Advice to Medical Students Studying Neurology
In most medical schools, students learn about the anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, and pathology of the nervous system during the preclinical portion of the curriculum (Year 1–2), and about the diagnosis and treatment of patients with neurological diseases during the clinical portion (Year 3–4).

Some schools cover neuroanatomy in a general anatomy course, neurophysiology in a general physiology course, and so forth, whereas many schools have a neuroscience course or sequence that covers all these topics.

Most schools have a required neurology clerkship in the third or fourth year, but in some schools neurology is instead offered as an elective. Most neurology clerkships last four weeks, but some last two or three weeks, and a few last longer than four weeks. In some schools, clinical training in neurology is combined with training in one or more related clinical specialties (e.g., psychiatry, neurosurgery) in a longer clerkship. In some schools, the pre-clinical neuroscience curriculum and clinical neurology clerkship are organized and taught by the same faculty; in other schools, they are independent of each other.

Regardless of your ultimate career path, you are likely to encounter patients with neurological problems, and you will need to know at least some basic principles of evaluation and management, if for no other reason than to recognize true emergencies. For many of you, your neurology clerkship will be your only sustained experience taking care of patients with neurological problems. In any case, it will be your first such experience. Below are five tips for making the most of the clerkship:
Preclinical Years
Clinical Years
Advice For Students Who Do Not Have a Required Clerkship in Neurology
Advice For Students Searching For Advanced Training in Neurology
After Your Clerkship