FAQs Specific to the AY2020-2021 FCE Course
Are MD PhD students required to take select and FCE prior to entry into the graduate program in September?
Now that the minimum required FCEs is 2 (it used to be 4), you may certainly plan to complete the course when you return. The caveat is that we don’t know what the FCE course will look like when you get back.
If you do decide to delay until you return, it would be helpful for our record keeping for you to submit the preference form with the comment that you will complete both FCEs when you re-enter as an MS3; that way I’ll have your plan “on the books”.
I am taking Step 1 in Dec/Jan. I am hoping to have this exam completed in order to do 2 FCEs next year, but may need to push the Jan 11-15 FCE to fourth year. Would it be possible to have some flexibility here in the schedule?
While, in a perfect world, we’d hope to have an exact number of AS FCEs worked into our plans, we do recognize that circumstances change. Please keep us up-to-date on your progress.
Are all the electives listed on the UMass FCE site (https://www.umassmed.edu/oume/fce/before-scheduling/fce-course-links-ay1920/) being offered for 2020-2021? Will we have a chance to select a specific FCE from this list, or are we only able to select "Department preference" for each FCE week? Thank you!
In fact, we don’t know what actual experiences will be offered in AY20-21, which is the rationale for asking students to preference clinical departments first. Once we know how many slots we need in each department, we will solicit specific experiences. While we aren’t guaranteeing that particular FCEs might be taught, please do tell us [in your preference submission] if there are any that you’d really like to complete. We can/do promise that we’ll reach out to the particular faculty member to request it be offered!
I am a returning MD/PhD student coming back to clinic this May, and had previously completed two FCEs (PathWeek and Medical ICU) during my first clerkship. As I work to plan my remaining two clerkships, I wanted to understand what my requirements were? Do I need to complete two additional FCE’s, or have I met the requirements by my previous experience?
You should be all set! Although, you may certainly do 2 additional FCEs if you like, if you have previously completed 2 clinical experiences, you are not required to complete any additional FCEs.
It would be good to know when in AS4 the FCE would be fit in, or how these work vs electives. I.e if I chose neuroimmunology and movement disorders for my FCEs this year, are there options for a stroke rotation elective during AS4 or would this be my only opportunity to be exposed to that environment?
This might later be considered “the question of the year” regarding the impact this special CCE year has on future years ;-) I can tell you that Dr. Chimienti (who develops the calendars) is very aware of the need to gracefully add deferred FCEs to students’ AS elective schedules. We'll keep you posted.