Last updated: January 18th, 2023 at 10:18 am

ACADEMIC CALENDAR

The academic calendar is posted on Canvas and the WAUSM website and students should familiarize themselves with the required activities for the medical educational program. Dates are subject to change; therefore, students must check the course syllabus and the university’s website for the latest academic schedule.

Students are expected to participate in ALL scheduled orientation activities, as well as required classes, exams, and other performance assessments, and required WAUSM activities, from the first through the last date in each semester that appears on the academic calendar, excluding breaks.

Units, courses and clerkships listed in the academic calendar are organized to begin and end on common dates in each year or semester and generally have a uniform weekly schedule. Course and clinical directors are required to adhere to approved WAUSM academic calendars when scheduling their units and courses. Examination dates and times are coordinated and timed to attempt to ensure a reasonable workload for students.

WAUSM is officially closed on a few national holidays, and during the period that includes Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. WAUSM is closed and does not hold classes on university holidays; however, during clerkships, semesters 6-10 students may be expected to work and take call on these days (depending on the patient care activities at their assigned clinical sites), or to attend other scheduled activities.

THE WAUSM CURRICULUM

The WAUSM curriculum is organized by two phases: pre-clerkship (semester 1-5) and clerkship (semesters 6-10), and electives. In the pre-clerkship phase, each semester includes a Foundations of Medicine (FoM) course, which occur concurrent with a Patient Centered Care (PCC) course. The clerkships are organized as a series of six Clerkship courses and 27 weeks of elective clerkship. Student performance is assessed in each unit, course and clerkship. The Student Progress Committee (SPC) has defined standards for Satisfactory Academic Progress, which include the requirement that students must pass each course and clerkship, in the curriculum.

The syllabus for each course and clerkship, contains the course objectives, the WAUSM General Competencies and Educational Program Objectives, the schedule of activities, learning objectives for specific sessions or activities, names and contact information for the faculty involved, a listing of course materials, the student assessment system, and grading policies.

The competency-based grading process at WAUSM ensures that teaching, assessment, and remediation of all competencies are equally prioritized. All WAUSM courses and clerkships are mapped to the WAUSM Competencies and the AAMC Physician Competency Reference Set (PCRS). The grading system is in place to facilitate early identification of at-risk students and to provide a supportive formative remediation process to improve student performance without permanently marking their transcript or MSPE. Should students have unsatisfactory performance in courses or clerkships or have ongoing repeated concern in competency performance and/or failed remediation, they will be referred to the Student Progress Committee (SPC).

WAUSM students experience active, hands-on learning throughout the 10-semester curriculum. Complete 10 semester schematics for the three starts per academic year (September, January, and May) follow.