The Yale System

About the role

The Yale School of Medicine offers a unique curriculum known as the Yale System, emphasizing a non-competitive, collaborative environment where students are guided to become mature learners.

Responsibilities

• Acquire knowledge and develop clinical skills through interactive learning in small-group workshops and conferences.
• Assess competency in performing a complete history and physical examination using standardized patients in an observed structured clinical examination (P-OSCE).
• Participate actively in skill-building sessions and sessions requiring collaboration for optimal learning.

Requirements

Freed from high-stakes summative examinations, students learn for their future rather than for tests. There is no class ranking throughout medical school, but evaluation is ongoing through formative feedback in small-group sessions.

Qualifications

Students are expected to submit programmatic evaluations to inform course/clerkship directors of improvements needed. They are encouraged to pursue elective courses, joint degrees, or extended study.

Skills

• Interactive learning in small-group workshops and conferences.
• Assessment of competency through P-OSCE.
• Active participation in skill-building sessions and collaborative learning.

Benefits

No grades or class rankings during the pre-clerkship period. Students are evaluated through formative feedback in small-group sessions and anonymous qualifying examinations.

Pay

There is no additional MD tuition charge for the Extended Study option, which allows students to engage in research, clinical experiences, or coursework for an additional year.

Schedule

The Extended Study option occurs between the third and fourth years of the MD curriculum, and about half of the students opt for this additional year.