Academic Calendars
The calendars on this page are the official calendars that students should follow.
All calendars are subject to change.
Subscribing to calendars via iPhone/Apple calendar app
To subscribe to calendars via iPhone/Apple calendar app, follow the below steps:
- Open settings, go to Passwords & Accounts
- Under Accounts: Click “Add Account”, Select “Other”, Add Subscribed Calendar
- Copy and Paste the iCal link into the “Server” field
- Enter in your BU email & password
After following the below instructions, the calendar should appear on the app.
Links to each calendar are provided below the embedded calendars under the corresponding academic year. Note that each course is a separate calendar and needs to be added individually to ensure you have all courses viewable on your application of choice.
ACADEMIC YEAR 2020-2021
Jump to: BUSM I | BUSM II | BUSM III | BUSM IV | 2021-2022
BUSM I
- First Day/White Coat Ceremony: Monday, August 3, 2020
- Thanksgiving Break: Saturday, November 21, 2020 – Monday, November 30, 2020
- Intercession: Tuesday, December 22, 2020 – Sunday, January 3, 2021
- Spring Break: Saturday, March 6, 2021 – Sunday, March 14, 2021
- Last Day of Courses: Friday, May 14, 2021
- Exam Remediation Dates:
- Thursday, May 27, 2021
- Thursday, June 10, 2021
- Wednesday, June 23, 2021
BUSM I 2020-2021 Block Dates 
iCal Links for BUSM I
- BUSM I: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/bu.edu_caenr5netiad0aa7nmcb4rim88%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
- PrISM: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/bu.edu_rbjckr6agnhk2tckbuppetohuc%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
- HBM: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/bu.edu_gmqmqvgnpd7c1h2b3k3jk0njcc%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
- EPH: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/bu.edu_cdcsl60adnl79nfhl46a0do0sg%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
- Doctoring 1: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/bu.edu_nuvb5u4igr5rl96in144kt1pls%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
BUSM II
- First Day of Curriculum: Monday, July 13, 2020
- Thanksgiving Break: Friday, November 20, 2020 – Monday, November 30, 2020
- Intercession: Saturday, December 19, 2020 – Sunday, January 3, 2021
- Spring Break: Saturday, February 13, 2021 – Sunday, February 21, 2021
- Last Day of Courses: Friday, March 26, 2021
- Intensive Study Period (ISP)/Step 1 Prep: Monday, March 29, 2021 – Friday, May 7, 2021
- MD Student Exam Remediation Dates:
- Monday, April 5, 2021
- Monday, April 12, 2021
- Tuesday, April 20, 2021
BUSM II 2020-2021 Block Dates 
iCal Links for BUSM II
- BUSM II: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/bu.edu_eaee1p4uprs30i9um3dhaucesk%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
- DRx: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/bu.edu_75ujpnps28l3t3dgvf3hclnup4%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
- Doctoring 2: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/bu.edu_psgbr904544hi3f2bd3h0hd5fs%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
BUSM III
Thanksgiving: Wednesday, November 25, 2020 at 12PM – Sunday, November 29, 2020
Intercession: Thursday, December 24, 2020 – Sunday, January 3, 2021
Spring Break: Saturday, March 15, 2021 – Sunday, March 21, 2021
Exam Remediation Dates: Friday, May 28, 2021 and Friday, June 11, 2021
BUSM III Block Schedule Overview 2020-2021 
BUSM III Detailed Block Schedule 2020-2021 – REVISED 
Holidays and Call Responsibilities* by Clerkship/Selective
Click Image to Enlarge Table
All Clerkships observe Thanksgiving Break and Intersession. All 3rd Year Clerkships observe spring break.
- Thanksgiving Break begins at noon the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, with students returning to their clinical duties on the Monday after Thanksgiving.
- Intercession begins after Thursday responsibilities (including assigned evening shift), with students returning to their clinical duties on the first weekday after January 1st (Unless January 1st is on Sunday, in which case January 2nd is an observed holiday). When December 24th falls on a Thursday, Intercession begins after Wednesday responsibilities.
