How to request an ‘away’ elective.

What do you need to do to get credit at Harvard?

Many HMS students choose to do elective courses at other medical schools during the latter part of their third year or during their fourth year. However, all Core Clerkships must be done at HMS. You will not be approved to do an away elective or any enrichment activity if you have any unresolved unsatisfactory grades in HMS courses. You must also have had a minimum of 3 months of courses involving patient care.

You may do up to 6 months of electives at any United States LCME accredited school. However, if you plan to do more than 3 months of away electives in a row, you must have your Society’s approval.

To do a rotation at a non-LCME accredited institution (i.e. a foreign medical school) contact the International Programs Fellow in your Society for more information.
Here is some information to help guide you:
The HMS Registrar’s Office has a library of other medical school course catalogs and a contact person/address list of the LCME schools. You may reference this material in the Registrar’s Office, Mon.-Fri., 9 am - 5 pm.

Generally these are the steps to be followed:

1. Contact the other medical school for their visiting student application.
   
   
2. Fill out the application and obtain any necessary supporting documents, (i.e. transcript, certification of student status letter, processing fees, etc.)
   
   
3. Bring the completed application to HMS Registrar for certification of good student standing.
   
   
4. Upon notification of being scheduled by the school you have applied to, you must notify the HMS Registrar of when and where you will be going and what clerkship you will be taking. You can provide this information via an Add/Drop Form or on your Study Card. The HMS Registrar’s Office tracks you on a month to month basis in your third and fourth years.
   
   
5. A one month elective is equal to four clinical elective credits.
   
   
6. You will be expected to abide by all the rules and policies of the host institution.
   
   
7. Many schools have rotation dates that do not match the HMS calendar. Please take this into consideration when planning your schedule.
   
   
8. When you have finished the clerkship, it will be your responsibility to see that an evaluation gets sent to the HMS Registrar. You will not get credit for the course until and unless we receive this verification.
   
   
9. Once the evaluation is received the away elective school name, course title, and a "Cr" grade designation
   (Cr = credit for course) will appear on your HMS transcript. We do not list the other schools grade.
   
   
10. The evaluation submitted by the other school will be available for you to review in either the Registrar’s Office or your Society.
    
    

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