And Armstrong says, "Questions on part one [of the Medical Board Examinations] have put basic science issues into a clinical context. They are more in keeping with our method in that they are more posed in a clinical context."

She adds that studies performed on the scores of students in the New Pathway have not been published yet, but that "the level of preparation should not be different."

Early on, some faculty members feared that the program would require an inordinate number of professors and that tutors would have to spend too much time in the classroom, Armstrong says. In response to these problems, Medical School Dean Daniel C. Tosteson '44 promised a "clinician educator track," she says, which would reward professors who choose to invest large amounts of time teaching.

Students Enthusiastic

Students in the New Pathway say that overall, the program prepares them well for future medical careers, although the approach may not be ideal for everyone.

"In general, students like [the New Pathway]. You have to be more prepared and more consistent," says Student Council Chair Rushika J. Fernandopulle '89. "Personally, it's the only way for me to learn medicine. It makes sense. I love it."

He cites the pass-fail grading of all classes as a benefit of the system, but says that students still prepare because the small tutorials make evasion difficult. The reliance on essays rather than multiple choice testing is also a positive asset, he says.

However, Fernandopulle adds, "I don't think it's for everyone. A lot depends on the educational mission of the school."

Paul W. Winterton, a second year medical student, says, "the emphasis on self-studying is helpful for the future." And students preparing for the boards can learn in review courses the basic science that the New Pathway does not stress. "The tutorials are better than just basics."

"I don't really have any criticisms, as long as the program is in continuous evolution," he says.

Nationwide Response

While most members of the Harvard community have reacted favorably to the New Pathway, educators at other institutions are not as quick to praise what they say is Harvard's not-so-new pathway.

"The program makes eminent sense," says Emilie H.S. Osborn '69, associate dean for student and academic affairs at the University of California at San Diego Medical School. "The problem is that all of the New Pathway is not quite new. Most medical schools have cut back on lecture learning." For example, she says the University of New Mexico employs more community-oriented learning.

"We have a lot of small group learning. [Harvard's initiation of the system] has made it mainstream. Their program is not more radical," Osborn says. "What I've seen is that there's quite a lot of getting away from teacher-driven education."

Administrators at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York say they are interested in the curriculum, but are not sure that their school will adopt it.