Visiting Students

The following information is from the Visiting Student Clinical Elective Program page and is specific to applying for a psychiatry elective with us in Boise. Please also verify the information on the UW site here.

To Apply:

1. You must be a medical student. Medical graduates are not eligible to apply. We do not offer “Observerships” – all electives we offer are in VSAS.
2. Applications must be received at least 6 weeks prior to the start of the requested clerkship date.
3. You must meet all eligibility requirements of the Visiting Student Clinical Elective Program AND the supplemental department requirements: CV; applicant statement and Letter of Recommendation.  Use only the applicant statement form provided.
4. Complete the VSAS application and upload all supplemental materials to VSAS. You must provide a current CV and one letter of recommendation, which must be uploaded directly to VSAS. Letters of recommendation should be from someone with whom you have worked closely in a clinical setting and must specifically address why you would be a good candidate to do a psychiatry elective at the UW. Letters of recommendation must be signed and on official letterhead. Applications which do not have all required items included and complete will be treated as incomplete. No action will be taken on your application until it is complete. Qualified medical students interested in any field are welcome to apply for Psychiatry electives.
5. Availability often cannot be determined until 4 weeks prior to the rotation start date.
6. Cancellations: You must withdraw at least 4 weeks before your starting date. Fees are non-refundable. All cancellations and changes must be made in writing to the Clerkship Administrator.
7. Visiting students will be contacted about course scheduling in the order that their application was approved. Please expect a delay between when your application is approved and when you are contacted about scheduling. This may be several weeks.
8. If you are offered enrollment, you will have 48 hours to accept or decline the elective(s) offered.
9. A housing resource list will be available to students following enrollment.
10. Absence Policy: All Psych electives are M-F only, no weekend or night shifts or call. This means that there is no opportunity to make up missed time. No time off is allowed from 2-week rotations, 1 day may be allowed from a 4-week rotation with advance permission from the Clerkship Director (not the course preceptor.) Students planning to do residency interviews or wanting time off for any other reason while they are in Seattle should schedule these for before or after their elective. Please contact Gayle Schneider ([email protected]) if you have any questions about the absence policy.
11. UW Psychiatry Residency Training Program: If you are interested in the UW Psychiatry Residency Training Program, you need to apply to it through ERAS and be offered an interview. Psychiatry electives are independent of the Psychiatry Residency Training Program. The University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences offers a funded Diversity Visiting Medical Student Subinternship Program designed to give fourth-year medical students from backgrounds historically underrepresented in medicine the opportunity to experience the exceptional education in psychiatry offered by the University of Washington. For information about this program, please go to this link.