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College of Medicine MD Curriculum

Away Elective Guide

Students should follow the instructions below to ensure accurate and timely processing of all requested away electives. Failure to do so will result in the student’s inability to participate in and get credit for the away elective.

VSLO/Non-VSLO Electives
Away electives can be identified by searching one of the Web sites listed below:

  1. VSLO: https://students-residents.aamc.org/visiting-student-learning-opportunities/visiting-student-learning-opportunities-vslo
    1. VSLO email authorizations will be issued by the Office of the Registrar at the beginning of January. At that time students may log into VSLO and set up their profile and review visiting institutions’ websites, including the dates when applications may be submitted.
  2. Non-VSLO:
    1. AAMC Extramural Electives Compendium sponsored by U.S. Medical Schools http://services.aamc.org/eec/students/
    2. Web sites of hospitals not associated with a medical school

Students may start researching sites and submit applications as early as January, but typically away sites do not start accepting applications until March or April.

Away Elective Application Process

1. Elective Description Approval
Before a student applies for an away elective, the elective must be approved by the UTCOMLS Clerkship Office and the Associate Dean for Clinical Undergraduate Medical Education. The student must email the elective description to the UTCOMLS clerkship coordinator in the department associated with the away elective for approval, preferably 60 days prior to the start of the clerkship.

Click here Clerkship Coordinator Contact Information.

Once the Clerkship Office has approved the course description, the Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education will then review for final approval/disapproval. The Clerkship Coordinator will email the student the final decision within seven days of the initial request.

The course description should be copied and pasted into the body of the email. The subject line of the email should read, “[Student Name]/Course Description.” Please do not forward links to descriptions or entire catalogs.

2. Application

  1. VSLO Electives
    1. If the away elective description is approved for credit at UTCOMLS, then the student should electronically file a VSLO application and pay any required fees.
    2. VSLO will automatically notify the Office of the Registrar of a pending application. If the application is not complete, the Office of the Registrar may contact students for additional supporting documentation to complete their application, such as HIPAA certification, background checks, and immunizations.
    3. After the complete application has been released to VSLO by the Office of the Registrar, the student will be notified via VSLO if they are approved for the elective. The time for notification will vary depending on the host institution.
  2. Non-VSLO Electives
    1. If the host institution does not participate in VSLO, then a paper application for an away elective must first be submitted to the Office of the Registrar.
    2. If the application is not complete, the Office of the Registrar may contact students for any required documentation, such as health insurance, HIPAA certification, liability insurance, etc.
    3. After the application has been verified and processed, the Office of the Registrar will notify the student via email that it is ready to be picked up to submit to the visiting institution.

3.    Offer of Acceptance

  1. As soon as a student is accepted for an away elective, the student MUST EMAIL the offer, acceptance, dates of attendance, institution name, elective title, and contact information to the clerkship coordinator and the Office of the Registrar (HSCregistrar@utoledo.edu). Failure to do so will jeopardize the ability of the student to receive credit for the rotation; this will be strictly enforced. (The student MUST use their official University-given email address for their communications).
  2. If an affiliation agreement is required by the away campus host institution, the student must contact Tori Buckley in the Department of Medical Education at 419-383-6507 for the next steps. Please note that many times alterations to agreements are necessary and could, under some circumstances, take up to 30-60 days to be vetted and finalized between the two institutions— please do not wait until the last minute to reach out as this could impact your rotation.

4.    Registration for Away Elective

  1. Students must register for approved away electives via the myUT portal (http://myut.utoledo.edu).
  2. Once elective registration opens each semester, students should register for the generic away elective in the appropriate discipline for any block that an away rotation has been approved . Away elective courses are represented by a 750 course number (four weeks) or a 751 course number (two weeks). Example: MEDI 750. Please Note: If your rotation will be off UTCOMLS’s fourth year schedule dates you will need to contact the  Office of the Registrar to have a course section created to fit your specific rotation dates. You may need to use flex time to get back in sync with the fourth year schedule. Please Do Not register for a UToledo away rotation course if it does not fit your rotation dates. Keep in mind that the fourth year schedule will start on a Monday and end on a Sunday. If your rotation ends on a Friday, but otherwise follows UTCOMLS’s rotation dates, it is considered to be on the fourth year schedule and you should register for the course as it is found in the Schedule of Classes. If your rotation is off by a week or more, a section will need to be created specific to you.
  3. If a student wishes to make a schedule change within 30 days of the start of an elective, the student must obtain permission from the appropriate Clerkship Coordinators to drop and/or add a different elective. If the student is switching disciplines, the student must contact the coordinator of the elective to be added as well as the coordinator of the elective to be dropped for approval first. Students are not permitted nor guaranteed a spot in an elective if the student does not first obtain permission to make the schedule change.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Away Electives Guide/Rev 2023Dec05

Last Updated: 12/5/23