Medical School Information
- Information about specific programmatic emphases, strengths, mission(s), or goals(s) of the medical school.
Please see https://keck.usc.edu/education/md-program/ - Information about unusual characteristics of the medical school’s educational program, including the timing of preclinical/basic science coursework, core clinical clerkships, and elective rotations.
View for details. - Information about the average length of enrollment of students in this graduating class, from initial matriculation until graduation.
The average length of enrollment is 4.2 years. - Information about the medical school’s compliance with the AAMC “Guidelines for Medical Schools Regarding Academic Transcripts,” which can be found here:
https://keck.usc.edu/education/md-program/student-affairs/registrar/ - A description of the evaluation system used at the medical school, including a “translation” of the meaning of the grades received by the student.
Preclinical courses are graded on a Pass/Fail basis. The narrative evaluation comments for required clerkships are contained within the MSPE, along with the overall course grade of Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail. Elective and selective courses are graded on a credit/no credit basis. - • A statement about medical school requirements regarding a student’s successful completion of USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 for promotion and/or graduation.
Successful completion of Step 1 and Step 2CK is required for graduation. - • Information about the use of Objective Structured Clinical Evaluations (OSCEs) in the assessment of an institution’s medical students.
OSCEs occur throughout the curriculum. In Years 1 & 2, OSCEs will be utilized by Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM) to assess proficiency in 1) history-taking, 2) physical examination, 3) patient-physician interaction (PPI) skills. Students must pass the OSCEs in order to receive a passing grade for ICM. The Clinical Performance Exam (CPX) series occur during the clerkship phase and includes the Mini-CPX and the CPX. The Mini-CPX is scheduled midway through the clerkship phase to provide formative feedback and will help improve performance on the CPX. The CPX is designed by a consortium of clinicians and medical educators from ten California medical schools to assess clinical skills essential to the practice of medicine regardless of specialty and will take place at the end of the clerkship phase. All students are required to take and pass the CPX in order to graduate from the Keck School of Medicine. - Information about the use of narrative comments from medical school course, clerkship, or elective directors in the composition of the MSPE.
The MSPE contains narrative comments from first and second year Introduction to Clinical Medicine, all required clerkships and elective and selective courses. - Information about the process by which the MSPE is composed at the medical school.
The MSPE is composed by the Office of Student Affairs under the direction of the Associate Dean for Student Affairs - Information about whether the student is permitted to review his/her MSPE prior to transmission.
Students are encouraged to review their MSPE prior to transmission.
