Curriculum Overview

The overall objective of the medical school curriculum at the University of California, San Diego is to instill graduates with the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes that will lead to their becoming capable, compassionate physicians. 

Students are required to complete a specified number of course hours in order to graduate from the School of Medicine (SOM). These hours are acquired through enrollment in a combination of pre-clinical and clinical core courses, as well as pre-clinical and clinical elective courses.

The core curriculum through the third year of medical school is predetermined. However, during the first two years of the curriculum, students are free to select additional elective courses that best fit their needs and interests. In addition, although there are general requirements that must be fulfilled during the fourth year, students are allowed to select from a variety of clerkships which meet these requirements.

Students are also required to complete an Independent Study Project (ISP) under the direction of a faculty member in the School of Medicine. The project involves original, independent, and scholarly activity by the student and the project proposal must be approved by the Electives Committee before it can be carried out. At the completion of the ISP, a written summary of the findings is given to the ISP committee chair and members for evaluation, including a project description, a rationale for why it was performed, details on how the work was performed, and a synopsis of the results. It is anticipated that many of these reports will be disseminated to a relevant audience.