B.S./M.D. Program Curriculum

The Sophie Davis School's unique seven-year integrated curriculum leading to the B.S. and M.D. degrees creates a dynamic learning environment that encourages students to achieve their maximum intellectual and personal development. Students of the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education are carefully selected to meet the demands of medical studies.

The curriculum for the first five years of the B.S./M.D. program in the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education is designed to foster student interest in practicing primary care medicine in underserved urban communities.  Details below.

The academic year encompasses a Fall and Spring semester. Biomedical students are required to take a minimum of 12 credit hours each Fall and Spring semester to be considered full-time students. In addition, following their second and third years, students attend Summer classes.

Students in the Sophie Davis School are required to earn a grade of "B-" or better in all biomedical subjects and a grade of "C" or better in all other academic courses required for graduation. The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education Student Handbook provides more details on these requirements.

Students are provided with extensive personal support to help assure satisfactory progress in their studies, including a review of their records twice a year by the Sophie Davis Committee on Student Academic Progress. Where appropriate, the Committee recommends remedial study for students who are not meeting the required academic standards. Students who are unable to meet required levels of academic progress following opportunities for remedial studies are subject to dismissal from the program. If qualified, these students may explore the option of transferring into the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences of the City College to pursue a medical education through the traditional route.

Early in the Fall semester of the fourth year, students begin the application process to the cooperating medical schools: Albany Medical College, New York Medical College, New York University School of Medicine, Northeast Ohio Medical University College of Medicine, State University of New York (SUNY) Health Science Center at Brooklyn, and The Commonwealth Medical College.

Candidates generally are invited to interview with several of the medical schools to which they have applied. Over the next few months, the medical schools rank their applicants and students rank the schools in order of preference. In the matching process, both the preference of the schools and of the students is taken into account. Students are provisionally admitted to one of the medical schools. While each school has a limited number of places, most students are admitted to one of the schools to which they have given a high ranking.

Following the successful completion of the first five years of the curriculum and passing Part I of the U.S. Medical Licensure Examinations, students transfer to the medical school to which they were admitted to complete their clinical training.

The following is an outline of the first five years of study in the B.S./M.D. program at the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education.