The Georgetown University School of Medicine MD program

The Foundational Phase runs in six blocks of organ-system modules, from Cardiovascular, Renal and Respiratory in Block III to the Central Nervous System in Block VI. Each module brings together one system's anatomy, physiology, pathology, microbiology and drug treatment, with how to examine it and which tests to order.

Longitudinal courses run across the blocks: Cura Personalis (Clinical Skills), Ambulatory Care, Community-Based Learning, Health Care Ethics, Medical Student Grand Rounds and Patients, Populations and Policy. Between blocks come Bridges, short virtual courses that the curriculum pages also call intersessions. In the clinical years teaching moves to the wards, with case-based lectures, small groups and workshops. Five bootcamps, from orientation to pre-residency preparation, mark the transitions.

Georgetown's 2026-27 fact sheet says students perform traditional cadaveric dissection in the anatomy laboratories, guided by the Online Dissector. Gross anatomy runs through the year 1 modules and continues with histology and embryology in Block V of year 2. The labs are mandatory, and the absence rules allow one missed lab day per academic year.

Anatomy is taught inside each system. Scientific Foundations I introduces it, Cardiovascular includes gross anatomy and the gross pathology of the heart, and Reproduction includes gross anatomy labs. Head, Neck and Special Senses covers the gross and microscopic anatomy of the head, neck, eyes and ears. To finish the Foundational Phase you must pass the year 2 portion of anatomy as well as the course overall.

Almost all bodies studied at the medical center are donated through the Anatomical Donor Program, and students honor the donors at a Mass in Dahlgren Chapel. At the November 7, 2025 service, students shared Jewish and Hindu prayers and verses from the Quran and gave each family a white rose. In year 4, a Clinical Gross Anatomy elective, aimed at students entering residencies that need in-depth anatomy, lets you dissect a region you choose.

Your first patient contact is with standardized patients. In Foundations of Patient Care, the Block I part of Cura Personalis, you learn basic communication, how a medical history is structured and a head-to-toe exam. The OSCE at the end of the block is the gateway to Ambulatory Care, where you keep building history and exam skills in the clinic.

From Block II the course moves on to focused histories and exams, point-of-care ultrasound and the differential diagnosis, the ranked list of possible causes of a patient's problem. In year 2, Block VI pairs Cura Personalis with hospital visits, which the handbook lists as mandatory.

The student-managed HOYA Clinic opened on September 17, 2019 at The Triumph, a Community of Hope temporary housing facility in Congress Heights, Southeast DC. Georgetown faculty physicians oversee care. It runs every Tuesday evening there and, since 2021, every Monday for Spanish-speaking patients at the Catholic Charities clinic on Monroe Street in Columbia Heights.

In the Foundational Phase, each block ends with a two-week study and exam period, with multiple-choice exams and an OSCE. Ungraded weekly quizzes and NBME practice exams give you feedback along the way, and faculty grade written reports and rate your small-group and preceptor work.

The Student Handbook dated October 14, 2026 grades the Foundational Phase, the Journeys phase, bootcamps and all Core Clinical Phase rotations Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory, the school's pass/fail scale. A Low Satisfactory flags work that only just passes and shows on the transcript as Satisfactory. Advanced Clinical Phase rotations are graded Honors, High Pass, Pass or Fail, and the 2027 Program Summary gives the same split. An undated prospectus page still describes the whole clinical curriculum as graded Honors to Fail, and refers readers to the handbook for fuller policies.

Clerkship grades rest on clinical evaluations plus each rotation's assessments. Internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology and psychiatry use an NBME subject exam, known as a shelf exam, which you must pass. Family medicine sets a final exam, and neurology uses research presentations, reflections and an essay. Surgery and obstetrics and gynecology add an OSCE, and every clerkship includes a physical exam observed by faculty.

The USMLE is a three-step examination for medical licensure in the United States, and Georgetown requires passes in Step 1 and Step 2 CK to graduate. Step 1 has been reported pass/fail only since January 26, 2022. You sit it after passing the Foundational Phase and before Journeys I begins, and need a pass to continue in clerkships; a failure means a review elective and a retake.

Since August 2025, a readiness policy has scheduled NBME practice exams in weeks 1, 3, 5 and 7 of dedicated study. You may sit Step 1 within a week of one predicting at least an 85 percent chance of passing; 95 percent is recommended. If you fall short, you can ask for up to six more weeks after Journeys I and make up missed clerkships in the spring before the final year. Needing more than six extra weeks means taking the rest of the year off and graduating a year later.

