From someone who has
actually done what you are inquiring about:
it is NOT nearly impossible or difficult as intimated above and many US medical schools allow foreign students the chance to do final year elective rotations. German students often come and do their entire 16 weeks of
Praktisches Jahr here.
First, try and analyze why you are being rejected.
Is your application complete? An incomplete application will be rejected.
Are you applying for 3rd year Core rotations instead of electives? Most medical schools do not allow students to do anything but electives.
Are you a final year student? Unless your school has a formal relationship with a US school, most programs restrict foreign clerks to those in their final year of medical school. And yes, you MUST still be a student (ie, you are not eligible for rotations once you have graduated).
Do you have malpractice/medical liability and health insurance good in North America? There are a very few programs that will provide it for you, but most expect that your school pays for it or that you do out of pocket (if you can get it AND afford it).
Do you have evidence that you have all the required immunizations?
Are you able to get a visa?
You must be in good standing in your school and some programs require a transcript and documentation that you are in the top percentages of your class.
Secondly, as noted above, most schools will fill their electives with their own students and visiting clerks get last choice. Therefore, are you being rejected because of the issues I've listed above, or because the elective was simply full? These are two entirely different problems.
Choosing less popular electives (ie, superspecialties, not Sub-Is) will increase your chances of getting a position. Choosing a less popular time of the year (ie, not July - October) will increase your chances.
Lastly, you CAN go around official channels. For example, at the time I applied UVA and Hopkins did not allow foreign clerks to rotate unless you were sponsored by a faculty member. There was no "process" for getting that sponsorship.
Therefore, I simply looked at the faculty in the departments in which I wished to rotate, found their emails (many faculty have email listed on their program web site or you can figure it out
[email protected]), contacted them and was told they would be happy to sponsor me. Truth be told, some did not respond and another told me he did not sponsor foreign students. But all I needed was 1 person to say yes, so it worked for me. Once they agreed, they helped me get approved.
UCSF does not take foreign clerks either. But since I used to work there, I was able to get around that requirement. Obviously this isn't something you can work, but if you do have any US connections it wouldn't hurt to have them contact people to see what can be done. Clearly if you do not meet the program's requirements you still won't be able to rotate, but if you are a final year student, passed USMLE Step 1, have malpractice insurance, you should meet the minimal requirements of most programs.
There is a lot of work involved in doing this, sending long-distance FAXes (although I recommend scanning all your documents into a PDF file and sending it via email if requested). I am not the only one who has done this, so I suspect that my experience is not "one off".
Consider smaller programs...while Jefferson isn't exactly big like NYU, any of the better known places are going to get much more applications, from US students and abroad. The University of Louisville, is a surgical powerhouse, but isn't well known outside of the US or for that matter, even outside of surgery within the US. They are well known for taking foreign clerks (although they do not take Caribbean students). Some of the best known surgeons in the US work there and at the Kleinert-Kutz Hand Institute in town. So, perhaps scale down the "prestige" factor as you might see it (I see a lot of foreign students spend a ridiculous amount of money to apply and rotate at Harvard and other name places. Its not necessary.)
So try and understand why you are being rejected and go from there.
best of luck to you...
