USMLE & COMLEX Tutor in Erie

Erie has one medical school, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), a private DO college founded in 1992 (school list). Erie is LECOM's original and largest campus, and it is really three: the 53-acre Main/West campus on West Grandview Boulevard, LECOM Bayfront on the Lake Erie shore, and the 28-acre LECOM Education Center with its simulation center (LECOM Erie).

Erie's three teaching hospitals on the CMS list are Saint Vincent Hospital, UPMC Hamot and Millcreek Community Hospital (CMS teaching hospital list). LECOM also runs its own clinical wing in town, the LECOM Medical Center and Behavioral Health Pavilion, so a student can go from the DO to residency without leaving Erie (LECOM Erie).

Facts about Erie

• Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine's Erie campus, whose figures include its Seton Hill and Elmira locations, had a 95.46% first-time pass rate on COMLEX Level 1 in 2024-25, against 90.25% nationally. (LECOM)
• LECOM Erie's first-time pass rate on COMLEX Level 2-CE was 92.79% in 2024-25, against 91.33% nationally. (LECOM)
• LECOM Erie graduates passed COMLEX Level 3 at 98.26% on the first attempt in 2024, against 96.81% nationally. (LECOM)
• LECOM Erie, the college's original and largest campus, spans three settings: the 53-acre Main/West campus on West Grandview Boulevard, LECOM Bayfront with small-group rooms for Problem-Based Learning students, and the 28-acre LECOM Education Center with its simulation center. (Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine)
• LECOM's Primary Care Scholars complete the first two years of basic science and preclinical education in under 20 months by attending class year-round, and graduate from the Erie campus with the DO in three years. (Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine)
• LECOM confers the DO at five campuses, and Erie is the one that offers the Lecture-Discussion, Problem-Based Learning, Directed Study and Primary Care Scholars pathways; Greensburg offers PBL and an accelerated pathway for physician assistants, and Bradenton, Jacksonville and Elmira teach only PBL. (Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine)
• In LECOM's Problem-Based Learning pathway, groups of eight to ten students meet a faculty facilitator three times per week and work through patient cases from history to differential diagnosis. (Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine)
• LECOM students take COMLEX Level 1 after their second year and Level 2 after their third year; Level 3 comes after graduation, during residency. (LECOM)
• LECOM Erie's first-time COMLEX Level 1 pass rate beat the national rate in each of the four cycles from 2021-22 to 2024-25: 92.4%, 95.0%, 96.95% and 95.46%, against 92.2%, 90.6%, 93.05% and 90.25%. (LECOM)

Sources: LECOM, COMLEX pass and graduation match rates (checked November 1, 2026); Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, College of Osteopathic Medicine Erie, PA (checked November 1, 2026); Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, COM Program (checked November 1, 2026).

Four ways through the first two years

LECOM confers the DO at five campuses, and Erie is the one where a student chooses between four learning pathways: the Lecture-Discussion Pathway, Problem-Based Learning, the Directed Study Pathway and the three-year Primary Care Scholars Pathway. Greensburg offers PBL and an accelerated pathway for physician assistants; Bradenton, Jacksonville and Elmira teach only PBL (LECOM COM program).

Each pathway changes how COMLEX Level 1 prep fits in. Lecture-Discussion students have a structured, teacher-directed day, so we use the gaps around lectures and build question practice onto the systems they are covering that week. PBL groups of eight to ten students meet a facilitator three times a week and work cases from history to differential diagnosis, which already looks like a board vignette; with them we concentrate on the recall facts a case discussion skips. Directed Study students learn from structured objective modules against strict exam deadlines, so our sessions keep a weekly schedule they can hold themselves to (LECOM COM program).

The three-year Primary Care Scholars route

LECOM started the Primary Care Scholars Pathway to train more primary care physicians, particularly in family medicine. Scholars finish the first two years of basic science and preclinical education in under 20 months by attending class year-round, using the Directed Study approach, and graduate from the Erie campus with the DO in three years (LECOM COM program).

That compresses the board calendar too. With no long summer break before Level 1 and early clinical training right after it, a Primary Care Scholar has less slack for a dedicated study block, so we start Level 1 review earlier, inside the preclinical months, and plan Level 2-CE around the shortened clinical year.

LECOM's COMLEX calendar and record

LECOM students take COMLEX Level 1 after the second year and Level 2 after the third; Level 3 comes after graduation, during residency, when each residency program sets its own requirements and may set the date (LECOM). LECOM's clinical clerkship manual adds a passing Level 1 as a condition for continuing clinical rotations (LECOM Clinical Clerkship Manual, section 2.2.2).

On Level 1, the Erie campus has beaten the national first-time pass rate in each of the four cycles LECOM publishes, 2021-22 to 2024-25: 92.4%, 95.0%, 96.95% and 95.46%, against 92.2%, 90.6%, 93.05% and 90.25% nationally (LECOM). LECOM notes that its Erie figures include the Seton Hill and Elmira locations.

Medical school in Erie

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine lists 4,444 students on Wikipedia.

School list: LCME and COCA lists, via the list of medical schools in the United States, checked October 2026.

Teaching hospitals in Erie

On the CMS teaching hospital list (October 2026):

• Saint Vincent Hospital, 232 West 25th Street, Erie, PA 16544
• UPMC Hamot, 201 State Street, Erie, PA 16550
• Millcreek Community Hospital, 5515 Peach Street, Erie, PA 16509

When Erie students must take the boards

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine states: “Students must obtain a passing grade on the COMLEX Level 1 examination to be permitted to continue clinical rotations.” (LECOM 2025-2026 Clinical Clerkship Manual, section 2.2.2, 2025-2026).

The exams Erie students take, in order

LECOM grants the DO, so the licensing series is COMLEX-USA. Level 1 at the end of second year is the gate to the clinical years; many Erie students also sit USMLE Step 1 for residency programs that compare DO and MD applicants.

Rotations at Saint Vincent, UPMC Hamot and the other teaching sites end in NBME shelf exams, and COMLEX Level 2-CE follows the third year; the Erie campus had a 92.79% first-time pass rate on it in 2024-25, against 91.33% nationally (LECOM). Our Level 2 vs Step 2 CK guide helps decide whether to add the USMLE version.

COMLEX Level 3 is a residency exam; LECOM Erie graduates passed it at 98.26% on the first attempt in 2024, against 96.81% nationally (LECOM).

Pennsylvania board rules for Erie graduates

Pennsylvania licenses DOs through its own osteopathic board, and FSMB lists that board with no limit on COMLEX attempts or on the time taken to finish the series (FSMB, summary checked October 2026). For an Erie graduate who stays in the state, the practical limit is the exam program's, not the board's.

A LECOM student who adds a USMLE Step meets Pennsylvania's medical board rule of 4 attempts at each Step, the same number the USMLE program itself allows (FSMB; USMLE eligibility rules). Every Pennsylvania school and both boards' wording are on our Pennsylvania page.

How much Erie searches for board prep

Erie ranks in the top six US metro areas on all three board-prep searches Google Trends measured: 2nd for COMLEX Level 2 (score 53 of 100), 3rd for the shelf exam (score 75) and 6th for USMLE (score 72) (retrieved October 2026). The best rank belongs to a COMLEX exam, which fits a city whose only medical school is osteopathic. Scores are relative, not counts of students.

• “Shelf exam”: number 3 among US metro areas, score 75 of 100
• “USMLE”: number 6 among US metro areas, score 72 of 100
• “COMLEX Level 2”: number 2 among US metro areas, score 53 of 100