Cool Away Rotations Question

[MedicalDoge]

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Hello!

I have a strangely specific question. I am an incoming M1, and some schools I interviewed at offered some awesome rotations. One that particularly interested me was Family Medicine at Dartmouth where they go to Alaska and serve the populations there.

So to my knowledge, the school I ended up picking doesn't offer really cool rotations like this. Would it be possible to do an away rotation at Dartmouth but like do the Alaska one lol? Is this something that is done? If my school doesn't offer rotations like this, what are some ways around it?

Thank you!

 

[operaman]

Many schools offer you some elective time, especially in the fourth year, and you can design rotations in pretty much anything you want. We were able to design our own rotations so long as we could identify a faculty mentor who would grade us, and submit a list of course objectives and requirements. I had classmates who did some really cool things both at our institution and at others. It's a bit of a paperwork hassle and obviously you will have to bear the costs, but I think you could arrange such a thing pretty much anywhere.

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

IHS Extern Program | IHS Scholarship Program

https://www.usphs.gov/student/jrcostep.aspx

Could also apply for unfunded away rotations through tribal health corporations or individual hospitals.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

So I’d imagine you could do any away that appears on VSAS, although maybe it’s possible to do away rotations outside vsas too - I’m not sure.

I know at our school we offer a couple of these cool rotations (for example we go to the Florida keys for a month to do FM for fishermen and stuff), but at our institution they’re not available as always.

Will probably vary by where you go to school and what Dartmouth’s policies are

 

[trs88]

So I’d imagine you could do any away that appears on VSAS, although maybe it’s possible to do away rotations outside vsas too - I’m not sure.

I know at our school we offer a couple of these cool rotations (for example we go to the Florida keys for a month to do FM for fishermen and stuff), but at our institution they’re not available as always.

Will probably vary by where you go to school and what Dartmouth’s policies are

Just as an fyi, yes you can totally do away rotations/audition rotations that are not listed on vsas. That's how I got all of mine. All I did was pick the state I wanted, pulled up the residencies in the area and went down the list and checked who was on vsas and who wasn't. For those not on vsas, I just sent a polite email inquiring if they offered rotations for 4th years. I never had any luck for my 3rd year electives.

 

[nlax30]

Completely random but was recently in Tokyo for a conference and while at one of the hospitals there ran into a 4th year Columbia med student who was doing an elective....in Tokyo. Thought that was pretty cool.

 

[MSTPlease]

Completely random but was recently in Tokyo for a conference and while at one of the hospitals there ran into a 4th year Columbia med student who was doing an elective....in Tokyo. Thought that was pretty cool.

There are several Sinai students there too. It's an organized program among several American schools (Brown, Columbia, Mt. Sinai, Tufts, and U of Texas Houston is the list I believe). I'm sure other schools have similar programs at other foreign institutions.

Just as an fyi, yes you can totally do away rotations/audition rotations that are not listed on vsas. That's how I got all of mine. All I did was pick the state I wanted, pulled up the residencies in the area and went down the list and checked who was on vsas and who wasn't. For those not on vsas, I just sent a polite email inquiring if they offered rotations for 4th years. I never had any luck for my 3rd year electives.

You can also just google the school's name and visiting student electives. A lot of schools are not on VSAS. For example Harvard, Columbia, and NYU to name a few.

Based on my experience looking at aways, the coolest/least traditional ones are usually reserved for their own students unfortunately.