Frequently Asked Questions

No. Elective spaces at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine are extremely limited, so our electives are available only to students currently enrolled at an LCME-accredited or AOA-accredited Osteopathic medical school located in the United States or Puerto Rico.

We cannot accept students from schools located outside the contiguous 48 states, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, with the exception of Global Partner institutions. We are unable to make any exceptions to this policy.

No. Visiting student rotations are designed for students who are enrolled in their final year of medical school and have already completed one full year of in-hospital clinical training.

Yes, if you have completed the four core clerkships, you are eligible to rotate even if you’re still a third year student. Please note that some departments may have additional requirements (such as a neurology clerkship) you may not meet, so you would not be eligible for those rotations.

Yes. Core clerkships in internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics must be completed before you can begin an elective at Northwestern. Your home school will be able to verify in VSLO the date you have or will complete a core rotation or other course. If you are accepted to a rotation, your school will need to submit an updated transcript showing successful completion of the clerkship(s) before you may begin your rotation.

Yes, students are permitted to complete up to two four-week rotations for a total of eight weeks, but the rotations must be in different specialties.

All clinical clerkships for non-Northwestern students are arranged by submitting an application via VSLO. Department heads, coordinators and faculty should not be contacted regarding clinical clerkship opportunities.

No. All application documents and supporting material should be submitted via VSLO only.

The ERAS documents cannot be accessed by the Visiting Student Programs staff or VSLO. All required documents must be submitted via VSLO order to apply for a visiting student rotation.

Yes.  Northwestern University requires a signed affiliation agreement on record and utilizes the AAMC implementation letter for those institutions that participate in the AAMC Visiting Student Learning Opportunities (VSLO) program.  If your institution does not participate in the VSLO program, an affiliation agreement is still required, and Northwestern University will provide an agreement for signature.

Space is limited, and students are placed on a first-come, first-served basis. Each time block will automatically close 56 days prior to the start date, after which no further applications will be accepted for that time. Please refer to the academic calendar. Incomplete applications will not be processed.

Knowing a faculty member does not guarantee acceptance to rotate at Northwestern, nor does it allow a student to override policy. To assure credit and fairness, all scheduling is done on a space-available basis and processing is the same for all students. All application processing begins with VSLO and the Visiting Student coordinator.

If you want to submit an additional letter of recommendation from a Northwestern faculty member, please have your school combine both PDF files into one file. This way the host institution can view two letters in the VSLO letter of recommendation requirement.

Please do not contact course directors, department heads or the Visiting Student coordinator regarding availability. This information can fluctuate hourly due to add and drop requests and cannot be maintained in real time. For this reason, all electives are considered open unless they have been closed in VSLO. There is no guarantee that an elective will have availability at the time that you apply. Some electives are closed during certain rotation blocks. Please refer to the elective catalog (corrected link: https://clerkship.northwestern.edu/public/courses/select_student_level.html) and the VSLO elective description for details.

Each block will automatically close 8 weeks prior to the start date, after which no further applications will be accepted. Please refer to the visiting student rotation calendar. 

No. All visiting students must follow the rotation calendar and policy. Faculty members cannot override medical school policy. You should only apply to blocks if you know you will be able to attend the full rotation.

A small number of specialties will allow you to request your own dates in VSLO. If an elective does not give you the option to request your own dates through VSLO, that means that custom dates are not permitted in that specialty.

Some, but not all, electives have additional or special requirements for applicants. This may be a prerequisite, a personal statement or specific requirements for the Letter of Recommendation. If an elective has any of these requirements, they will be listed in the comments section of the VSLO elective description and in our elective catalog. Check both locations to confirm whether the elective has special requirements. 

If your school does not require the Step 1/COMLEX 1 exam until after the third year, please upload a statement to that effect in VSLO.

You are required to submit one general letter of recommendation from a physician who has observed you clinically. The letter must comment on your clinical abilities and performance. Letters of good standing and dean's letters are not acceptable substitutes.