- 3rd year spring break begins at 5pm Friday (or after assigned evening shift responsibilities), with students returning to their clinical duties on the Monday after spring break.
Emergency Medicine Selective
Students typically work morning, evening or overnight shifts. There are occasional weekend shifts. Students may trade shifts if their schedules allow them to do this without breaching work-hour or time-off between shifts limitations.
Family Medicine Clerkship
Students typically do not have clinical duties on the weekends, however some sites schedule students for an occasional weekend or evening clinical session (a clinical session is approximately 3.5-4 hours of scheduled patient care) based on the hours that the site is open for patient care (which you can check on your sites webpage linked from the FM clerkship website). When evening or weekend clinical sessions occurs, students will get time compensated back during the week, for an average of two clinical sessions per weekday, not including didactic days or any holidays that fall during the week. Most clinics will run longer than the scheduled patient hours, so you should anticipate approximately an extra hour of time after the scheduled clinical session ends. Your clinical schedule will be given to you when you arrive at your clinical site.
Geriatric Clerkship
The students schedules are Monday through Friday, with no nights and no weekends. Students are schedule for one session a day of 4-6 hours and are typically finished by 4 pm.
Medicine 1 Clerkship
Students observe the same weekdays on and off as the Internal Medicine residents in order to maintain the integrity of the Medicine ward team, and for students to gain experience functioning on an inter-professional team. Thus, students will work many Monday Holidays.
Students will work 1 weekend day during the 1st and 3rd weekend of their 4 week rotation block during the clerkship and will be excused by 5pm on the 4th Friday. Students will also be excused by 5 pm on the day prior to their reading during their X1 or X2 Clinical Medicine block.
Medicine 2 clerkship
Students are off when clinics are off at the students’ respective sites. All federal holidays are observed except for Patriot’s Day, Columbus Day, Veteran’s Day, Christmas Eve, and New Year’s Eve.
Neurology Clerkship
There is no overnight call at any site. Students will be scheduled for no more than 1 weekend of the block during the first 3 weeks of the block.
Ob/Gyn Clerkship
Students on the Ob/Gyn rotation will all rotate through inpatient gynecology, labor and delivery, and ambulatory clinics at all sites (Beverly students will do their ambulatory work at BMC; BMC/Lahey students will do their inpatient gynecology only at Lahey). These rotating sites of care allow some schedule flexibility and personalization. Schedules at all sites have enough flexibility that, if requested, students are able to get any specific weekend off and if needed, use one of the (two) personal days to extend to Friday or Monday. Time off should be requested as per BUSM’s Time Off and Personal Days Policies. You will receive an email from the clerkship 4-6wks before the rotation begins and will need to MAKE SURE to reply promptly with your requests. It is not necessary to email the clerkship earlier than that. Offsite students make their schedules after arriving to the clerkship.
Pediatric Clerkship
Student schedules are site and location dependent for holidays outside of Thanksgiving, Intercession, and Spring Break. Students should not anticipate that they will have other holidays (e.g. Monday holidays) or the associated weekends off.
Weekends & Shift Work: Sites may have occasional weekend shifts. This includes scheduled weekend coverage on the wards or weekend shifts in the Emergency Department. Students may trade their weekend ward shifts with other medical students on their ward team if need be due to schedule conflicts. Similarly, students may trade ED shifts if their schedules allow them to do this without breaching work-hour or time-off between shifts limitations. Students may not trade assigned primary care clinics without permission. Students may trade subspecialty sessions if there are no schedule conflicts, but must notify the attending they are to work with.
Evening and Overnight Responsibilities:
- Wards: BMC wards has day shift and evening shift schedules. Shifts transition at 3pm. There is no “call” on the pediatrics rotation. Other sites may have longer days to facilitate doing patient admissions – sometimes referred to colloquially as “call.” In rare circumstances, students at BMC may have night shifts on the wards.
