USMLE & COMLEX Tutor in Hershey

Hershey is a one-school town: Penn State University College of Medicine, founded in 1967, is state-related and grants the MD (school list). LCME has accredited it since 1967, and its next full survey is due in 2027-28 (LCME).

The 2025-26 entering class came out of 14,288 applications for 150 first-year places, and 43.3% of it came from Pennsylvania (AAMC FACTS). Students rotate through Milton S. Hershey Medical Center on University Drive, the only Hershey hospital on the CMS teaching hospital list. Four more teaching hospitals sit in the Hershey ZIP region, in Camp Hill, Lewistown, Lebanon and Hummelstown (CMS teaching hospital list).

Facts about Hershey

Accreditation: LCME directory; applications, places and in-state share: AAMC FACTS, Table A-1.

ABIM internal medicine certification exam by residency program: ABIM residency program pass rates; ABIM says to read rates from under 25 takers with caution.

• Penn State College of Medicine ends Phase I, its Foundations curriculum, with a dedicated study period for USMLE Step 1; core clerkships then begin in March of Year 2, after a two-week Transition to Clerkships course. (Penn State College of Medicine)
• Penn State's Phase II clerkships are taught in eight-week blocks, from March of Year 2 through March of Year 3, and every student completes the same eight core clerkships, an elective and a humanities course. (Penn State College of Medicine)
• After Phase II, Penn State students can select a four-week dedicated study period for USMLE Step 2 CK, and they take Step 2 CK in the earlier part of Year 4. (Penn State College of Medicine)
• Penn State's fourth year includes two acting internships, one of them in critical care or emergency medicine, a humanities selective and 24 weeks of electives, at least 12 of them at Penn State Health or College of Medicine affiliates. (Penn State College of Medicine)

Sources: LCME, directory of accredited U.S. programs (checked October 29, 2026); AAMC FACTS, Table A-1, 2025-2026 (checked October 29, 2026); Penn State College of Medicine, MD Program Curriculum (checked November 1, 2026); ABIM, residency program pass rates 2023-2025 (checked October 29, 2026).

Penn State starts clerkships in March of the second year

Penn State runs on an early calendar. Phase I, the Foundations curriculum, closes with a dedicated study period for USMLE Step 1, and core clerkships begin in March of Year 2, right after a two-week Transition to Clerkships course (Penn State curriculum). A Hershey student sits Step 1 roughly a year and a half into medical school, not after two full years of classroom work.

That leaves a short runway. The second-year organ-system courses run from August to December, the Phase I OSCE falls in December, and the dedicated period sits between those and the March start of clerkships. We build Step 1 preparation backward from that date: a steady question-bank habit during the fall courses, a first NBME self-assessment before the dedicated weeks open, and a week-by-week plan for what is left.

Step 1 has been reported pass/fail since January 26, 2022 (USMLE), so the aim is a comfortable pass on the first try. In a calendar this tight a retake would have to be fitted around clerkships that have already started, which is why we look for a safe margin on practice exams before the test date rather than after it.

Eight-week blocks, then a four-week window for Step 2 CK

Phase II is taught in eight-week blocks from March of Year 2 through March of Year 3, and every student completes the same eight core clerkships, an elective and a humanities course (Penn State curriculum). Where a clerkship ends with an NBME subject exam, the next one arrives about two months later, so the year rewards a short review routine that restarts with each block instead of one long cram.

Once Phase II is done, students can select a four-week dedicated study period for Step 2 CK, and the school places the exam in the earlier part of Year 4 (Penn State curriculum). Because the clerkship year finishes in March, a Hershey student can sit the scored exam with every core rotation still recent, and we use the shelf scores from those blocks to decide how much of the four weeks goes to each discipline.

Year 4 then holds two acting internships, one of them in critical care or emergency medicine, a humanities selective and 24 weeks of electives, at least 12 of them at Penn State Health or its affiliates (Penn State curriculum). We help students pick a Step 2 CK date that does not land on top of an acting internship or an away rotation.

Medical school in Hershey

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

Teaching hospitals in Hershey

On the CMS teaching hospital list (October 2026):

• Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, 500 University Drive, Hershey, PA 17033

Other teaching hospitals near Hershey

The same CMS list has four more teaching hospitals in the Hershey ZIP region, useful for electives and away rotations: Holy Spirit Hospital (Camp Hill); Geisinger Lewistown Hospital (Lewistown); The Good Samaritan Hospital (Lebanon); Penn State Hershey Rehabilitation LLC (Hummelstown).

The exams Hershey students take, in order

Penn State's college grants the MD, and the school table lists no DO school in Hershey, so the series here is the USMLE: Step 1 at the end of Phase I, before clerkships start in March of Year 2; Step 2 CK after the clerkship year, in the earlier part of Year 4; and Step 3 during residency (Penn State curriculum). Clerkship subject exams fall in between; our shelf exam page covers each one.

Internal medicine residents at the Hershey Medical Center later sit the ABIM certification exam. In 2023-2025, 87% of 69 first-time takers from the Penn State Milton S Hershey Medical Center program passed it (ABIM).

Pennsylvania board rules for Hershey graduates

A Hershey graduate who stays in Pennsylvania answers to Pennsylvania's medical board, which lists 4 attempts at each Step: the same ceiling the USMLE program sets, so the state adds nothing tighter (FSMB, summary checked October 2026; USMLE eligibility rules). One limit per Step is all a Hershey student has to track; the full Pennsylvania rules and every school in the state are on our Pennsylvania page.

How much Hershey searches for board prep

Hershey has one medical school and one CMS-listed teaching hospital in town, and still ranks 3rd among US cities for “USMLE” searches, with a score of 73 of 100 (Google Trends, five years to October 2026). Scores are relative, not counts of students.

• “USMLE”: number 3 among US cities, score 73 of 100