Extramural (Study Away) Electives

Students who have maintained good academic standing and have successfully completed all courses in the first two years may participate in extramural electives in this country and abroad. In addition, students must have completed all core clerkships prior to acceptance for a study away clinical elective at most LCME accredited medical schools. Thus, the majority of study away electives will be completed at the end of 3rd year or during the 4th year. Students may spend up to 12 weeks of clinical electives at outside institutions with the approval of their advisory dean. Extramural electives provide unique opportunities for students to gain novel experiences in other countries or acquire insights into how different academic health centers and medical schools function. Moreover, student participation in clinical electives at other hospitals allows students to not only broaden their undergraduate medical education in the clinical area of their choice, but also may provide unique perspectives on the outside hospital, its residency training programs and the location.

In order to ensure that extramural electives are equivalent in quality to those offered at Rochester, students must obtain approval from a full-time, URSMD faculty member whose primary appointment is in the same field as that of the desired elective. Since arrangements for extramural clinical electives are more complex than those for other clinical electives, students are advised to make early inquiry. Information about the required documentation and special scheduling considerations may be obtained from the URSMD registrar’s office. Students are responsible for making sure that their extramural elective evaluations are forwarded to the Registrar’s Office after completion of the elective.

Payment or acceptance of a scholarship for an elective for credit away from Rochester is prohibited. Students may, however, accept reimbursement for travel, housing and board to the extent that these are directly incurred in taking the elective. For example, payment of housing expenses would be allowed if housing must be maintained in Rochester at the same time. This restriction is in place for several reasons. First, it is important to assure that extramural electives are educational experiences. Second, we do not want to have the possibility of students finding themselves in a situation where they are expected to render service having minimal or no educational value. Third, it is critical to assure that the elective sponsor regards and will conduct the educational experience as an educational program. Finally, we want to prevent the participation of students in poor programs because of the prospect of remuneration.

In summary, extramural electives provide special clinical educational experiences. Advanced planning for participation in extramural electives is imperative, because of the additional paperwork from UR and the outside institution involved. All students are encouraged to discuss study away ideas with their Advisory Dean in their individual clinical curriculum planning meetings.