Step 2 CK may be taken only after all third-year rotations and must be sat by December 31 of year 4. In August 2026 the USMLE program announced a move to designated testing dates from January 2029, with Step exams offered less often each year. A June 2026 notice had named 2028. On the current schedule, a 2027 entrant would study for Step 1 in January and February 2029, as the new model begins, and sit Step 2 CK by December 31, 2030.

• The Comprehensive Basic Science Exam, an in-person NBME exam with coverage and question format similar to Step 1, is mandatory in May of year 1 and November of year 2. The Comprehensive Clinical Science Exam follows in April of year 3.
• The Capstone OSCE closes the clerkship year: a standardized-patient assessment of history taking, examination and communication in the Integrated Learning Center, which you must pass before the final year. The Learner Assessments page also names a regional Mid-Atlantic Consortium OSCE.
• Graduation also requires passing scores on all regional and national exams, 20 hours of approved community service, the ISP with a Research Day presentation and 182 credits.
• The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accredits MD programs in the United States. Its directory, updated October 14, 2026, lists Georgetown University School of Medicine (Washington, District of Columbia) with next survey date 2026-27, accreditation status Full and initial year of accreditation 1949.
• For MD students, enrollment in an LCME-accredited program is what makes you eligible to sit the USMLE; DO students and international graduates qualify through other routes.
• The school's accreditation pages say its February 2019 survey brought continuation of full accreditation. They list an LCME site visit on January 11 to 13, 2027 and a decision in June 2027, and name clerkship grading among the areas of focus, with a February 2026 special review.

Clinical teaching runs through Georgetown's partnership with MedStar Health; the school says the two signed new long-term agreements in 2017 that span a 50-year term. The Third Year Clerkships page names nine affiliates, and the 2026-27 fact sheet counts 10.

MedStar Georgetown University Hospital is a 609-bed teaching and research hospital in Northwest Washington. MedStar Washington Hospital Center, at 110 Irving Street NW, is a 912-bed teaching hospital with the MedSTAR level I trauma center and an adult burn center. MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center is a 381-bed hospital in eastern Baltimore County.

A lottery assigns clerkships. The first round sets your stream, a number linked to one sequence of clerkships for the year. Each quarter you then rank sites, such as MedStar Georgetown, Washington Hospital Center or Virginia Hospital Center, or particular rotations such as neurosurgery, plastic surgery or physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R). A 2021 clerkship-site policy, still linked from the policy page, adds a one-time STAR to raise your odds for one clerkship, one-to-one swaps and written appeals.

Instead of the block lottery, you can apply in year 2 for a longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC). The Baltimore LIC combines family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology and pediatrics over 22 weeks at MedStar Franklin Square for up to 12 students, with furnished housing nearby. The DC Health Equity LIC combines family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics and psychiatry over 20 weeks at Federally Qualified Health Centers and hospital affiliates, for up to 10.

LIC students join a care team for a panel of patients over about six months and follow them through different settings. In the school's example, a student saw a patient for a pre-operative visit, scrubbed in on the operation and attended the follow-up. You have a one-on-one mentor in each discipline and complete your other clerkships in the greater Washington area.

Clinical duty hours mirror the limits the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) sets for residents. You work at most 80 hours a week, with one day in seven free on average. Continuous on-site duty is capped at 24 hours, plus up to four for handoffs and teaching.

Selectives are short rotations you pick from a menu, and school sources disagree on how many you take in the clerkship year. The Journeys Curriculum page says three two-week selectives and the October 2026 handbook three clinical selective rotations, while the Third Year Clerkships page lists one two-week selective. The Clerkship Selectives page describes 7 options and the Third Year Clerkships page lists 11, including anesthesia, child psychiatry, dermatology, emergency medicine, geriatrics, radiology, radiation oncology, PM&R, surgical pathology and extra neurology.

In the final year you choose 24 weeks of electives. Intramural electives run under Georgetown at its DC-area affiliates. Extramural electives, or away rotations, are at other institutions and need advance approval; most host programs take applications through VSLO, the Association of American Medical Colleges' visiting student platform. The 2026-27 catalog lists 141 intramural courses, from cardiology and transplant surgery to a teaching elective in which you prepare lectures for junior students.

A two-tier lottery fills the year. In late February or early March of year 3 you rank choices for acting internships and emergency medicine and name your intended specialty. In late April or early May you set dates for away rotations and rank intramural electives. Unusual options include Wilderness Medicine, a two-week course with virtual lectures, rock climbing, canoe safety and whitewater rescue training and a night of camping in West Virginia.

