When's the latest time you can realistically apply to VSLO and have a good chance of being selected?

[DrZoidbergDO]

I'm considering a specialty but won't be able to do an elective in it until may most likely. Would mid may be too late for vslo? Planning on taking boards towards the end of june if that matters

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[deleted1079620]

Are you talking about submitting your app to VSLO mid May for a May rotation?

4th years I’ve talked to said that their yield for apps vs acceptances for VSLO was between 10-25%.

 

[DrZoidbergDO]

No, I have that rotation in may set up through my school. I'm more talking about 4th year rotations in like August and September

 

[deleted1139416]

Are you talking about submitting your app to VSLO mid May for a May rotation?

4th years I’ve talked to said that their yield for apps vs acceptances for VSLO was between 10-25%.

You mean turning into apps during 4th year? Are you saying that I need to submit 10-20 apps even as a 3rd year to get a good chance of getting an Audition?

 

[deleted1079620]

You mean turning into apps during 4th year? Are you saying that I need to submit 10-20 apps even as a 3rd year to get a good chance of getting an Audition?

That’s just what I’m hearing from upper classmen. Bear in mind I’m at a DO school so if you’re MD that might be different because your school may have more built in connections.

 

[CrazyHorseLady]

I'm a little confused at the question but I will tell you what I did and what I could have done better:

Submit VSLO apps as early as you can. Especially if you are trying to get out of state rotations/Sub-I's. I submitted most of mine in March/April as an MS-3 and that may have been "late". Know the whole process is an absolute rip off and account for losing out on a couple hundred dollars in the process. I applied to 20 or so away rotations and only got ONE. The one taught me a lot and was at a VA so that was a unique experience, but most of those rotations I applied to never even gave me a response despite all the money I dished out. So budget for some financial loss in this process.

 

[deleted1139416]

I'm a little confused at the question but I will tell you what I did and what I could have done better:

Submit VSLO apps as early as you can. Especially if you are trying to get out of state rotations/Sub-I's. I submitted most of mine in March/April as an MS-3 and that may have been "late". Know the whole process is an absolute rip off and account for losing out on a couple hundred dollars in the process. I applied to 20 or so away rotations and only got ONE. The one taught me a lot and was at a VA so that was a unique experience, but most of those rotations I applied to never even gave me a response despite all the money I dished out. So budget for some financial loss in this process.

May I ask what specialty this was?

 

[DrZoidbergDO]

I'm a little confused at the question but I will tell you what I did and what I could have done better:

Submit VSLO apps as early as you can. Especially if you are trying to get out of state rotations/Sub-I's. I submitted most of mine in March/April as an MS-3 and that may have been "late". Know the whole process is an absolute rip off and account for losing out on a couple hundred dollars in the process. I applied to 20 or so away rotations and only got ONE. The one taught me a lot and was at a VA so that was a unique experience, but most of those rotations I applied to never even gave me a response despite all the money I dished out. So budget for some financial loss in this process.

Yeah sorry I worded it very poorly on my part, basically was asking if may was too late to apply for rotations in like September. Appreciate the advice!

 

[FootballAndSkiing]

As someone who is doing an anesthesia elective in May and thinks they might really be interested in applying anesthesia but doesnt know for sure because they have not had a ton of exposure to anesthesia, I completely understand this, and would also like to know how to approach auditions.

 

[BobbyKoch]

Yeah sorry I worded it very poorly on my part, basically was asking if may was too late to apply for rotations in like September. Appreciate the advice!

This was for psych, but fwiw:

I started emailing and planning my 4th year in Jan/Feb last year. I also spent a disgusting amount of money on VSLO to end up being completely ignored by most programs. I did, however, end up getting four rotations through VSLO and offered but declined one or two more. I think a large part of getting those was due to emailing the student coordinator, expressing my interest, then following up "aggressively." So, even if there are places which are not open on VSLO right now, I would go ahead and start emailing them. Ask if you can get on the list if they keep one.

There were a surprising number of programs that had very few openings due to their own students rotating and the only way I got pre-ERAS rotations was by starting this early. There was also one program that revealed to me they don't even offer spots to visiting students, they just put them on VSLO anyway for "reasons" and don't say that, so you waste your money applying to them unless you contact them first. I don't even think they get the $15, I honestly think they just don't understand how it works, because another program had me re-apply 3x for "scheduling" and when I asked if there was any other way to do it because it was costing me money, they said "ohh, I didn't know you had to pay for VSLO." lmao

I also got two rotations just from looking through program websites and emailing the PC/student coordinator. These were free and pretty solid rotations that netted me a LOR.

 

[DrZoidbergDO]

This was for psych, but fwiw:

I started emailing and planning my 4th year in Jan/Feb last year. I also spent a disgusting amount of money on VSLO to end up being completely ignored by most programs. I did, however, end up getting four rotations through VSLO and offered but declined one or two more. I think a large part of getting those was due to emailing the student coordinator, expressing my interest, then following up "aggressively." So, even if there are places which are not open on VSLO right now, I would go ahead and start emailing them. Ask if you can get on the list if they keep one.

