•  Currently, the Clinical Sciences Curriculum consists of 90 weeks of clinical clerkships: 48 weeks of Core Clerkships and 42 weeks of Elective Rotations.

• You will be scheduled for 48 weeks of Core Clerkship rotations at one of the track programs by the RUSM team. 

• You need to complete 42 weeks of Elective Rotations.

  • Of these 42 weeks of electives there must be: 

    • 10 weeks must be from ACGME Accredited programs. 

      • In general, this means that the rotation must have a residency or fellowship attached to it. However; there is a way that the program can be ACGME accredited through a sister site/program. It is common that this occurs so check with the clinical@rossu.edu if you have questions. 

    • 8 weeks must be an Internal Medicine-Related Electives.

      • Electives that fall in this category: Cardiology, Community Medicine, Critical Care, Dermatology, Emergency Medicine, Gastroenterology, Hematology/Oncology, Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine Elective, Internal Medicine Sub-I, Neurology, Nephrology, Palliative Medicine, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Pulmonology, Rheumatology, & Sports Medicine.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You can double dip in these required weeks! 

If you do 8 weeks of ACGME accredited elective rotations in the IM related electives you will satisfy 8 weeks of your ACGME requirement AND the entirety of your IM related elective requirement.  

RUSM repopulates the clinical elective scheduling portal system where students can submit requests for clerkships every year in June. Students in semester 10 are given initial priority and then access is given to subsequent semesters every two days, allowing 48 hours for each semester to submit clerkship requests. 

• • For example: Bobby is in semester 10 clinical clerkships as the portal opens. John is currently in semester 7. Debra is in semester 3. When the portal system opens; Bobby will be able to select and submit the choices he want before the portal system will open for John. So 48 hours after the system opens for Bobby, John will then be able to select his clerkship requests. Then, 48 hours after the system opens for John, Debra can now submit her request the clerkships she would like to schedule. 

    • If you are a new student starting clinical sciences early in the year, this unfortunately puts you at a disadvantage when scheduling clerkships for the following spring/summer. 

    • To find your current semester: go to My Ross and log in > After you log in click on "Student Services" > Click on "Clinical Department (find your clinical schedule here)"> Click on "RUSM Clinical Department"> Click on "Clinical Clerkships Scheduled"

In addition to the portal system; students can schedule rotations directly with affiliated hospitals. An application must be submitted to the hospital and accepted before you complete and submit the request through Ross. You can find a list of affiliated hospitals with Ross here.

• The request submitted through Ross is done through My Ross > After you log in click on "Student Services" > Click on "Clinical Department (find your clinical schedule here)"> Click on "RUSM Clinical Department"> Click on "Clinical Clerkship Request"> After you have verified the information is correct on this page click on "Confirm and Continue"> Click on "Request Affiliate Clerkship-Schedule with Hospital"

Non-Affiliated Clinical Clerkships

• You can also find and schedule your own clinical clerkship electives. This process takes a very long time as the school and the hospital must draft and accept affiliation agreements between each other. If you decide to go this route then make sure you start the process early! It can take months to get set up. 

Elective Scheduling Demo

Clinical core clerkships and elective clerkships are graded differently. Letter grades are assigned at the conclusion of each clerkship. The final grade for a clinical core clerkship is based on the Clinical Clerkship Assessment of Medical Student Performance (CCAMSP), NBME SCE, and the online curriculum content and weighted as follows: 

Clinical Core Clerkships: 

• • 65% of your grade comes from your evaluation from your preceptor. (CCAMSP)

  • 25% of your grade comes from the NBME shelf exam for the rotation. (SCE)

  • 10% of your grade comes from filling out all of your cases in Medtrics, completing your evaluations of the clerkship and the preceptor. 

• It is important to note that the grading system is percentages of a 4.00 grading scale. This means that the Clinical Clerkship Assessment of Medical Student Performance (CCAMSP) = 65% of a 4.00. The NBME Subject Clerkship Exam (SCE) = 25% of a 4.00. The online clinical curriculum = 10% of a 4.00. 

  • • The weight of the CCAMSP will not change, however, the actual GPA equivalent from points earned of the CCAMSP will be used instead of the letter grade value in the calculation of the overall score itself. 

    • Please be advised that the Online Clinical Curriculum includes the below components and failure to complete any one component for the Online Clinical Curriculum will result in 0% for that section. 

      • Required Essential Patient Encounters / Procedures (EPE/EPP) aka "patient logs"

        • Complete logging of  90% of EPE's and EPP's "patient logs".

