OVERVIEW OF THE THIRD YEAR for Class of 2029 

The third year is made up of the following ten required clerkships:

• Ambulatory Medicine is a four-week clerkship.
• Family Medicine is a four-week clerkship.
  
• Inpatient Internal Medicine is an eight-week clerkship.
• Neurology is a four-week clerkship.
  
• Obstetrics and Gynecology is a four-week clerkship.
• Pediatrics is a four-week clerkship.
• Psychiatry is a four-week clerkship.
• General Surgery is an eight-week clerkship.
• Career Exploration is a 4 week clerkship.
• Research is a 4 week clerkship.

Each clerkship must be served consecutively (i.e., the weeks may not be split up). The clerkships may be completed in any order as scheduled by Drexel.

The faculty and deans at Drexel University College of Medicine strongly encourage students to take advantage of access to the multiple medical centers and patient care sites available. Each hospital has its unique culture and patient population. The opportunity to experience multiple hospital cultures and to work with patients and professional staff in several settings enhances clinical education, contributes to increased adaptability and flexibility, and may facilitate the shift to residency training and practice. Students have the opportunity to do this during the 3rd and/or 4th year.

Students are not permitted to perform clinical rotations under the supervision of any individual when there may be a perception of a biased educational experience or evaluation. The Office of Clinical Education reserves the right to reassign a student if a clinical rotation site has the potential of providing a biased evaluation. Please send an email to clinicaleducation@drexel.edu to notify the office so we may review any potential conflict.

Information on each of the clinical education sites is available on line at Clinical Education Sites.

A one-page overview/grid of the anticipated clinical sites and the clerkships that are offered may be found at (subject to change): Clerkship Site Grid (PDF)

Please note that a rotating student may be assigned to any site, even a Regional Medical Campus, for an open clerkship slot in the lottery or at any time throughout the year if they are unassigned.

Please note that any student may be reassigned to any site, even another Regional Medical Campus, for a clerkship for educational purposes.

View the 2026-2027 Clerkship Site Grid (PDF)

PRIMARY CAREGIVER REQUESTS and NOTIFICATION OF AVLs

Some students are primary caregivers (parent of child under 18) and some students will have received an Accommodation Verification Letter (AVL) from Drexel University's Office of Disability Resources to complete the third year at a Regional Medical Campus due to a parenting responsibility or a medical need.

All requests must be submitted using the Qualtrics survey sent by the Office of Clinical Education prior to the deadline to confirm that the student wishes to request placement due to an AVL or parental responsibility.

Students who feel they have another Extenuating Circumstance/Special Need will have the opportunity to indicate such to the Deans Committee on the Qualtrics Survey. The student will need to clearly indicate their circumstances. Please note that approvals for these requests are the exception (not the rule) and plan accordingly.

Students with parenting responsibilities must complete and submit the Qualtrics Survey no later than the posted deadline of 5pm on Friday, November 20, 2026.

1. Complete and submit the Qualtrics survey no later than the posted deadline of 5pm on Friday, November 20, 2026. You will simply indicate that you have submitted a request to the Office of Disability Resources. No other information should be included on the Qualtrics survey.
2. Requests due to disability must be supported by an Accommodation Verification Letter (AVL) issued by the Drexel University Office of Disability Resources. For additional information regarding requests due to a disability, go to: https://drexel.edu/disability-resources/support-accommodations/student-family-resources/.
3. Documentation (AVL) from the Office of Disability Resources should be submitted to the Office of Student Affairs as soon as it is received; however, it must be submitted no later than 5pm on Friday, November 20, 2026, in order to be included for the 2027-2028 lottery process.

Students approved for a third-year clinical placement accommodation through the Office of Disability Resources should note the following:

1. Third-year clinical placement at an all-year site (Regional Medical Campus)

• Students are required to rank all of the all-year sites and will otherwise be ineligible for the accommodation.

• Approval for an all-year site does not guarantee preference; it only guarantees all-year site placement.

• Students are encouraged to rank all all-year sites, as their lottery number dictates their placement. Students who do not rank all of the all-year sites may end up foregoing their accommodation.

2. Requests after the deadline: Third-year clinical placement at an all-year site (Regional Medical Campus), if possible

• Students are required to rank all the sites and participate in the lottery, even if they have a preference for one site.

• Approval for an all-year site does not guarantee preference; it only guarantees all-year site placement. Students who do not rank all of the all-year sites may end up foregoing their accommodation.

Students who fail to submit appropriate documentation by the deadline may not be able to have their circumstance met.

REQUEST FOR A FULL YEAR AT A REGIONAL MEDICAL CAMPUS

Students interested in preferencing their request to spend an entire year at a designated Regional Medical Campus will complete a Qualtrics survey and submit no later than 5pm on Thursday, December 3, 2026.

If you select this option and are assigned, you will not be able to switch any of your rotations to another site. Your rotations will be scheduled to provide the maximum number of students the opportunity to rotate at the site and to give the site minimum movement of students.

