USMLE & COMLEX Tutor in North Dakota

North Dakota has one medical school, the public University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Grand Forks, founded in 1905 (school list) and accredited by LCME since before 1942 (LCME). It also teaches in Bismarck, Fargo and Minot (school list).

In 2025-26 it had 1,864 applications for 75 first-year places, and 64% of the entering class came from North Dakota (AAMC FACTS). Clerkships run through five teaching hospitals on the CMS list, two in Bismarck and one each in Minot, Fargo and Grand Forks, the same four cities as the school's sites (CMS list, school list). North Dakota's own residency programs offered 67 positions in the 2025 Main Residency Match, 29 of them in family medicine (NRMP).

Medical schools in North Dakota

Several of these schools teach students at more than one site: University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences also lists Bismarck, North Dakota, Fargo, North Dakota, Minot, North Dakota.

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

Teaching hospitals in North Dakota by city

• Bismarck: St. Alexius Medical Center; Sanford Bismarck
• Minot: Trinity Hospitals/St. Joes
• Fargo: Sanford Medical Center - Fargo
• Grand Forks: Altru Health System-Altru Hospital

Facts about North Dakota

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

• UND's MD runs in three phases: 20 months of academic courses in Grand Forks, 14 months of clerkships in Grand Forks, Fargo, Bismarck, Minot or rural North Dakota sites, and 12.5 months of electives and acting internships. (UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences)
• UND's Phase 3 holds 28 weeks of electives and acting internships, one UND-based acting internship, and a Step 2 prep course before Step 2. (UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences)
• UND students take and must pass USMLE Step 1 during Phase 2, the clerkship phase, which also holds a four-week Step 1 preparation course, two 2-week electives and a clinical epidemiology course. (UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences)
• Phase 2 clerkships come in three formats: eight weeks each of family medicine, internal medicine, ob-gyn and surgery, six of pediatrics and psychiatry and four of neurology; ROME, 20-28 weeks in a rural primary care setting; or MILE, a 44-week integrated experience in Minot. (UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences)
• Devils Lake has been a ROME site since 1998 and has trained 36 students; four of the eight full-time physicians at Altru Clinic in Devils Lake did their ROME rotation there. (UND Center for Rural Health)
• RuralMed, a state-sponsored program, pays a UND medical student's tuition in return for five calendar years of full-time practice in rural North Dakota, starting within six months of residency. (UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences)
• UND's Indians Into Medicine (INMED) program reports 283 American Indian medical doctors produced since 1973. (UND)
• In the 2025 Main Residency Match, programs in North Dakota offered 67 residency positions in 8 specialties, the most in family medicine (29), surgery (9), and internal medicine (8). (NRMP)
• St. Alexius Medical Center in Bismarck, Trinity Hospitals/St. Joes in Minot, Sanford Medical Center - Fargo in Fargo, Sanford Bismarck in Bismarck, and Altru Health System-Altru Hospital in Grand Forks are on the CMS teaching hospital list for North Dakota. (CMS Open Payments)

Sources: LCME, directory of accredited U.S. programs (checked October 29, 2026); AAMC FACTS, Table A-1, 2025-2026 (checked October 29, 2026); UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Medical School Curriculum (checked November 1, 2026); UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Phase 2 (checked November 1, 2026); UND Center for Rural Health, The Doctors that ROME Built (2024) (checked November 1, 2026); UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences, RuralMed Program (checked November 1, 2026); UND, Indians Into Medicine (INMED) (checked November 1, 2026); NRMP, 2025 Main Residency Match by state and specialty (checked October 29, 2026); CMS Open Payments, teaching hospital list (checked October 22, 2026).

At UND, Step 1 sits inside the clerkship phase

UND does not send students to Step 1 straight out of the classroom. Phase 1 is 20 months of academic courses in Grand Forks; Step 1, with a four-week preparation course, belongs to Phase 2, the 14 months of clerkships spent in Grand Forks, Fargo, Bismarck, Minot or a rural North Dakota site (UND curriculum; UND Phase 2). Passing it is a Phase 2 requirement, alongside two 2-week electives, a clinical epidemiology course and an end-of-year clinical skills review.