Some departments have specific letter of recommendation requirements. Please check the elective description in VSLO and the visiting student elective catalog carefully for specific requirements. All LORs must contain a faculty member’s signature and be on official letterhead. LORs should be uploaded by your home school only.

LORs should be addressed to "Visiting Student Programs" unless otherwise indicated in the elective catalog description. 

LORs can be uploaded to VSLO by your home school only; you cannot upload an LOR to your VSLO applications. Although this may vary by institution, usually your Registrar’s Office will have VSLO access, so faculty members can send VSLO to them to be uploaded to your application.

Core clerkships in internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics must be completed before you can begin an elective at Northwestern. Please submit your most updated transcript. If, however, a grade is unavailable, your home school will be able to verify in VSLO the date you have or will complete a core rotation or other course. If you are accepted to a rotation, your school will need to submit an updated transcript showing successful completion of the clerkship(s).

It depends on what kind of student you are:

• Domestic students applying through VSLO should use the AAMC Standardized Immunization Form.
• Global Partner Students should use the Global Partner Immunization Form.

Your immunization form is initially reviewed by the visiting students program coordinator to ensure that the four-page form is filled out correctly and that the required labs are attached. Once your main application is complete and your immunization form is correctly filled out, your main application begins review by the departments. If you are accepted to an elective, your health form and supporting medical documents are sent separately to our Student Health department for medical clearance approximately four weeks before your rotation start date.

Once Student Health has reviewed your health records, you will be notified by email only if they determine that your records are incomplete. It is then your responsibility to submit the missing immunization forms immediately to the Student Health office (not the visiting student coordinator or VSLO) in order to gain Student Health clearance. You will not be permitted to begin your rotation until you have been cleared by Student Health.

Personal statements are required by some electives. If an elective requires a personal statement, this will be specified in the elective catalog and the VSLO elective description.

It’s a short statement about your career goals. Please state in your own words why you wish to take a particular elective, what you can contribute to Northwestern and how this elective will help your future career goals.

Your personal statement should not be more than one side of one page. It must be typed, include your full name and the name of the elective to which you are applying. The personal statement should be your own original work.

Personal statements found to be plagiarized from another student or the internet will result in the immediate rejection of your application.

Plagiarism policy: Any student found to have copied another student’s work, submitted a personal statement that was found on the internet or any other example where the student was not the author of documentation intended to be an original work will be notified that they are ineligible for consideration. Their home school will be notified and they will no longer be eligible for any rotation at Feinberg School of Medicine.

A list of current Global Partners can be found on the Global Partner page.

Global Partner students should first be in contact with the coordinator of their home school regarding participation in the exchange program with Northwestern. If they are selected to participate, Global Partners may apply to the program using this application Global Partners cannot apply using VSLO.

For the purposes of this medical school elective, a B-1 visa is required. Feinberg School of Medicine does not process visa paperwork for international students. You are required to obtain entry on your own. If you have another visa type (F-1, J-1, etc.) due to rotating at another U.S. medical school or a B-1 visa for any other purpose, this visa cannot be used to rotate at Northwestern. You will be required to show your I-94 form and disclose the conditions of your visa at registration. Once accepted, we can only provide you with an acceptance letter upon request and only after your confirmation form has been received. Letters can take several weeks to reach overseas addresses. Please plan accordingly.

No. If your country of origin is part of VWP, you only need to register through ESTA. A separate B1 visa is not required.

No. The USMLE Step 1 is not required for Global Partner students; however, if you have Step 1 scores, you should include them with your application.

No, the registration fee is waived for Global Partner students. There is no tuition fee charged.

No, this fee is not required at the time of applying. Once accepted to rotate, this fee should be paid no later than two weeks prior to your arrival. The health insurance fee is $7.26 per day

Two weeks prior to your rotation, you will receive the final insurance cost and a link to the online payment portal.insurance payment form. You will receive a student health insurance card and brochure of the policy when you register at Northwestern.