Please carefully read the Regional Medical Campus All Year Request survey before agreeing to the terms. Housing is not provided to all year students. You must complete and submit via the Survey the Regional Medical Campus All Year Request prior to Thursday, December 3, 2026 at 5pm in order to be considered for this option.

Regional Medical Campus students are required to complete the required 4th year course(s) at their Regional Medical Campus in the 4th year. Housing is not provided while at the Regional Medical Campus in the 3rd or 4th year. Non-required subinternships and electives may be completed at the RMC or any Drexel clinical site a student is accepted.  Up to 16 weeks may be completed at Away (non-Drexel affiliate) sites.

Process:

Step 1: All students are assigned a computer-generated random number. Those numbers are put into "order". This becomes your lottery number.

Step 2: All students who have submitted a formal request are put into the pool based on their first site preference and sequenced based on your lottery number. Students are assigned a slot at their first site preference based on their lottery number, if available. Once the first preference sites are full, the remaining students are put on a waiting list at their first choice according to their computer-generated lottery number.

Step 3: If there are still remaining slots at any RMC sites, any student who indicated an unfilled RMC that is still available who was not assigned to their first preference will be put back into the pool and, based upon their lottery number, will be assigned to their 2nd site preference, as available.  The remaining students are put on a waiting list according to their number.

Step 4: Step 3 will be repeated until all RMC All Year slots are filled or until there are no more RMC All Year Student Requests.

Step 5: If there are vacant RMC All Year slots and no additional Student All Year Requests, the following will take place:

• Students who wish to volunteer for any Vacant RMC All Year slots will be given the opportunity to do so and will be assigned into the available slots according to their lottery number first
• Then, if any RMC vacant slots exist, all students not assigned to a RMC for a full year will be entered into a randomized lottery. Should options exist, all students will be given an opportunity to rank RMC all year vacant slots.

In the event a RMC All Year slot opens later in the spring for any reason, including a Transfer, LOA, etc, it would mean a student on the waiting list would be offered the opportunity to assume the schedule in its entirely (including order). The waiting list would be referred to according to the assigned waiting list number.

The College reserves the right to make schedule changes based on academic performance. See Student Handbook.

A. DREXEL ONLINE CURRICLUM SCHEDULING SYSTEM (Link to DOCSS)

DOCSS is a computer program that assigns students to their required clerkships. The scheduling system for the third year is pre-programmed with the following information: a class roster, the required third year clerkships and locations offered, starting dates and maximum and minimum numbers of student slots for each clinical site.

The lottery timeline moves quickly and deadlines must be adhered to.

The lottery is run in two stages unless there are unfilled All Year slots.

Any All Year slots that remain unfilled will be filled via a lottery process as indicated above.

Stage 1. All students will be assigned their order of rotations (grid) - note that there are a limited number of grid options for RMC students

Click here to see the grid options that may be available: grids.pdf (sample for review)

Stage 2. Students will be assigned their sites for all required rotations. (old video - general lottery instructions remain the same except all disciplines will be scheduled in Stage 2, including Family Medicine, Career Advising and Research)

DOCSS allows students to rank their rotations in order of personal priority. Students are scheduled into all required clerkships; students may be scheduled for a rotation that was their last preference. DOCSS does not let students create their schedules; rather, it provides students with an equal chance to achieve rotations closest to those desired.

Student Randomization and Scheduling Runs - How it Works

The DOCSS program matches students' requests with available spaces in the following manner:

• The list of participating student names is shuffled into a random sequence. "Scheduling Round 1"
• The computer then goes through the list of names in that sequence, enrolling each student into the first available rotation on their rank list before it goes on to the next student.
• DOCSS will attempt to schedule every student into one rotation.
• The list of participating student names is shuffled into a new random sequence. "Scheduling Round 2"
• The computer then goes through the list of names in the new sequence, enrolling each student into the first available rotation on their rank list before it goes on to the next student
• Each pass through the class roster is a "Scheduling Round"
  • During each "Scheduling Round" the computer will look at a student's highest priority.
  • If the computer can schedule the student into that rotation, it does. If not, the computer continues to look at the student's ranked priority list
  • Once the computer is able to schedule a rotation, the computer then moves on to the next student. If that student's highest priority rotation is not available, the computer remains on that student's priority list and continues to go down it, by priority, until it can schedule a rotation. Once a rotation is scheduled, it moves on to the next student.
  • After a Scheduling Round is completed, and for each ensuing Scheduling Round, the computer reshuffles the students into a new random sequence. It goes through each student's priority list in the same manner as it did for the first round.
    

If a student doesn't get scheduled into one of his/her choices, it is because the maximum number of students had already been assigned (i.e., the course is full).

All students entering the 3^rd year will be slotted for all ten clerkships.

Some students will receive site assignments that they do not anticipate.