There were a surprising number of programs that had very few openings due to their own students rotating and the only way I got pre-ERAS rotations was by starting this early. There was also one program that revealed to me they don't even offer spots to visiting students, they just put them on VSLO anyway for "reasons" and don't say that, so you waste your money applying to them unless you contact them first. I don't even think they get the $15, I honestly think they just don't understand how it works, because another program had me re-apply 3x for "scheduling" and when I asked if there was any other way to do it because it was costing me money, they said "ohh, I didn't know you had to pay for VSLO." lmao

I also got two rotations just from looking through program websites and emailing the PC/student coordinator. These were free and pretty solid rotations that netted me a LOR.

🙏🙏🙏🙏

Thanks my dude

 

[Nave]

This was for psych, but fwiw:

I started emailing and planning my 4th year in Jan/Feb last year. I also spent a disgusting amount of money on VSLO to end up being completely ignored by most programs. I did, however, end up getting four rotations through VSLO and offered but declined one or two more. I think a large part of getting those was due to emailing the student coordinator, expressing my interest, then following up "aggressively." So, even if there are places which are not open on VSLO right now, I would go ahead and start emailing them. Ask if you can get on the list if they keep one.

There were a surprising number of programs that had very few openings due to their own students rotating and the only way I got pre-ERAS rotations was by starting this early. There was also one program that revealed to me they don't even offer spots to visiting students, they just put them on VSLO anyway for "reasons" and don't say that, so you waste your money applying to them unless you contact them first. I don't even think they get the $15, I honestly think they just don't understand how it works, because another program had me re-apply 3x for "scheduling" and when I asked if there was any other way to do it because it was costing me money, they said "ohh, I didn't know you had to pay for VSLO." lmao

I also got two rotations just from looking through program websites and emailing the PC/student coordinator. These were free and pretty solid rotations that netted me a LOR.

Do you mind being more specific as to how you framed your email?

 

[BobbyKoch]

Do you mind being more specific as to how you framed your email?

Hi Ms. Student Coordinator,

I'm reaching out to express interest in doing a psychiatry sub-internship with Best Medical School Psychiatry Program. Currently, I'm a 3rd year student at Man's Best Osteopathic School, completing my clerkships in Springfield, MO. BMS looks like a fantastic place to get more exposure to the field. I am planning to apply to psychiatry for residency in the fall, and the psych program at BMS is on my list of places to send an application.

I'd be interested in the Acting internship in Psychiatry [course name/numeric identifier]. Currently my schedule for next year is open and flexible after 8/28.

Please let me know if there is any additional information I can provide. Thanks very much for your help!

Best,

Bobby Koch
Best * Medical Student


*Osteopathic

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

Hi Ms. Student Coordinator,

I'm reaching out to express interest in doing a psychiatry sub-internship with Best Medical School Psychiatry Program. Currently, I'm a 3rd year student at Man's Best Osteopathic School, completing my clerkships in Springfield, MO. BMS looks like a fantastic place to get more exposure to the field. I am planning to apply to psychiatry for residency in the fall, and the psych program at BMS is on my list of places to send an application.

I'd be interested in the Acting internship in Psychiatry [course name/numeric identifier]. Currently my schedule for next year is open and flexible after 8/28.

Please let me know if there is any additional information I can provide. Thanks very much for your help!

Best,

Bobby Koch
Best * Medical Student


*Osteopathic

Out of curiosity, did this initial cold-email include your CV attached for reference? I know they get all of that info through VSLO obviously, so I'm just wondering if you led with it as well.

 

[BobbyKoch]

Out of curiosity, did this initial cold-email include your CV attached for reference? I know they get all of that info through VSLO obviously, so I'm just wondering if you led with it as well.

no, I didn't send any attachments unprompted. I suppose it couldn't hurt unless it triggered the spam filter or something.

that's another thing...be prepared to deal with an onslaught of different and frequently inflexible requirements for away rotations. I had to be fingerprinted for an FBI background check, get (and pay for) a state sex-offender registry check and a state-wide exclusion list check for working with children and vulnerable populations. not all of them are equally demanding in terms of documentation, just don't be surprised if you end up spending a bunch of time and energy filling out PDFs.

one more note on aways. you should consider setting up a time early on to meet with the PD or other program leadership. on a few of mine, I never ended up working with or even seeing the PD or APDs organically and they would never have met me if I didn't set up a time to stop in and talk. this is a calculated risk, of course, since you want to make a good impression. for me, it resulted in an interesting convo and eventual interview at a place that is pretty far above my weight as a DO with middling STEP scores and preclinical performance, no research, no honors in clerkships...

 

[CrazyHorseLady]

May I ask what specialty this was?

Internal Medicine

 

[corolla3000]

one more note on aways. you should consider setting up a time early on to meet with the PD or other program leadership.

how do you do that? are they usually open to a "networking" meeting?

 

[BobbyKoch]

how do you do that? are they usually open to a "networking" meeting?

Yeah—it mostly wasn’t an issue. Start by asking the program coordinator

 

[Doctor Bob]

how do you do that? are they usually open to a "networking" meeting?

Absolutely. If you're coming to rotate at my program, and you're interested in our facility for your residency they want to meet you.
I have medical students coming to do electives with my department all the time. If I know they're interested in applying for residency at my facility then I tell them how/where to go to get a little face time with the residency PD. But you have to be proactive about it and tell us "hey, I'm going to be applying for residency X, and I'm interested in applying here."