The aim of this investigation was to characterize the parallel curriculum of third-year medical students of the Federal University of Alagoas by using a self-applied questionnaire, which was answered by 63 students. The data obtained showed that the greater part of students (98.41%) had developed some kind of extra-curricular activity. 45.59% of these activities had been carried out during a six month's period and occupied more than six hours a week. The reasons that most frequently motivated these activities were getting practice at medical activities (36.27%) and acquiring new knowledge (30,39%). 98.39% of the students had opted for training periods to which they were admitted by public competition (52%) or admission tests (36%). It is concluded that in the third year of the Medical course students are still not qualified for the different services and the extra-curricular training periods many times hamper their academic performance. It is thus responsibility of the University to guide the students, show them the right moment to start such activities and to offer support to these initiatives
Curriculum; Education, Medical, Undergraduate; Students, Medical