A few students per discipline per 4-week block will receive a "Various Sites" placement which means that the site will be determined at a later time.

Preparing your entries
Strategies and Hints

1. Look at the Clerkship Site Grid (PDF)
2. Once you have your grid, you will be ranking your sites based on the pre-determined order of clerkships.
3. List the sites in your order of preference, you can inter-mix the clerkship disciplines. (i.e., you don't have to rank all Peds first)
4. Do not remove sites from the pre-populated list. It does not keep you from going to a site you do not wish to be scheduled).
5. Recognize that it is very likely that students will receive assignments that are not their preference as everyone must be scheduled for all clerkships.

Special Scheduling Considerations

Deferring Rotations
Students may request or be required to defer a required third-year clerkship only for academic, medical, family or other significant personal reasons after approval from the appropriate Promotions Committee. Students may not defer any of the required 3rd-year clerkships in order to undertake rotations that are normally a part of the 4th-year curriculum.

Student options

• If a student does not meet the lottery deadline or rank clerkships, a schedule will be prepared using the students default lottery number for All Year assignment and then if no All Year placement, through the lottery process after all students have been scheduled.

It is recommended that you have a list of sites and a map in front of you while you rank your preferences in DOCSS. If you need further assistance, contact a staff member in the Office of Clinical Education to assist you after you have reviewed all of the instructions.

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Sample Courses

Clerkships each have a course number by site.

Example:

Pediatrics at Reading Hospital is PEDS 8015S 050

Pediatrics at Allegheny General Hospital is PEDS 8015S 020

The first 4 letters and 4 numbers designate the 3rd-year clerkship itself, the "S" designates a College of Medicine Semester course, and the last 3 digits define the site.

See the Clerkship Site Grid (PDF)

B. ENTERING YOUR DOCSS SCHEDULING PRIORITIES ON-LINE

Students must rank their list of course choices on-line. DOCSS can be accessed using common browsers. The staff in the Office of Clinical Education (Phone: 215-991-8360) will be available to help. The Drexel Help Desk, IT, Library staff, Student Affairs, etc. are not familiar with and do not assist with DOCSS. If you experience problems [DOCSS system is down], please notify 215-991-8360 rather than IT.

Entering your DOCSS Scheduling priorities on-line via the web

• You may reach the web site for the DOCSS by going to https://docss.med.drexel.edu
• Select Drexel Online Curriculum Scheduling System (DOCSS)
• Enter your user name and password
• User name:  Drexel ID
• Password: Drexel Password
• Then you must select the year (you will select 2026-2027 - You must be reflected as an "MS Phase 2")
• Additional instructions will be posted regarding grid selections (order of rotations)
• From the "Lottery Selections" Tab you may see everything that is available for ranking - on this screen there are instructions for modifying entries
• When you are done, you may print a copy, log out and or close your browser. There is no "final submit." All your entries are saved.
  

DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE

DEADLINE FOR LOTTERY GRIDS (Stage 1)
ARE DUE BY TBD

LOTTERY RANKING FOR CLERKSHIP SITES (Stage 2)
ARE DUE BY TBD

Ranking should take about 15 minutes for each Stage.

POST-LOTTERY SCHEDULING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES 

• Following the initial Lottery, there will be an "open" time for making trades and requesting available changes.
• Make requests for a change in time of year or site of clerkship directly to the Office of Clinical Education (clinicaleducation@drexel.edu). The office can make a change only if it is possible within department defined minimum and maximum numbers of students at each site and time.
• Each rotation at an institution must have the minimum number of students assigned in order to assure a quality educational experience. If an institution is at its minimum, changes cannot be made. There may be rare exceptions for true emergencies.
• Individual departments, not the Office of Clinical Education, assign students to hospital service teams. 
• Schedule changes require a minimum of 5-weeks' notice prior to the starting date of the third-year rotation.
• Students may make "Even trades" that do not alter the total number of students assigned to a particular location at a particular time; however, if a trade is requested where there are open slots (i.e., a trade is not required), the trade may be denied and only one of the students may be moved to fill an open slot if it is academically beneficial. Students must request and register "Even trades" in the Office of Clinical Education. Students may not receive academic credit for any trade not requested through or registered with the Office of Clinical Education. "Even trades" must be completed prior to the 5-week start date of a rotation.
• Trade and Schedule Change Forms are available on line for downloading/printing at schedchng3.pdf. There is no "on-line" add/drop.
• Emergency changes (any change requested within 5 weeks of the start of a rotation) are reserved for true emergencies and must be approved by the Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education. The latest an emergency add/drop request may be submitted for review is five (5) working days prior to the start of the rotation. The Office of Clinical Education will coordinate review.

The Office of Clinical Education and Clinical Departments reserve the right to change schedules at any time if there are circumstances beyond their control that would result in an inadequate educational experience for participating students.

The College reserves the right to make schedule changes based on academic performance.