Summary:
The Medical school of Ribeirão Preto of the University of São Paulo, since its beginning has been very much concerned about discussing and reevaluating the curricular structure of its graduation course, aiming at its refinement.
In this paper, the main official enterprises originating from that concern during the last ten years are presented, as well as the results which were gathered through different strategies.
A close analysis of this process as a whole leads us to the conclusion that the time and work invested in the attempt to study the Medical school curricular structure thoroughly and its eventual reshaping, were much too extensive in relation to the objective results which were obtained. In the authors opinion, the possible reasons for this outcome may have been the following: 1) a skeptical attitude of the school (teachers and students) toward the methodology and instruments which were used in this process; 2) a skeptical attitude of the school toward the real possibilities and/or necessities of reshaping its curricular structure; 3) a tendency to undervaluate the teaching-learning process within the general context of the university teaching activities; 4) an excess of autonomy of the individual Departments in proposing their teaching programs, and 5) an interaction of all of the above possibilities.