Flexible Clinical Experiences

The Flexible Clinical Experience (FCE) program provides the earliest opportunity in our medical school curriculum for student-driven electives. Third-year students choose four-week-long experiences from a variety of faculty-designed experiences or have the option to design their own experience in any aspect of healthcare. The goal of these experiences is to allow for career exploration, study in areas of interest, and exposure to cutting-edge or novel branches of medicine not normally covered in the curriculum. Over eighty faculty-designed choices are currently offered, but students are increasingly taking the initiative to design their own experiences. The Department of Medicine has the distinction of offering the largest number of faculty-designed experiences and hosting the most student-designed electives in the FCE program. Faculty and student feedback regarding this program, which first started in the academic year 2012-13, has been extremely positive and the early interaction fostered by this program is conducive to the building of long-term student-mentor relationships. More details about this program can be found at OUME, where one can also offer to be a faculty sponsor or submit a student-driven idea for an experience online.