No. You will receive a QuantiFERON-GOLD blood test at Northwestern. This test must be done in the United States. If you have proof of a PPD skin test, chest x-ray or QuantiFERON-GOLD blood test done within the past six months in the United States, you may submit these with your immunization application. Do not submit TB tests of any kind that were performed outside of the United States.

The QuantiFERON-GOLD blood test will be required upon your arrival to Northwestern University. You may not participate in clinical activities until this has been completed. The QuantiFERON-GOLD blood test fee is included when you purchase the health insurance. If your test should result positive, further testing or an x-ray and doctor's appointment are required. These additional tests are also covered if you have purchased the student health insurance.

Fluency in English is mandatory to participate in our electives. In order to ensure both your comfort during the clerkship and that of the patients, physicians and other health care workers with whom you will need to interact, we require that a fluent English speaker at your institution verify your English language skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing or you submit TOEFL/IELTS results from the past two years. If you choose to submit TOEFL/IELTS scores, these are our minimum requirements:

If you wish to provide your own health insurance during your rotation at Northwestern, you must submit a copy of your insurance policy in English to the visiting student coordinator no later than four weeks prior to your start date. A detailed policy is required and it must fulfill all requirements. Please note the types of insurance policies that are generally not accepted, including travel insurance.

If you think your insurance meets all requirements, please send a detailed summary of benefits to the visiting students office. The policy you submit must clearly state that all these minimum requirements are met, including dollar amounts. Your submitted policy must be in English and dollar amounts must be in U.S. currency. Do not submit your policy directly to the Risk Management office.

Adequate insurance coverage is mandatory, so if your plan does not meet Northwestern’s requirements, you will be required to purchase insurance through Northwestern.

First, we determine the eligibility of an applicant. To be marked as eligible, an applicant must have submitted all application requirements and meet all of our basic requirements. If an applicant is missing any of these items or there is an error within them, the applicant will be marked as ineligible and is notified. When these missing or erroneous items are corrected, the applicant status can then be changed to eligible.

Once the applicant is determined to be eligible, each application is reviewed to determine if it meets all of the elective-specific criteria. If it does, then that application becomes available for scheduling and the status is listed as pending host institution review. If the individual application does not meet the criteria in the elective catalog, then that application is marked denied and the student is notified. If these criteria are met at a later time, the individual application can have the denial status removed and marks as available for scheduling.

An application marked as available for scheduling is not yet accepted. The department will review the application and determine if an offer should be made based on academic merit and availability as well as any other criteria as determined by the department.

Rotations are very limited. Applications are considered on a first-come, first-served basis based on the date they are completed in addition to academic merit. Incomplete applications will be marked as ineligible until missing or erroneous documents are corrected. Visiting students are placed only after Northwestern students are scheduled.

Spaces in internal medicine sub-specialties, pediatrics, and surgery are extremely limited. Summer and fall months (July through October), in particular, are extremely full.

We will notify you by email regarding the following:

• When your application is released by your home school: This email indicates when your home school has released your application to Northwestern for processing. It will also indicate if any of the following four required documents are missing: photo, transcript, immunization form or CV.
• If your application is missing any documents or has any errors in the either the or required documents: Your application is marked as ineligible until these errors or omissions are corrected. 
• Once your application is complete: If your application was originally marked as ineligible and you have corrected all errors or submitted missing documentation, your application will be then marked as eligible and VSLO will email you regarding this change.
• Once your application is accepted or denied: An acceptance email comes directly from the Visiting Student Coordinator via VSLO.

If your application is marked as ineligible or denied due to missing or erroneous items, you will be notified of this via VSLO. It is the responsibility of the student to submit a complete application for consideration. Please note that the immunization form and required labs are considered part of the application.  Applications without the immunization form and labs will be considered incomplete and ineligible to be scheduled.

