory has one entry for the school and none for the Lerner College, which the school and Cleveland Clinic describe as a program within the School of Medicine.

Core clinical training takes place with the school's four affiliated hospital systems: Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, MetroHealth and the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center. The VA formally calls it the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

On the traditional track every core rotation runs at University Hospitals, MetroHealth Medical Center and the VA, except pediatrics and obstetrics-gynecology, which the VA does not offer. The Cleveland Clinic and MetroHealth tracks keep all 40 weeks of rotations inside one health system. For University Hospitals or VA rotations, the Registrar arranges parking through CWRU Access Services; Cleveland Clinic and MetroHealth handle their own.

Scheduling starts four to six months before clerkships. You submit track preferences and are assigned at random within each track's capacity. Cleveland Clinic's June 2026 curriculum overview says about 48 University Program students join the 32 Lerner College students in the Cleveland Clinic clerkship.

Once assigned, you can swap schedules and rank hospital sites, and the school tries to honor first choices within capacity. If you have exceptional needs, your Society Dean (the faculty adviser you keep for all four years) or the clerkship director can help arrange another assignment.

Electives in years 1 and 2 are optional mini-courses run by faculty and students. Some appear on your transcript as zero-credit electives. None count toward graduation, and none may clash with the core curriculum. In years 3 and 4 electives are required, in four categories: patient care, non-patient care, research and education. They are graded pass/fail or on a tiered scale.

Elective weeks in the clerkship year vary by source. The clerkships page (updated June 2026) gives the Cleveland Clinic and MetroHealth tracks 8 weeks each, at other Cleveland hospitals or as a visiting student elsewhere. The 2026-27 bulletin gives all three tracks 8, and the 2024-25 curriculum sheet gave 4 traditional, 8 Cleveland Clinic and 6 MetroHealth.

Acting internships, called sub-internships at many schools, are intensive inpatient rotations. You write notes and orders, help direct management and do procedures, with about half an intern's patient load. Each lasts 4 weeks; you need at least two, one at a Cleveland affiliate unless your program approves otherwise.

Away rotations, electives at other institutions, are open in the senior year. Many are booked through the Association of American Medical Colleges' Visiting Student Learning Opportunities (VSLO) service, and the Registrar suggests starting four to five months ahead. One counts as an acting internship only if the host labels it so, and your Society Dean must approve every outside elective.

International electives go through CWRU's Office of Education Abroad. You need your Society Dean's sign-off, a health and safety orientation before departure (not needed for Canada) and required lectures on ethics and travel health. You report back within seven days of returning.

The required research project starts with a year 1 Research and Scholarship course: in-person sessions on Tuesday or Thursday mornings plus independent work. The 12-week block then runs full time in three four-week parts, from just after Block 4 to just before Block 5. The school says the thesis is not master's-level work. Afterward you can take research electives in four-week blocks, up to 12 weeks in years 3 and 4, or a research year that makes the program five years.

Nine optional pathways add seminars, mentoring and projects, usually meeting weekly or every other week before clerkships. They cover addiction, advocacy and public health, global health, climate and health, humanities, wellness and preventive care, medical education, health innovation and entrepreneurship, and urban health. The global health pathway, called World Medicine in the bulletin, includes international elective time.

The Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine is a separate five-year MD program that you choose on your application. It takes 32 students a class. Teaching centers on problem-based learning, with no formal lectures, grades or class rankings, and graduates receive an MD with Special Qualification in Biomedical Research. Cleveland Clinic pages read on October 11, 2026, say every CCLCM student receives a full-tuition scholarship.

CCLCM's first two summers go to research. Year 2 ends early for six weeks of Step 1 study, and Step 1 comes before year 3. On the current schedule, a 2027 entrant would sit Step 1 in spring 2029, after the USMLE's January 2029 change. Year 3 is the Cleveland Clinic clerkship, year 4 a master's-level thesis of 12 to 15 months and year 5 acting internships and electives.

Two Lerner College deadlines differ by source. Cleveland Clinic's June 2026 overview sets Step 2 CK by February 28 of year 4 and the thesis defense before December 1 of year 5. The 2026-27 bulletin gives October 31 and February 15 of year 5 respectively.

The MD/PhD Medical Scientist Training Program takes 10 to 12 students a year within the University Program class and lasts about seven to eight years. The school says it began in 1956 as the country's first MD/PhD program. You take the first two years of medicine with graduate courses and lab rotations, sit Step 1, do the PhD, usually defended in year 5 or 6, and return for clerkships. Most other dual degrees are applied for after you are accepted, and the school's lists differ.

• MD/MA in Bioethics and Medical Humanities: 30 credit hours on the MD page, 27 in the handbook, with a 12-credit course in year 1; no added time.
• MD/MPH: five years, 42 credit hours.
• MD/MS in Applied Anatomy: 30 hours, with an advanced surgical anatomy course in year 4.
• MD/MS in Biomedical Engineering: open to both MD programs; the thesis serves both degrees.
• MD/MA in Anthropology: four years.
• MD/JD (six years) and MD/MBA (five years): the handbook adds these to the five on the MD Dual Degrees page.
• The 2026-27 bulletin lists 13 combinations but no MBA; its additions include master's degrees in clinical research, nutrition and pharmacology and an oral and maxillofacial surgery certificate.

The Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion on the Health Education Campus opened in 2019 for the School of Medicine, including the Lerner College, and CWRU's nursing and dental schools. CWRU's history page and bulletin give it as 485,000 square feet, while Cleveland Clinic's CCLCM pages give the campus as 477,000. First- and second-year students get lockers, and the fourth-floor commons have lounges and kitchenettes.

The 15,000-square-foot Simulation Center on the second floor has 16 regular exam rooms, three large ones, a bariatric room, four acute care rooms with high-fidelity patient simulators and debriefing rooms. Exam rooms have ceiling cameras and observation windows, so faculty can watch and record your encounters with standardized patients.

The Health Education Campus Library on the Pavilion's second floor has 24/7 quiet study space, and the Allen Memorial Medical Library holds the Dittrick Medical History Center's collections.

At matriculation you are randomly assigned to an academic society and stay in it throughout medical school. The societies page says there are six, but it and the bulletin both name seven: Robbins, Blackwell-McKinley, Wearn, Satcher, Geiger, Gerberding and Caughey. Your Society Dean advises you on personal, academic and career questions. The dean also writes your Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE), the dean's letter for residency programs, with you.

Advising and grading are kept apart: Student Affairs staff never formally assess students they advise, and Society Deans avoid having their own students in IQ teams they facilitate. A Learning Specialist Team coaches study skills, test preparation and time management and runs near-peer tutoring with USMLE-style practice. Free Consult Tables and Tutoring sessions cover block content, gross anatomy, radiology and histopathology.

The school counts pass/fail pre-clerkship grading, infrequent summative exams and team learning as part of its wellbeing design. Medical and counseling care come from University Health and Counseling Services, which is separate from the medical school; its clinicians play no part in teaching or grading you.