Away Rotation & M4 Scheduling FAQs
Application Timing & VSLO Invitations
Many LCME accredited schools use the AAMC VSLO system for away elective applications. Rising M4 SSOM students will receive Invitations to VSLO by ORR in the winter of M3 year. After the invitation has been issued, students may create their profile and begin uploading documentation at any time. If the VSLO invitation has expired, email SSOMRegRec@luc.edu to re-send.
Most schools/institutions open their catalog in March or April; however, some open earlier or later. Please check each institution’s website for specific dates and deadlines. For institutions not found in VSLO, please check their individual school website.
Keep in mind the dates other schools offer rotations may not align with the SSOM Calendar. Be aware of any conflicts or scheduling issues.
Away Rotation Supplemental Documents
Away elective programs may require a number of documents to accompany your application. Required documents vary by institution, so please check institution’s websites/VSLO catalog. Most requested documents are:
- Photo/Headshot – student responsible to upload
- CV/Resume – student responsible to upload
- Personal Statement/Letter of Intent – student responsible to upload
- Criminal Background Checks (BGC): A BGC was completed for each student at matriculation. In the VSLO verification statement, ORR verifies that students passed a background check when starting medical school. However, many schools require a more recent background check (often within 12 months of the proposed rotation dates). If this is the case, it is the student’s responsibility to have a new check performed. Some companies students have used in the past include Certiphi, Verified Credentials, SentryLink, Criminal Watch Dog, but feel free to use whatever you find to be most cost-effective/quickest for your needs. Most companies can return results within 24-48 hours, if not sooner.
- Transcript: Once a student submits their first application in VSLO, ORR will upload a transcript (no need to request separately or complete a transcript request form). If at any time throughout the year a student would like an updated transcript uploaded to VSLO, they should contact our office (SSOMRegRec@luc.edu).
- BLS Training, Immunizations & FIT Testing: ORR verifies that students have completed BLS training in the VSLO verification statement. Some schools may also ask students to upload a copy of your BLS card. BLS Training is good for 2 years, so most students will still be certified at the start of their M4 year. Students who took time off between M3 and M4 year, or who may be off-track, may need to be re-certified in BLS training. To sign up for a CPR class, you may contact Therese LiFonti (tlifont@lumc.edu) and Amy Ellison (amellison@luhs.org) to get a list of upcoming classes. You may also access these classes on HealthStream, which is the preferred way to register.
Students can contact their health care provider or the LUC Wellness Center to complete any immunization or FIT testing forms. To schedule an appointment with the Wellness Center (Cuneo Room 400), call 708-216-2250. If no one answers, please leave a message, and you will receive a call back.
- HIPAA & OSHA Training: In the VSLO verification statement, ORR verifies that students have completed HIPAA and OSHA training. Some schools may request to see a copy of your HIPAA or OSHA training certificate. Students can find these in HealthStream. The relevant modules, even though they do not specify HIPAA or OSHA in the title, would be the “Annual Regulatory Compliance Education” and “Infection Prevention Annual Competency”, respectively. Note, some schools may require you to complete their own, school-specific training modules.
- Letter of Good Standing (LoGS): If a LoGS is listed as a “Home Institution Requirement” for an away application, ORR will upload the LoGS directly/fulfill that requirement once you have submitted the application in VSLO. There is no need to contact ORR to request this item.
If a LoGS is listed as a “Student Requirement” for an application, you can contact us at ssomregrec@luc.edu to request the letter, which we will upload to your documents in VSLO, and you can then apply to that requirement before submitting the application.
- Letters of Recommendation – Uploaded by ORR
Letters of Recommendation (LOR) should be sent BY THE LETTER WRITER (or their office) to SSOMRegRec@luc.edu. Letters should not be sent by the student. ORR will upload the letter to the student’s VSLO documents center, and the student can assign the LOR to the respective application. Some schools require the Home Institution to upload LOR directly to your application; if this is the case, send us an email, letting us know to which LOR you’d like uploaded for that school. While most students have only one LOR, if you are getting more than one LOR, please email us to let us know which to use if we are to assign the letter to a specific rotation.
Please remind letter writers that LOR should be provided on departmental letterhead and have the letter writer’s written signature; some schools will reject letters without these items. Students do not have access to view their LOR.
- Professional Liability Insurance & Certificates of Insurance: SSOM provides professional liability insurance (malpractice coverage) at the national standard rate, which is $1 million per incident and $3 million aggregate. This coverage is verified automatically by our office through the VSLO verification statement. Some schools may request to a copy of the Certificate of Insurance (COI), which is the official insurance coverage document prepared by our Risk Management office. If a school you are applying to requests a COI, please send an email to SSOMRegRec@luc.edu with the following information: name of the school/site you are applying to, their address, and the potential dates of your rotation. We will then request a COI from our Risk Management office to be prepared for this school on your behalf. Once received, we will upload to VSLO or send to you/relevant party.
