How to arrange clinical rotations

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Raminder26

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what exactly is clerkships, and how can I arrange elective or core rotations, and what is the difference? I am a US citizen studying in Hungary, if anyone can please answer this, much appreciated.

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There are only a few US Universities that accept non-LCME students for electives. In fact if you go to the Delphi Forum, I posted a topic there with links to the various universities a while back. I'll bump it up for you.
 
It is not the case that only a "few" US schools accept non-LCME students for 4th year electives. I had no problem finding schools, and big name ones as well, which received my application favorably.

Core rotations are those that US students tend to do during 3rd year: Surgery, Medicine, OB-Gyn, Peds and Psychiatry. Now most schools will NOT let visiting students do Core Rotations - those are reserved for their own students. An elective is pretty much anything outside of these cores and is generally done during the final year of medical school - it can be a subspecialty of one of the Cores (ie, Plastic Surgery, Cardiology, etc.) or it can be something like Radiology, Anesth, etc. These are generally available to visiting clerks although first choice again usually goes to home-school students.

To do a US elective at a school that does accept applications from international students, you must have liability/medical defense/malpractice insurance in effect in the US (check with your school), health insurance in effect in the US (consider travel insurance if you don't/can get this), good academic standing at your medical school, a clean bill of health (ie, must show that you've have Hep B series, TB testing, etc.) and submit an application. The schools will vary with regard to what else they need - ie, some will require a faculty sponsor which can be as easy as emailing the elective supervisor and asking.

Some US schools which DO take international clerks (off the top of my head; I know there are MANY MANY more):

UCLA
UCSF (while their web page states they don't take foreign students all of my classmates from Flinders in Oz have been accepted for electives)
Hopkins
UVA
Case Western
Baylor
UCSD
U of Louisville
Stanford (although charges going rate for tuition I believe)
Harvard (ditto)
etc.

Most schools have web sites which detail their policy. Its simply a matter of looking at schools and asking for/downloading the application.
 
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Mayo also has a <a href="http://www.mayo.edu/mms/clerk.htm" target="_blank">Visiting Clerkship Program</a> and they take international students.
 
Do universities charge tuition for visiting clerkships as a rule, or is it variable?
 
Pill Counter,

I've noticed that some schools do charge international students while others do not. Also, some schools do not consider "Canada" international.

care
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Kimberli Cox:
•It is not the case that only a "few" US schools accept non-LCME students for 4th year electives. I had no problem finding schools, and big name ones as well, which received my application favorably.

To do a US elective at a school that does accept applications from international students, you must have liability/medical defense/malpractice insurance in effect in the US (check with your school), health insurance in effect in the US (consider travel insurance if you don't/can get this), good academic standing at your medical school, a clean bill of health (ie, must show that you've have Hep B series, TB testing, etc.) and submit an application. The schools will vary with regard to what else they need - ie, some will require a faculty sponsor which can be as easy as emailing the elective supervisor and asking.

Some US schools which DO take international clerks (off the top of my head; I know there are MANY MANY more):

UCLA
UCSF (while their web page states they don't take foreign students all of my classmates from Flinders in Oz have been accepted for electives)
Hopkins
UVA
Case Western
Baylor
UCSD
U of Louisville
Stanford (although charges going rate for tuition I believe)
Harvard (ditto)
etc.

Most schools have web sites which detail their policy. Its simply a matter of looking at schools and asking for/downloading the application.•••••Kinberli: the case might be different for Flinders and other Australian schools, they are probably treated similarly to UK schools. My classmates emailed/contacted or even applied to some of the above and were quite rudely rebuffed.

The ones where I know for sure (my classfellows or people I know having gone there):
Yale (charges $2000)
Harvard (charges $3500)
Tufts (charges $1500)
Baylor
U Louisville
Northwestern U

UCLA, UCSF and Hopkins were quite rude. They simply said that "your application will NOT be considered since you are not enrolled in an LCME-accredited school. please consider trying elsewhere." There was a similar response from Stanford and Wash U. Some friends applied to Mayo but were not accepted. i hear that some midwest universities do accept international students: UMKC, Kansas U, St Louis U.

I guess another complicating factor is our school is a 3rd-world school and cannot arrange the insurance etc. It cannot be solely a visa issue since even US citizens were rebuffed.

I suppose the policy varies from school to school. Aga Khan University in Pakistan regularly sends its students to big-name universities for electives at almost no charge, because they have an exchange program in place with many universities as well as having obtained LCME accreditation. You'll just have to contact the places and see what they say.
 
Big name schools that accept international students:
Harvard ($2500 w/o housing)
Yale ($2000 w/ housing)
Mayo
Northwestern
Baylor
Cornell (2000 bucks, i think)
Mount Sinai
Wake Forest (like $2000)

Big name schools that accept, but require you bring your own malpractice, which can be very difficult to arrange:

Duke
U of Chicago
Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cleveland Clinic

UCSF doesn't offer electives to foreign students, with the exception of a radiology elective. Hopkins does not offer clinical rotations, but they do offer research experience to foreign students.
UCLA doesn't either, neither does UC-Davis. The only Cal state school that I know offers to foreign students is UC-Irvine.

Some schools have policies of not accepting foreign students, but if you call them up, you may get something. However try the schools listed above first.
 
thanks everyone for the advice!! Now regarding the USMLE step I is there a certain cutoff limit to do rotations in any programs as an international student, thanks again.
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by abu barney:

UCSF doesn't offer electives to foreign students, with the exception of a radiology elective. Hopkins does not offer clinical rotations, but they do offer research experience to foreign students.
UCLA doesn't either, neither does UC-Davis. The only Cal state school that I know offers to foreign students is UC-Irvine.
•••••Hmmm...I guess those rotations I did at UCSF, UCLA and Hopkins didn't "count"! :wink:

Bottom-line: there ARE exceptions to every rule. Check with the schools themselves.
 
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