A survey was conducted among 250 graduates of the Bobigny School of Medicine (University Paris-Nord) who had completed medical school from 1986 to 1989 in order to ascertain their opinion concerning the training received. Ninety former students (36%) responded. The mean age of the sample was 34 years; 46 women and 44 men. Most (88.9%) were practicing medicine, principally as general practitioners (61.8%). 81.6% felt they had been well prepared to practice medicine. The rate of satisfaction was higher in the area of fundamental science than in clinical science. The responders generally felt that teaching and validation methods should emphasize real situations. The main criticism concerning the curriculum was an insufficient degree of professionalism, particularly in fields currently of particular importance: epide miology, health economics, education, prevention, office management. Training was also considered to be insufficient in medical techniques, communication, priority decision making, team work, emergency care, organization of time and handling stress. The responders suggested that the future curriculum should focus more on information search, research methodology and computer science. The results of this survey collaborate findings of recent retrospective long-term analyses conducted in other European countries.