Applicants should carefully review our institution information VSLO page and the elective catalog descriptions for the electives to ensure that they have met all requirements.

This varies for each department. In order to be accepted, you must have both departmental approval and Student Health clearance. This can take a minimum of 30 days. Application review takes longer for the busy summer and fall rotations.

Please allow a minimum of 30 to 60 days for your application to be released by your home school and reviewed. Applications are reviewed in the order in which they are released to us by home schools. Please check VSLO for the most up-to-date status information.

If you have questions regarding your application’s current status, you may contact our office via email at visitingstudents@northwestern.edu no earlier than 30 days after you have received email notification that your application was released. Please do not call the Visiting Students Office.

Do not contact course directors, coordinators, or faculty for any reason during the application process. Contacting any of these parties may result in your ineligibility for current and future rotations.

If you are accepted to a rotation, you will receive notification from VSLO. Any approval or notification received directly from department does not signify that you have been accepted to rotate.

If you have not received either an acceptance or denial email from VSLO within 30 days of your home school releasing your application, you may email visitingstudents@northwestern.edu to inquire as to the status. Please do not call.

First, you must accept the elective in VSLO within 7 days of the rotation offer.

Next, you must pay your rotation fee through the online portal within 14 days of your acceptance offer.

Finally, you must send the Accepted Visiting Student Confirmation Form via email after paying your rotation fee.

Failure to submit the confirmation form within the deadline may result in elective offer being revoked. If the offer is withdrawn due to lack of response or payment within the 14-day time frame, you are not allowed to reapply for the same elective at the same time. You may apply for the same elective during a different time frame or for a different elective; however, if you are again accepted and fail to respond or submit payment by the deadline, you will no longer be eligible to apply for any electives.

No. All assignments are final. Once a student has been scheduled to rotate, no change in elective choice or rotation block will be allowed. This policy cannot be overridden by a department, attending or any faculty member.

If you can no longer attend an elective which you have accepted, you must drop the elective in VSLO and email the Cancellation Form to the visiting students coordinator no later than four weeks prior to your start date. The visiting student coordinator will then notify the department that you cannot attend. No rescheduling of electives is permitted.

If you fail to notify the visiting student coordinator at least four weeks prior to your start date, Northwestern will drop you from any future scheduled electives, your home school will be notified, you will be charged the rotation fee, and you are no longer eligible to apply for any other electives at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

The Visiting Student Program cannot assist you with housing. Accepted students are expected to secure housing on their own. For some local housing options, please refer to the Housing page.

Yes, please bring a waist-length white coat from your home institution. These may also be purchased from Water Tower Place Uniforms Inc., located a few blocks from the hospital campus.

Please refer to the First Day page for guidelines.

No. Scrubs will be provided during your rotation.

Please email the visiting students office to obtain this information.

If you must miss a day, you must always inform your supervisor (resident/attending), your department, and the visiting students coordinator. Time off should always requested in advance and approval is obtained by your supervisor or department.

The Augusta Webster, MD, Office of Medical Education cannot be responsible for letters of recommendation for visiting students. If you request one from a faculty member, it is your responsibility to have this taken care of. Our faculty members are in no way obligated to provide you with a letter of recommendation. As a professional courtesy, we strongly recommend that you provide a pre-addressed, stamped envelope for the faculty member to mail your letter of recommendation to the appropriate person at your home institution. Do not have the letter sent to our office.

No. Information is not provided regarding availability and we do not maintain waiting lists. Do not contact course directors, coordinators or faculty regarding availability. Contacting any of these parties may result in your ineligibility for current and future rotations. In order to be considered for other electives or time frames, you must reapply through VSLO.

No. In order to be considered for other electives, you must reapply through VSLO.

Yes, you may reapply through VSLO. Your new application will be considered in the order in which it is received. You may only when the deadline has not already passed and cannot reapply for electives and blocks for which you have already been denied. Please check the calendar for deadlines prior to submitting a new application.