Academic Support

Student Affairs and Wellbeing (SAW) The Office of Academic Support Policy:

As of April 2021, The Office of Academic Support Policy will be as follows:

THE OFFICE OF ACADEMIC SUPPORT

The primary goal of the programs offered by the Office of Academic Support is to help students achieve their full academic potential in medical school. Towards this end, academic support and advisement staff offer programs on efficient and effective approaches to learning:

• Individual academic counseling, and advisement as needed or requested for study, learning, memory, reading efficiency, time management, and/or exam reasoning skills.
• Active learning counseling sessions promoting long term retention and problem solving.
• Clinical learning environment sessions that address adjustment to the relatively unstructured but demanding clinical setting.
• Individual and/or group peer tutoring sessions, provided free of charge.
• Screening for previously undiagnosed learning difficulties and appropriate referrals.
• USMLE Step 1 schedule planning, test taking, tutor review sessions, and board preparation strategies.
• Individual meetings with students, as requested, to assist in planning optimal preparation for USMLE Step 1, Step 2, and clerkship exams.
• The Director of The Office of Academic Support, as supervisor for all tutors, selects and trains students in the upper classes as ‘student tutors’ for peer tutoring sessions. Selection of student tutors is based on high proficiency in previous assessments as well as personality evaluation. Training focuses on how to apply knowledge to clinically relevant questions and cases utilizing learning objectives, curricular materials, and practice questions.