- Emergency Department: In the ED student shifts are either morning or evening. Evening shifts typically end by 10pm. Students will frequently have weekend shifts in the ED.
- Ambulatory Clinic: In the ambulatory clinic students may be assigned to clinics in any of the three sessions: 8am-12pm, 1-5:30pm, or 5-8:30pm. The evening shifts are scheduled to “end” at 8:30pm, but typically run until 9pm. Students may have weekend shifts on the ambulatory rotation consisting of cross-cover in the ED or weekend urgent care sessions.
- Nursery: There are no evening responsibilities in the nursery and no weekend responsibilities.
Psychiatry Clerkship
Student schedules are site and location dependent for holidays outside of Thanksgiving, Intercession, and Spring Break. Students do not have weekend hours. Some sites have occasional evening hours.
Radiology Selective
Students take one 5-7pm evening shift during their radiology block. There is no overnight call or weekend responsibilities.
Surgery Clerkship
Students can generally expect to work an average of two weekend days per month, some of which will be overnight shifts seeing acute care surgery and trauma patients in the ER. There is generally flexibility in the weekend schedule so that students can plan to be away for major events as needed.
The Google Calendar will have class meetings, but not clerkship specific schedules. Students should refer to their clerkship materials for rotation specific schedules.
iCal Link for BUSM III
- BUSM III: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/bu.edu_4qa7u30d76a0ik1kj1lmh5bhfo%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
BUSM IV
Intercession: Thursday, December 24, 2020 – Sunday, January 3, 2021
Match Day: Friday, March 19, 2021
Commencement: Thursday, May 13, 2021
BUSM IV Block Schedule 2020-2021 
See the Holidays and Call Responsibilities by Clerkship/Selective for Observed Holidays and Didactic Days for the Geriatric Clerkship.
The Google Calendar will have class meetings, but not rotation-specific schedules. Students should refer to their clerkship/elective materials for rotation specific schedules.
iCal Link for BUSM IV
- BUSM IV: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/bu.edu_amova6s2d21vpo8k91a9l66bms%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
ACADEMIC YEAR 2021-2022
BUSM I
- First Day/White Coat Ceremony: Monday, August 2, 2021
- Thanksgiving Break: Saturday, November 20, 2021 – Monday, November 29, 2021
- Intercession: Tuesday, December 21, 2021 – Sunday, January 2, 2022
- Spring Break: Saturday, March 12, 2022 – Sunday, March 20, 2022
- Last Day of PrISM: Friday, May 27, 2022
- Exam Remediation Dates:
- Thursday, June 9, 2022
- Tuesday, June 21, 2022
- Friday, July 1, 2022
2021-2022 BUSM I Calendar 
BUSM II
- First Day of Curriculum: Monday, July 12, 2021
- Fall Break: Tuesday, August 31, 2021 – Monday, September 6, 2021
- Thanksgiving Break: Friday, November 19, 2021 – Monday, November 29, 2021
- Intercession: Saturday, December 18, 2021 – Sunday, January 2, 2022
- Last Day of DRx: Friday, March 11, 2022
- Intensive Study Period (ISP)/Step 1 Prep: Monday, March 14, 2022 – Friday, April 22, 2022
- MD Student Exam Remediation Dates:
- Monday, March 21, 2022
- Monday, March 28, 2022
- Tuesday, April 4, 2022
2021-2022 BUSM II Calendar 
BUSM III
Orientation: Monday, May 17, 2021 – Friday, May 21, 2021
Thanksgiving: Wednesday, November 24, 2021 at 12PM – Sunday, November 28, 2021
Intercession: Thursday, December 23, 2021 – Sunday, January 2, 2022
Spring Break: Saturday, March 5, 2022 – Sunday, March 13, 2022
BUSM III Block Schedule 2021-2022 
BUSM IV
Intercession: Friday, December 24, 2021 – Sunday, January 2, 2022
Commencement: Thursday, May 19, 2022
BUSM IV Block Schedule 2021-2022 