The curriculum at UConn consists of three phases taking place over a four-year period. The goal of the curriculum is for students to fulfill competencies aligned with the ACGME competencies, including patient-care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems-based practice. During their first and second years, students are enrolled in Phase 1, which covers core basic science instruction and the foundations of clinical medicine. In a unique fashion, medical students and dental students study the core basic sciences together for two years. Phase 2 takes place during the third year and provides core clinical experiences consisting of both inpatient and outpatient experiences. During this year, students return to the main UConn Health campus for a Home Week experience integrating concepts related to patient safety, clinical reasoning, and career development. Fourth-year students’ education culminates with phase 3, a highly customizable phase of advanced clinical experiences, electives, and a selective (which allows students to complete a capstone project). More recently a boot camp experience has been added to prepare the graduating students for residency.