• • • • Completion of evaluations of the preceptor and the program. 

• Students who fail their 1st attempt on the NBME SCE but pass their remediation exam will receive a grade of “C” for their exam. 

Elective Clerkships: 

• Your elective clerkship depends HEAVILY on your evaluation. 

  • 90% of your grade comes from the evaluation. 

  • 10% of your grade comes from filling out all of your cases in Metrics, completing your evaluations on the clerkship and the preceptor.

So what does all this really mean? 

The grade calculation is a weighted average calculation. In a weighted average, each component is given a different weight or importance in the overall score. The individual scores are multiplied by their respective weights and then summed to determine the overall grade. The following is an example of an actual core clerkship grade broken down from 2023: 

Core Clinical Evaluation
This represents 65% of the final grade, which means it's the most important of the three components. Students are evaluated in 10 different areas and assigned a letter grade (A-D) for each area. A standard GPA calculation of the 10 areas is used to calculate your GPA of your evaluation. That GPA is then used in calculation of your finale Grade. 

Example: A student score is 3.90 out of a possible 4.00 points. To determine the contribution of this component to the final grade, we need to take two steps:

•  First, find the proportion of the total possible points that the student scored. We do this by dividing the student's score by the total possible score, i.e., 3.90/4.00 = 0.975 or 97.5% when converted to percentage form.

•  Next, we need to consider the weighting. This score only counts for 65% of the final grade, so we multiply the percentage scored (97.5%) by the weight (65%). Remember to convert these percentages to decimals for the calculation, i.e., 0.975 * 0.65 = 0.63475.

• Finally, to convert this to the 4.0 grading scale, we multiply by 4.0, i.e., 0.63475 * 4 = 2.54. 

  • The Core Clinical Evaluation contributes approximately 2.54 quality points to the final grade.

Subject Clerkship Exam
This component is weighted 25% of the final grade. The grade scale for this component is slightly different. Your NBME exam is scored as a percentage. This percentage is then graded on a curve, which varies depending on subject, for your RUSM grade. For example, scoring a 70% on an NBME subject clerkship exam will generally correlate to an A for this part of the grading system. 

In our example, the student has scored a 60% on the NBME exam which corresponds to a C, which is considered as 2.0 on a 4.0 scale.

• The student's grade here is equivalent to 50% of the total possible score (since 2.0 is half of 4.0).

• To determine the contribution to the final grade, we multiply this percentage (50%) by the weight of this component (25%), i.e., 0.50 * 0.25 = 0.125.

• Then, we convert this to the 4.0 grading scale by multiplying by 4.0, i.e., 0.125 * 4 = 0.5. 

  • The Subject Clerkship Exam contributes approximately 0.5 to the final grade.

Online Clinical Curriculum
The Online Clinical Curriculum makes up 10% of the final grade, operating on an "all or nothing" basis 

In our example: 

• The student completed the requirements and received the credit which is equivalent to 4.0, or a 100%.  

• As the student scores 100%, which is 4.0 out of 4.0, this contributes 4.0 * 10% = 0.4 to the final grade. 

  • Thus, the Online Clinical Curriculum contributes 0.4 quality points to the final grade.

Final Grade Calculation

To get the total grade, we add up the contributions from each component:

• 2.54 (Core Clinical Evaluation) + 0.5 (Subject Clerkship Exam) + 0.40 (Online Clinical Curriculum) = 3.44

• Both the final grade and evaluations are graded using the scale below. 

A= 3.51 - 4.00

B+= 3.01 - 3.50

B= 2.51 - 3.00

C+= 2.01 - 2.50

C= 1.51 - 2.00

F= 0.00 - 1.50

So, to break it down simply.... if you get a C on the NBME exam, you cannot get a A for the rotation. It's built into the math to prevent anyone from doing so. However, if you can get a B on the exam, you're almost guaranteed an A for the rotation, as long as your evaluation has gone well. I would say that students "usually" an A or B on their evaluations. 

Click on the link below to download a copy of a grade calculator. 

Grade Calculator Download

Grade calculator created by: Keeya Dezfoli

The AAMC Visiting Student Learning Opportunities™ (VSLO®) program enables medical and public health students to pursue short-term learning opportunities in locations away from their Home institutions. As of April 2025, RUSM is not affiliated with VSLO, and RUSM students cannot use VSLO to schedule away rotations. RUSM leadership continue to follow up with AAMC regarding VSLO participation but international schools have been denied from participating in this service. Students should utilize the official Elective Guide for clerkships and follow RUSM policies regarding participation in away rotations.