• Professional Service

Join the VSLO® Program

Medical Schools

As a Visiting Student Learning Opportunities™ (VSLO®) participating institution, you will join a network of more than 300 medical schools and teaching hospitals, located in the United States and internationally, that collaborate to offer short-term learning opportunities to visiting medical students.

When your institution becomes a VSLO Home institution, your qualified students can browse and apply to preclinical, clinical, global health, and research opportunities at VSLO Host institutions.

When your institution becomes a VSLO Host institution, you can determine the number of, duration of, frequency of, and fee for clinical, research, or public health elective offerings. You will also be able to receive students from VSLO Home institutions throughout the U.S. and Global Networks (institutions located outside the U.S. may only participate in the Global Network).

Benefits of Joining the VSLO Program:

  • Reduces administrative burden by providing institutions with streamlined management and application processing. 
  • Offers a dynamic online platform and expanded search options for students to find their elective opportunities. 
  • Provides training and ongoing support for the system’s institutional and student users.
  • Manages mobility among existing partner institutions that are already in the VSLO network.
  • Increases offerings of vetted U.S. and international elective opportunities for students.
  • Engages program directors, faculty, and leadership to support student’s medical education.
  • Replaces numerous partnership agreements with a single VSLO participation agreement.
  • Facilitates institutional collaboration within a global network.
  • Provides access to the decisions and perspectives of the AAMC and partner organizations regarding elective rotations.
  • Expands input on best practices in the visiting student experience and the transition to residency.

The VSLO Program: Streamlining the Away Rotation Application Process 

Learn how you can support your students through the away rotation application process with the VSLO program.

Home and Host Roles

What Is a Home Institution?

Home institutions send their students to elective rotations at sites in the United States and/or across the globe. Home schools review and release student applications, track progress, and ultimately determine whether to grant elective credit. As a Home user, your institution can access the VSLO application system to:

  • Manage your student access to a broad database of available, vetted electives at other institutions.
  • Streamline document management and application processing for your students.
  • Complete home verification statements/requirements and release of applications.
  • Use the application service to replace numerous partnership agreements with a single VSLO participation agreement.
  • Track your student’s decisions to Host institutions.

What Is a Host Institution?

Host institutions publish and manage elective offerings, select students, and — upon completion of the elective — submit evaluations to students’ Home institutions. Becoming a host provides you with the opportunity to meet medical students as they explore residency programs, support the educational mission of your hospital or health system, and host multilingual students to deliver better patient care to multilingual patients.

A VSLO Host must be either an AAMC member, an ACGME accredited Sponsoring Organization or an ACGME Sponsoring Organization’s Participating Site to qualify for VSLO access as a Host institution.

Host institutions that wish to offer observerships or electives to final-year medical students must be committed to supervising students and providing candid feedback on an evaluation form at the completion of the educational experience.

As a VSLO Host, your institution can host U.S. and international visiting students.

You can access the application system to:

  • Determine the number of, duration of, frequency of, and fee for clinical, research, or public health elective offerings by academic year.
  • Set selection criteria.
  • Receive, track, and manage applications.
  • Use the application service to replace numerous agreements with a single VSLO participation agreement.

How to Join the VSLO Program

The VSLO program is not currently reviewing new applications from interested institutions located outside the United States. Revisions to our global effort are underway. The AAMC also advances global programming and fosters international engagement and collaboration through the Alliance of Academic Health Centers International (AAHCI). Learn more about AAHCI’s initiatives and membership opportunities by visiting the AAHCI website or contacting aahci@aamc.org.

Your first step toward joining the VSLO program is to complete the interest form (PDF).

The following application steps must be completed:

  1. Complete and submit the interest form (PDF). (Email visitingstudents@aamc.org)
  2. VSLO staff will contact you to discuss next steps and address questions you may have.
  3. Once an institution is accepted into the VSLO program, a participation agreement will be sent to your institution’s designee. An invoice will also be sent, and once the agreement is signed by both parties and payment is received, your institution will be officially welcomed into the VSLO program, provided software training, and added to the AAMC VSLO website. 
  4. VSLO staff conduct regular demonstrations of the VSLO application system. If you and/or your colleagues would like to join upcoming demonstration, please register here.
  5. If you have any questions, please contact the VSLO team.

Please review the institutional fees associated with various types of institutions to identify the annual fee for your institution:

Institution Type Annual Participation Fee
AAMC-member Medical Schools U.S. Network: $750; Global Network: $1,000
AAMC-member Hospitals and Health Systems Included in Council of Teaching Hospitals and Health Systems (COTH) Membership
AAMC-nonmember Hospitals and Health Systems $2,500
International Institutions (Institutions Located Outside the United States)
Can only participate in Global Network

High-income: $2,000; Middle-income: $800; Low-income: $200

Based on World Bank income data.

Demonstrations and Training Webinars

We offer regular live and recorded demonstrations of our application service for institutions interested in joining the VSLO program. Register for demonstrations and training webinars that include time for Q&As. The VSLO program also offers a regularly updated series of videos and “Ask the Experts” sessions when there are new enhancements to the application system. The live sessions are recorded and made available for institutional users to access.

Additionally, the VSLO program provides detailed job aids and other resources to support institutions’ administrators as they complete tasks such as uploading rosters, creating elective catalogs, and more.

For more detailed information, check out frequently asked questions about the VSLO program.