Medical Student VSAS for US Allopathic Students

What is VSAS?

The Visiting Student Application Service (VSAS) is a brand-new Association of American Medical Colleges(AAMC) application for 4th year clinical away electives. This service includes a searchable database of electives, a short application, the ability to pay application fees online, and tracking of offers and schedules.  VSAS launches its pilot year in April 2008 with 10 schools accepting applications through this software. If you are applying for senior away electives for the 2008-09 academic year at any of these 10 schools, you will need to use VSAS to submit your applications.

Do I need to use VSAS?

The following 10 schools will use VSAS to receive applications during the 2008-09 pilot year. If you wish to apply to any of these schools, you will need to use VSAS to submit your application(s) to them.

Boston University

Columbia University

Georgetown University

Oregon Health & Science University

University of California, Irvine

University of Kansas

University of Michigan

University of Tennessee

University of Texas HSC, San Antonio

Wake Forest University

If you are not applying to one of these 10 schools, please use the Extramural Electives Compendium (http://services.aamc.org/eec/students/) for visiting student application information.

How does VSAS work?

Step-by-step instructions on using VSAS is on page 2 of this document.

When can I use VSAS?

VSAS opened for student use on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 10am EST.

Questions?

Please visit our website, www.aamc.org/vsas, for general information. If you have any further questions, please contact VSAS at vsas@aamc.org or (202) 478-9878.

How do I use VSAS?

The following 6 steps outline the VSAS application process.

Step 1: Request VSAS Authorizations

• Ask your visiting student coordinator or student affairs office to issue you authorizations to use VSAS.
• You will be sent an e-mail with the information you need to log in to VSAS.

Step 2. Complete your VSAS Profile

• Provide general and emergency contact information.
• Enter the dates your have or will have finished your core clerkships.
• Upload a photograph or CV (both are optional). Your school will upload your transcript on your behalf.

Step 3. Search for Electives

• Browse electives at the 10 pilot schools by using VSAS' search form.
• Search by keyword, specialty, state or school name.
• Refine your search by type of applicant accepted, fees charged, or dates offered.
• Save electives and dates in which you are interested. You may save the same elective multiple times with different dates.

Step 4. Apply to Electives

• Select one or more of your saved electives for which you wish to apply.
• Arrange the electives and dates you are applying, for each school, in order of preference.
• Enter your credit card information (for application fees) and submit your application.

Authorizations - you must have received sufficient authorizations from your home school to cover your chosen electives. Each elective and date combination requires one authorization. If you need additional authorizations, please contact your visiting student coordinator or student affairs office.

Fees - VSAS application fees are based on the number of schools being applied to, not the number of electives. A fee of $35 is assessed for the first school and $15 per school thereafter.

Step 5. Track Offers

• Log in to VSAS to review your pending applications and received offers.
• Accept or decline offers received from host schools.
• If you don't respond to an offer, within a timeframe set by the host school, it will expire.
• Drop already scheduled electives, if necessary.

Step 6. Read E-Mails

Make sure the e-mail address in your VSAS profile is current, as you will receive e-mails notifying you of:

• offers for electives.
• electives applied for, but which are not available.
• scheduling conflicts between offered and/or already scheduled electives. These conflicts must be resolved 30 days before the start of the first elective.
• offers made by host schools with impending expirations.
• cancelled electives to which you have applied or been scheduled.