Home Sweet Home

Wake Forest University School of Medicine’s learning communities, also known as Houses, provide medical students with longitudinal support, mentoring and extracurricular activities that help aid in success.

These four Houses – which are comprised of the Blue, Green, Red and Yellow Houses – offer students a chance to have designated physical spaces where they can study, relax and foster professional development. The interior of these spaces are decked out in the residing Houses’ color; their student ID badges are also designated by color. Students remain with their Houses throughout the four years of medical school.

“In medical education, these learning communities and Houses play a crucial role in supporting students and fostering a sense of community. Houses promote collaboration, camaraderie, academic support among students and friendly competition.” - Dhruv Patel, second-year medical student and president of the Yellow House.

Each House is assigned 10 faculty mentors, one personal and professional development coach, one advanced career advisor and one academic advisor for its respective students. These mentors provide a continuous resource of support, opportunities for career exploration/guidance and pathways to academic success for students during their medical school journey. Medical students are randomly selected and sorted into the various Houses at the start of their first year of medical school; although staff does take into account where each student obtained their undergraduate degrees to hopefully provide students with opportunities to meet new classmates.

The individual Houses take on their own identity and even have their own crest and creed. The various Houses also vary by space and amenities – students are able to utilize other Houses’ amenities outside of their own. For instance, the Yellow House has a music room, complete with a piano and guitars, while the Blue House has a massage chair. Individual Houses also have a residing student president who acts as a liaison between school administrators and their respective Houses. In this role, the president’s work with their Houses on planning social events, maintaining appropriate supplies and facilitating repairs of items within the Houses. Interactive events such as the annual Field Day and the course-driven Blood and Gut Cups – friendly competitions that occur during educational blocks – are also broken up by Houses. Additionally, the medical school gala, and events such as holiday bake-offs and pumpkin carving contests, are determined by Houses.

“I feel that the Houses are important because they provide us students with some reprieve from the stress that is medical school. The Houses give us a place to gather, eat and be human with one another and allow us the space to take a step back from our academic/professional selves.” - Gianna Gambino, second-year medical student and president of the Blue House.

Houses are part of the Learning Communities Institute (LCI), a not-for-profit organization of institutions, learners, educators and administrators who work together to promote, enhance and evaluate the use of learning communities in medical education. Through collaboration among learning communities, the LCI seeks to improve healthcare education across the continuum of learning by fostering scholarship and the centrality of relationships among learners and teachers.

“Your house provides a support network where students can lean on each other during challenging times and have a close-knit group of peers that they see on a semi-often basis,” said Patel. “These supportive structures contribute to the overall success and satisfaction of medical students throughout their journey in medical school.”