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Visiting Medical Student Program

Eligibility

SUNY Downstate College of Medicine welcomes visiting medical students into the senior elective program. Students who will have completed their clinical clerkships by the starting date of the desired elective are eligible to apply. Applicants must be in good academic standing at their home school, must have their school's approval to participate in the desired elective and must have health and liability insurance coverage and be HIPAA, OSHA and New York State Infection Control certified.

Students from other medical schools are not permitted to enroll in required core clerkships.

General Information

All electives courses at SUNY Downstate and its affiliated institutions are part of the official curriculum of the College of Medicine. Qualified students may be accommodated in elective spots that have not been filled by our students. Applicants are considered in the order their application is received. Elective rotation dates must coincide with the scheduled dates of SUNY Downstate Medical Center's elective periods. Click here to view our application deadlines.

Students from U.S. Medical Schools

SUNY Downstate College of Medicine is now a VSAS School. Students from U.S. medical schools who are interested in applying for a visiting elective will apply to us through the Visiting Student Application Service VSAS.

  • We will begin accepting applications as of May 21.
  • Our earliest notification of outcome will be June 15.
  • The earliest month we will assign an elective is August — NOTE: Only those students applying to Emergency Medicine, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology and Urology will be processed for July.
  • Deadline for submission of visiting student application is two months prior to the requested start date of the elective.
  • Health clearance must be completed in order for the student to be permitted to register. Students will download the SUNY Downstate Health Statement Form for Visiting Students. Once completed, the student will upload our Health Statement form into VSAS.

Students from U.S. Osteopathic Schools

Students from U.S. Osteopathic schools will submit a Visiting Student Application Form and all corresponding documents.

Students from International Medical Schools

Catalog Information

Students from U.S. medical schools will be able to view the elective offerings within the VSAS program.
International medical students can view the electives offerings below. There is a category in each elective description which indicates whether Visiting Students are accepted for that elective.

Students must follow the official elective dates. The standard dates are listed in the Senior Elective Calendar link below.

Housing

Housing is available space permitting in one of two residence hall facilities (811 New York Avenue and 825 New York Avenue). Mailing Address: SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Box 115, Brooklyn, New York 11203. Telephone: (718) 270-1466 or e-mail at residentiallife@downstate.edu.

Student Health Services

Health clearance must be completed in order for the student to be permitted to register.

SUNY Downstate Health Statement Form for Visiting Students

Student Health Service Mailing Address: SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Box 33, Brooklyn, New York 11203. Telephone: (718) 270-1995 or e-mail at studenthealth@downstate.edu.

NYS Infection Control Courses

Effective November, 2008, the New York State Department of Health has implemented new Infection Control requirements for all medical students. These are described in Section 239(b) of the Public Health Law. The complete list of authorized providers is available at http://www.op.nysed.gov/icproviders.htm At that URL, there is an option to obtain a current list of New York State approved courses from distance learning providers. SUNY Downstate assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information on the website.

Notification of approval or denial

Applications will not be processed until all completed component parts have been received. Please note the application deadlines. Students will be notified of approval or denial, as soon as they are approved, at least 4 weeks prior to the start date of the requested elective. Students who withdraw their application less than 2 weeks prior to the start of the elective may have a letter of complaint sent to the Dean of their medical school.

Arrival on the first day

All visiting students must report to the Office of the Registrar the Friday before the first day of their elective to register. Health clearance must be completed in order for the student to be permitted to register. Students will receive a letter to obtain a Downstate I.D. card and visiting student privileges to the library. The department will NOT receive a student who has not registered through the Office of the Registrar.

Questions

Questions may be sent to visitstudent@downstate.edu