During your first year at medical school students usually are required to take 12 or 13 classes, depending on the institution. Courses taken the first year include a number of introductory courses centering on the topics of social medicine, biochemistry, anatomy, medical ethics and the patient-doctor relationship. Required courses also usually include epidemiology, genetics, physiology, medical policy and microbiology.
In year two of medical school, students usually are required to take about eight courses. At this point the pupil should be studying pharmacology and human systems, human development, psychopathology and another class about the patient-doctor relationship. Usually during the second year a few classes are devoted to the human systems.
In the third year of medical school, students may pursue clerkships in different medical disciplines, such as surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry, neurology or radiology. This year students gain exposure to patients and make closer relationships with faculty members who begin to act as mentors for the future doctors. Students also study clinical aspects of major disease during their third year.
In the fourth year of medical school, the future physicians concentrate on their chosen specialty and participate in an advanced clerkship with another institution or at their own. Much of the work during the fourth, and even some of the third year, is performed away from a traditional classroom setting.