That changes what a UND student needs from a tutor. The shelf exams at the end of family medicine, internal medicine, ob-gyn, surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry and neurology arrive in the same year as Step 1, so the two plans have to be one plan. We build question-bank work around the clerkship you are on, pull the pharmacology, pathology and physiology that Step 1 still asks for out of each rotation's patients, and save the four-week course for consolidation rather than first exposure.

Step 2 follows in Phase 3, 12.5 months that hold 28 weeks of electives and acting internships, one acting internship based at UND and a Step 2 prep course (UND curriculum). Because Step 1 has been pass/fail since January 26, 2022, the Step 2 CK score is the number residency programs compare, and for UND students it lands late, after the clerkship grades are in (USMLE).

ROME, MILE or a home campus: how the track shapes study time

Phase 2 comes in three shapes. The traditional route runs eight-week clerkships in family medicine, internal medicine, ob-gyn and surgery, six-week clerkships in pediatrics and psychiatry, and four weeks of neurology at one home campus. ROME (Rural Opportunities in Medical Education) puts a student in a rural primary care setting for 20-28 weeks and finishes the other clerkships at an urban campus. MILE, the Minot Integrated Longitudinal Experience, folds all seven disciplines and a 4-week rural family medicine rotation into one 44-week experience (UND Phase 2).

Each shape moves the shelf exams. A traditional student sits them one block at a time; a ROME or MILE student carries several disciplines at once and meets more of the exams close together. For longitudinal students we set a weekly mix of questions across every discipline still open, so no shelf is crammed in its last fortnight, and we keep Step 1 review running underneath.

ROME is small and rooted in its towns. UND's Center for Rural Health reports that Devils Lake has hosted ROME students since 1998, 36 in all, and that four of the eight full-time physicians at Altru Clinic there did their ROME rotation in Devils Lake (ROME report). Students who want to practice rural can also apply for RuralMed, which pays tuition in return for five calendar years of full-time rural North Dakota practice after residency (RuralMed).

Which board exams North Dakota students take

UND grants the MD, so its students take the USMLE: Step 1 during the Phase 2 clerkships, Step 2 CK in Phase 3, and Step 3 in residency. The shelf exams that close each clerkship come in the same phase as Step 1.

The state's list shows no DO school. DO students from other states who rotate in North Dakota hospitals sit COMLEX-USA instead, and FSMB's North Dakota entry counts COMLEX Levels the same way it counts USMLE Steps, 3 attempts at each (FSMB). UND's Indians Into Medicine program reports 283 American Indian physicians since 1973, which puts many of the state's own graduates on the USMLE route (INMED).

North Dakota licensing rules that affect your exam plan

North Dakota's entry in FSMB's licensing summary has three lines: 1 year of training before a first license (30 months of ACGME-accredited training for international medical graduates), 3 attempts at each USMLE Step or COMLEX Level, and no time limit on either exam series (FSMB). The table below gives each line in FSMB's own words.

Source: FSMB state licensure requirements, checked October 2026; confirm with the board before relying on them.

What North Dakota's rules mean for how you study

• Three tries, not four. North Dakota's board stops at 3 attempts per Step or Level, below the USMLE program's own cap, so a UND student who fails Step 1 mid-clerkship has two sittings left for a North Dakota license, not three (FSMB, USMLE eligibility rules). Our guide for students who did not pass covers the retake plan.
• There is no state clock on finishing the exams, so a research year or leave does not cost you here, though the state where you train later may count time differently (FSMB).
• International graduates need 30 months of ACGME-accredited training before a first North Dakota license, against 1 year for US graduates, so an IMG choosing a preliminary year should check how it counts (FSMB).

Many North Dakota students rotate, interview or match next door. North Dakota's neighbors on our list: Minnesota (2 MD, 0 DO), Montana (0 MD, 1 DO), South Dakota (1 MD, 0 DO).

How much North Dakota searches for board prep

Google Trends ranks the 50 states and DC by share of searches. North Dakota's best showing is “Shelf exam” at 16th of 51, which fits a school that puts Step 1 inside the clerkship year. Its exam-series terms sit much lower: 40th for “USMLE”, 41st for “USMLE Step 1”, 46th for “USMLE Step 2” and 47th for “COMLEX” (Google Trends, five years to October 2026).

Source: Google Trends, United States, past 5 years, retrieved October 2026; ranks show relative interest, not student numbers.