Dartmouth Precollege Online Program — Medicine: Solving Patient Cases Like a Physician
Discover how physicians connect the clues behind tricky medical cases. Guided by Dartmouth faculty, analyze how doctors evaluate patient histories, physical exams, and targeted tests across body systems to reach a diagnosis. Develop clinical problem-solving skills, explore modern healthcare innovations, and decide if a career in medicine is right for you.
Program Dates
Choose the course length that works for you:
2-week and 4-week sessions
Eligibility
For students ages 13 and up
Individual Course Fees
$1,895
Learn How Doctors Turn Symptoms Into Care
From One Symptom to Many Suspects
Understand how doctors reason like detectives, starting broad with every condition that could explain a symptom. Study how that differential diagnosis narrows to one definitive diagnosis as disease patterns and clues emerge.
The Questions That Crack the Case
Learn how doctors earn trust while asking purposeful questions about timing and severity. Recognize why a patient’s work, habits, and family history matter beyond the symptom itself.
Same Symptoms, Different Systems
Explore why problems in the heart, lungs, brain, or gut can produce the same symptoms. Uncover why a single hormone disorder, like diabetes, can ripple through several systems at once.
Which Test Answers Which Question?
Discover why the right test depends on the question a doctor needs answered. Trace how blood work, scans, and tissue samples make each possible diagnosis more or less likely.
Obvious Diagnoses Aren’t Always Right
Identify how diagnostic bias pulls doctors toward the first plausible answer. Examine why a stroke can look like depression, and a bowel obstruction like constipation.
Treatment Choices and Tomorrow’s Technology
See when medication is enough and when a patient needs a procedure or surgery. Survey the technology reshaping medicine, from remote heart monitoring to AI that helps document visits.
How You Will Benefit
- Develop clinical reasoning skills by working through patient cases that trace complex symptoms across the heart, lungs, brain, digestive system, and hormones.
- Practice how physicians talk with patients, ask the right questions, and build trust to uncover the full story behind symptoms.
- Learn when to use key diagnostic tests, including blood tests, EKGs, and medical imaging, to narrow down a diagnosis.
- Explore medicine and health care careers while learning from Dartmouth faculty and getting mentor guidance along the way.
- Complete a Final Capstone Project to demonstrate what you’ve learned.
- Earn a Certificate of Completion from Dartmouth.
Three Learning Advantages Designed for You
Final Capstone Project
This course concludes with a final capstone project where you can:
- Build a Differential Diagnosis: Analyze a patient’s symptoms, history, physical exam findings, and test results to develop and refine competing diagnoses across body systems.
- Select Diagnostic Tests: Choose blood tests, imaging, and follow-up questions that distinguish among conditions, then identify the most likely diagnosis using clinical reasoning.
- Communicate Your Conclusions: Reflect on diagnostic bias, outline next steps for patient care, and present your findings.
Mentoring
Gain support from an expert mentor who’ll help answer questions and enrich your experience. Here’s what to expect:
- Expertise in the field of Medicine.
- Encouragement and direction on all assignments.
- Inspiration, motivation and confidence to help you succeed.
- Brainstorming to help you prepare for your final capstone project.
Flexible Learning
- 100% online learning that works with your schedule.
- Enjoy flexible, engaging video lessons that you can watch whenever it’s convenient for you.
- Multiple courses can be taken to maximize your learning experience.
- 20 to 30 hours of total instruction and activities per course, including multimedia, simulations, and curated assignments for which you will receive guidance and support from mentors.
Apply Now for the Next Available Course
Course Designed by Dartmouth Instructors
Matthew B. Mackwood, MD, MPH
Associate Professor and Physician, Geisel School of Medicine
In addition to his associate professor roles, Dr. Matthew B. Mackwood is a board-certified family medicine physician at Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics, specializing in adult and pediatric primary care. He brings extensive expertise in integrated care models and healthcare innovation. He has published research on the health of primary care in the United States, and the role of telehealth in supporting access to health care. His knowledge is grounded in nearly a decade of education at Dartmouth, where he earned a BA in Neuroscience, a Master of Public Health, and an MD. His high level of clinical knowledge and contributions to the field earned him recognition as a "Top Doctor" for his outstanding work.
How To Apply:
It’s easy. No transcripts or letters of recommendation are required. Just provide some basic information and tell us why you wish to take this program.
Note: Please submit all application materials in English.
Begin the guided application process. It should take only a few minutes of your time to answer the questions.
Want to Know More?
Sign up for more information and we’ll be in touch.
Admissions
Our application process is easy. You can expect a prompt decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
How will you be graded? What are assignments like? When do you find out if you're admitted? Find answers to your questions here.
Scholarships
We offer need-based scholarships for participating students who exhibit high potential and an inability to pay the full tuition.
- If you haven’t applied to the program, apply here. After submitting your application, click “Apply for a need-based scholarship” on the confirmation page to request a scholarship.
- If you’ve already applied to the program, sign in to your profile to check your scholarship status. If you don't have a scholarship request on file, click “Apply for a need-based scholarship” to request a scholarship.