The Office of International Programs, part of the Office of Medical Education, offers four-week fourth-year electives in Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Guatemala, Peru, Lesotho, England, Spain, Ireland and Italy. Several need basic Spanish, and you must be in good academic standing. In the summer after year 1, Mission ILAC takes students to the Dominican Republic; in 2026, eight spent a month running temporary rural clinics alongside Dominican physicians.

Every student must complete an Independent Scholarly Project before graduating: a project that answers, or seeks to answer, a research question under a faculty mentor. Basic science, clinical research, quality improvement, medical education and population health projects all qualify, as do systematic and scoping reviews and case reports with a literature review. Plain literature reviews and opinion pieces do not. Since August 2026, a case report not already submitted to a peer-reviewed journal must be submitted to the Georgetown Medical Review, a Georgetown academic journal.

The ISP starts with the year 1 orientation and the Principles of Research in Medicine Bridges course. Many students begin in the summer after year 1: the Stephen R. Mitchell Research Scholars Program takes about 50, and MedStar Health programs and an oncology fellowship offer more places. You submit a proposal by early fall of year 4 and present at the George M. Kober Student Research Day in April.

Twelve longitudinal academic tracks are optional, run alongside the curriculum and require good academic standing. They are the Bioethics Academic Track, Clinical Medical Spanish, the Clinical Research Scholars Track, the Community Health Leadership Track and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Medicine Track. The others are the Environmental Health and Medicine, Health Justice Scholars, Healthcare Leadership, Literature and Medicine, Medical Education, Population Health Scholar and Spirituality in Medicine tracks. The track list also calls Community Health Leadership the Primary Care Leadership Track.

Tracks differ in size and load. The Clinical Research Scholars Track takes 10 first-year students a year for a four-year mentored project, with a funded local summer project and a National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical research course. The Health Justice Scholars Track, founded in 2008, takes up to 12 per cohort, who work with law students through the Health Justice Alliance, a Georgetown and MedStar medical-legal partnership. Community Health Leadership students follow patients at one of six underserved clinics.

Dual-degree students usually take their graduate years between years 2 and 3 for a PhD, and between years 3 and 4 for one-year degrees. MD/PhD students pause medical studies at the end of year 2, after taking Step 1. The Pharmacology and Physiology department says its MD-PhD students start the PhD full time after the first 18 months.

The five-year MD/MPH with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health puts the MPH year between years 3 and 4. MD/MBA students spend three years in medicine, switch to the McDonough School of Business in year 4 and complete the Global Business Experience in the final year. MD/MS (any Biomedical Graduate Education master's) and five-year MD/MALS in Ethics and Professionalism students take the master's before the MD or between years 2 and 3. Philosophy MD/MA or MD/PhD work starts after year 2.

Clinical skills teaching and testing take place in the Integrated Learning Center. Its ten patient examination rooms are set up like physicians' offices, where standardized patients assess your history taking, examination and communication. Its nine multidisciplinary lab and seminar rooms host histology, microbiology and pathology teaching, and small groups there can watch a faculty member examine a patient over a digital audio feed.

The W. Proctor Harvey Clinical Teaching Amphitheater, a flexible clinical sciences teaching space, sits at the heart of the Medical-Dental Building on Reservoir Road, where the school moved in 1930. The school's Accreditation 2027 page reports a refitted Annex study space and upgrades to the Dahlgren Memorial Library. A new study and lounge space in the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center serves students rotating at MedStar Georgetown.

You join one of five Learning Societies, Harley, Harvey, Hufnagel, Knowlan or Stewart, when you matriculate. The school describes them as mentor-rich communities for learning mindfulness, resiliency, professional authenticity and leadership. A student-led committee organizes community service and the Georgetown Student Mentorship Program.

OSLAC's learning specialists offer consultations on coursework, Step 1, shelf exams and Step 2. Free peer tutoring comes from second- to fourth-year students who scored at least 80 percent in the course, for up to two hours a week. Since 2026, the Clinical Peer Mentorship Program has paired third-year students with fourth-year mentors for each core clerkship.

Pre-clinical advisors support years 1 and 2, and clinical advisors help you plan the final year. Two Counseling and Psychiatric Service (CAPS) clinicians work in the Medical-Dental Building, free to medical students in person or by telehealth, with records kept separate from MedStar. The Mind-Body Medicine Program, set up with an NIH grant, teaches exercises for stress management, self-awareness and self-care.