Affiliation Agreements
Some Host institutions require an affiliation agreement with the students’s Home institution prior to the rotation. Note that it can take several months to pursue and establish an agreed upon affiliation agreement. Please work with the Host institution if you are accepted at a rotation that requires an affiliation agreement. You may contact ORR for the appropriate contact for this.
Adding Away Rotations to Your Schedule & Receiving Elective Credit:
Approximately one month prior to the start of each rotation, ORR will add rotations from VSLO with “Confirmed Offer” status to students’ schedules Please remember there is a 12-week cap for receiving credit toward elective/graduation requirements from external electives (electives not listed in SSOM’s own elective catalog).
Our office will send the evaluation/grading form to the coordinator at the away rotation. ORR cannot release blank grading forms to students. Note that the away elective evaluation form is not the same form as the required Sub-I evaluation form.
Non-VSLO Applications (including Military Away Rotations)
Some schools do not participate in VSLO or use a different/home-grown system for applications. For non-VSLO rotations, including Military Away Rotations, SSOM requires students complete an application for NON-VSLO rotations. Students should fill out and submit this packet, along with any required documentation, to ORR (send to Rosemary Calcagno, rcalcag@luc.edu and CC: SSOMRegRec@luc.edu). The application will be reviewed by ORR and given to a Student Affairs Dean for approval. Once approved, the application will be sent to the institution from ORR. Students will be notified once all documents have been sent. The rotation is confirmed and added to the student’s schedule when the coordinator from the away site has returned the form back to ORR.
Note, that even for schools who have their own application system, the Non-VSLO Application still needs to be completed and submitted to ORR.
Scheduling Conflicts
A student offered an away rotation during a required clerkship (Emergency Medicine, Sub-I ICU, Sub-I Wards, PCM-4, Transition to Residency), should contact Registration & Records. We will work with you the best we can to make adjustments to your schedule, but we cannot guarantee any schedule changes, as they are dependent on rotation roster caps. Please reach out to us as soon as you are aware of a conflict so we can follow up as needed.
For PCM-4 conflicts (Nov/Dec periods), one week of curricular overlap with an away rotation is allowed. For EM, Sub-I ICU and Sub-I Wards, Transition to Residency, no overlap in dates with another rotation is permitted.
Application Timing & VSLO Invitations
Many LCME accredited schools use the AAMC VSLO system for away elective applications. Rising M4 SSOM students will receive Invitations to VSLO by ORR in the winter of M3 year. After the invitation has been issued, students may create their profile and begin uploading documentation at any time. If the VSLO invitation has expired, email SSOMRegRec@luc.edu to re-send.
Most schools/institutions open their catalog in March or April; however, some open earlier or later. Please check each institution’s website for specific dates and deadlines. For institutions not found in VSLO, please check their individual school website.
Keep in mind the dates other schools offer rotations may not align with the SSOM Calendar. Be aware of any conflicts or scheduling issues.
Away Rotation Supplemental Documents
Away elective programs may require a number of documents to accompany your application. Required documents vary by institution, so please check institution’s websites/VSLO catalog. Most requested documents are:
- Photo/Headshot – student responsible to upload
- CV/Resume – student responsible to upload
- Personal Statement/Letter of Intent – student responsible to upload
- Criminal Background Checks (BGC): A BGC was completed for each student at matriculation. In the VSLO verification statement, ORR verifies that students passed a background check when starting medical school. However, many schools require a more recent background check (often within 12 months of the proposed rotation dates). If this is the case, it is the student’s responsibility to have a new check performed. Some companies students have used in the past include Certiphi, Verified Credentials, SentryLink, Criminal Watch Dog, but feel free to use whatever you find to be most cost-effective/quickest for your needs. Most companies can return results within 24-48 hours, if not sooner.
- Transcript: Once a student submits their first application in VSLO, ORR will upload a transcript (no need to request separately or complete a transcript request form). If at any time throughout the year a student would like an updated transcript uploaded to VSLO, they should contact our office (SSOMRegRec@luc.edu).
- BLS Training, Immunizations & FIT Testing: ORR verifies that students have completed BLS training in the VSLO verification statement. Some schools may also ask students to upload a copy of your BLS card. BLS Training is good for 2 years, so most students will still be certified at the start of their M4 year. Students who took time off between M3 and M4 year, or who may be off-track, may need to be re-certified in BLS training. To sign up for a CPR class, you may contact Therese LiFonti (tlifont@lumc.edu) and Amy Ellison (amellison@luhs.org) to get a list of upcoming classes. You may also access these classes on HealthStream, which is the preferred way to register.
