valuemd (Admin)
Being part of the VSLO network allows WUM students to apply for clinical electives at US teaching hospitals. This thread covers how the program works, which US hospitals WUM students have done electives at, and how useful it is for students considering residency in North America.
priyasharma4456 (Student)
okay so I want to explain this properly because a lot of people misunderstand what VSLO actually means and what it does not mean. VSLO stands for Visiting Student Learning Opportunities, and it is a program run by the AAMC, which is the same organization that oversees US medical education. Basically, it is a centralized application platform that lets medical students apply for away rotations or electives at participating US teaching hospitals. the fact that WUM is on this list is genuinely significant because most international schools are not. there are hundreds of medical schools in Europe and only a handful are VSLO affiliated. for WUM students who want to do residency in the US, getting a rotation at an American teaching hospital through VSLO gives you a letter of recommendation from a US physician, US clinical experience on your CV, and most importantly exposure to the American clinical environment before you actually match. those three things together can meaningfully improve your residency application.
henrya7701 (Aspiring student)
i did a VSLO elective last year in internal medicine and i want to share what the actual process looked like because it is not as simple as just clicking apply. first your home school has to be registered in the VSLO system which WUM is, so that part is handled. then you create a profile on the VSLO platform and you can browse participating hospitals and programs. you apply to individual rotations kind of like applying to programs in general. each hospital sets their own requirements, some want a minimum step 1 score, some want a CV and personal statement, some want dean letters. the competition for popular spots especially at big name academic centers is real, do not underestimate it. i applied to about 8 places and got 2 offers. ended up doing a 4 week rotation in new york which was genuinely one of the best experiences of my med school life.
emmabrooks443 (Student)
thank you for the detailed breakdown, this is exactly what i was looking for. can i ask what hospital you rotated at in new york? and did you feel like the attendings and residents treated you well as an international visiting student or was there any kind of awkwardness about being from a polish school?
henrya7701 (Aspiring student)
i would rather not name the exact hospital publicly but it was a decently well known teaching hospital affiliated with a university. and honestly the experience was better than i expected. the residents were cool, nobody made me feel out of place for being from WUM. a couple of attendings had never heard of WUM but once i explained it is one of the VSLO affiliated schools in poland they seemed fine with it. one attending actually knew WUM by name which surprised me. you do have to be a bit proactive about proving yourself early in the rotation because they do not know you, but that is true for any visiting student not just internationals. by week two i felt pretty integrated into the team.