Students can contact their health care provider or the LUC Wellness Center to complete any immunization or FIT testing forms. To schedule an appointment with the Wellness Center (Cuneo Room 400), call 708-216-2250. If no one answers, please leave a message, and you will receive a call back.
- HIPAA & OSHA Training: In the VSLO verification statement, ORR verifies that students have completed HIPAA and OSHA training. Some schools may request to see a copy of your HIPAA or OSHA training certificate. Students can find these in HealthStream. The relevant modules, even though they do not specify HIPAA or OSHA in the title, would be the “Annual Regulatory Compliance Education” and “Infection Prevention Annual Competency”, respectively. Note, some schools may require you to complete their own, school-specific training modules.
- Letter of Good Standing (LoGS): If a LoGS is listed as a “Home Institution Requirement” for an away application, ORR will upload the LoGS directly/fulfill that requirement once you have submitted the application in VSLO. There is no need to contact ORR to request this item.
If a LoGS is listed as a “Student Requirement” for an application, you can contact us at ssomregrec@luc.edu to request the letter, which we will upload to your documents in VSLO, and you can then apply to that requirement before submitting the application.
- Letters of Recommendation – Uploaded by ORR
Letters of Recommendation (LOR) should be sent BY THE LETTER WRITER (or their office) to SSOMRegRec@luc.edu. Letters should not be sent by the student. ORR will upload the letter to the student’s VSLO documents center, and the student can assign the LOR to the respective application. Some schools require the Home Institution to upload LOR directly to your application; if this is the case, send us an email, letting us know to which LOR you’d like uploaded for that school. While most students have only one LOR, if you are getting more than one LOR, please email us to let us know which to use if we are to assign the letter to a specific rotation.
Please remind letter writers that LOR should be provided on departmental letterhead and have the letter writer’s written signature; some schools will reject letters without these items. Students do not have access to view their LOR.
- Professional Liability Insurance & Certificates of Insurance: SSOM provides professional liability insurance (malpractice coverage) at the national standard rate, which is $1 million per incident and $3 million aggregate. This coverage is verified automatically by our office through the VSLO verification statement. Some schools may request to a copy of the Certificate of Insurance (COI), which is the official insurance coverage document prepared by our Risk Management office. If a school you are applying to requests a COI, please send an email to SSOMRegRec@luc.edu with the following information: name of the school/site you are applying to, their address, and the potential dates of your rotation. We will then request a COI from our Risk Management office to be prepared for this school on your behalf. Once received, we will upload to VSLO or send to you/relevant party.
Affiliation Agreements
Some Host institutions require an affiliation agreement with the students’s Home institution prior to the rotation. Note that it can take several months to pursue and establish an agreed upon affiliation agreement. Please work with the Host institution if you are accepted at a rotation that requires an affiliation agreement. You may contact ORR for the appropriate contact for this.
Adding Away Rotations to Your Schedule & Receiving Elective Credit:
Approximately one month prior to the start of each rotation, ORR will add rotations from VSLO with “Confirmed Offer” status to students’ schedules Please remember there is a 12-week cap for receiving credit toward elective/graduation requirements from external electives (electives not listed in SSOM’s own elective catalog).
Our office will send the evaluation/grading form to the coordinator at the away rotation. ORR cannot release blank grading forms to students. Note that the away elective evaluation form is not the same form as the required Sub-I evaluation form.
Non-VSLO Applications (including Military Away Rotations)
Some schools do not participate in VSLO or use a different/home-grown system for applications. For non-VSLO rotations, including Military Away Rotations, SSOM requires students complete an application for NON-VSLO rotations. Students should fill out and submit this packet, along with any required documentation, to ORR (send to Rosemary Calcagno, rcalcag@luc.edu and CC: SSOMRegRec@luc.edu). The application will be reviewed by ORR and given to a Student Affairs Dean for approval. Once approved, the application will be sent to the institution from ORR. Students will be notified once all documents have been sent. The rotation is confirmed and added to the student’s schedule when the coordinator from the away site has returned the form back to ORR.
Note, that even for schools who have their own application system, the Non-VSLO Application still needs to be completed and submitted to ORR.
Scheduling Conflicts
A student offered an away rotation during a required clerkship (Emergency Medicine, Sub-I ICU, Sub-I Wards, PCM-4, Transition to Residency), should contact Registration & Records. We will work with you the best we can to make adjustments to your schedule, but we cannot guarantee any schedule changes, as they are dependent on rotation roster caps. Please reach out to us as soon as you are aware of a conflict so we can follow up as needed.
For PCM-4 conflicts (Nov/Dec periods), one week of curricular overlap with an away rotation is allowed. For EM, Sub-I ICU and Sub-I Wards, Transition to Residency, no overlap in dates with another rotation is permitted.