How to Upload Letter of Recommendation to Vsas

April 12, 2022 Post a Comment

Hi!

I hope ya'll are doing well. Ya know, keeping your caput above water, staying adrift, balancing how much caffeine gets y'all through the day and how much alcohol gets y'all to at-home down at nighttime…

Those sorts of things. 🙂

I'm currently trying to wade through 3rd year of medical schoolhouse. And while not a disaster, is still exposing many difficult and new areas that a student has to navigate through. Not to mention, there are a few additional things to be enlightened of while going through it; particularly how to become audition rotations for residency.

Towards the middle of your third year you will start hearing about something called VSAS, or visiting students application service. Y'all may besides hear VSLO which is visiting students learning opportunities. It is ran by AAMC, but all students (both Md and Practice) use this site to connect with hospitals around the U.s. to visit, audition, and try electives in their fourth twelvemonth that may not exist available to them at their home institution.

Your domicile establishment (or at least mine has) volition have a certain corporeality of schools that you lot will exist able to rotate through with on here. This is not the but site you can use to help you find elective rotations or audition rotations. But it is the most ordinarily used amongst residency programs and hospitals that host students.

My school gave us access to VSAS pretty early on on. However you need to be aware that most sites don't open to taking students during your fourth year until the Jump of your third year. So some sites might not exist upwardly there when you look or they accept already taken down the application. Some sites are still taking 4th yr students for the end of their 4th year. It'southward a rolling type of application service, and things modify constantly. And since I'm doing mine during the second year of COVID, I'm certain things will get even weirder.

With that in mind, VSAS tends to give students the ability to start uploading their awarding pretty early once y'all get access through your schoolhouse. This is a practiced thing. A stressful thing, only a proficient thing. Many classmates I know are putting it off because their plate is merely too full.

I understand that 100%, I do. But information technology is not advisable.

VSAS is a kickoff come, first serve blazon of service. So even though it is stressful to look up potential residency sites that you want to audition at and commencement putting together your awarding, the sooner you have it done, the easier. That way, when your sites open up you can just click the sites yous are applying for and pay instead of finishing your application once they open.

Additionally, my school requires 3 sub-I's/audition rotations to graduate. So my form needs at least 3 auditions to be qualified to graduate. Make sure you check your home institutions requirements.

Now you tin can practise more. You tin also choose electives for ii weeks or simply electives in general at another hospital. And you would use VSAS for this as well.

Estimate timeline:

As early equally possible:

When you get the login information from your school, no matter how early, set it up. Information technology is just easier than remembering to practise it down the road. Make certain you can login and everything the school has downwards for you through the site is correct. Better to have plenty of time to gear up it now than during crunch time later!

Third yr, October-Dec:

Start looking at potential residency sites that you may be interested in. You don't need to find all your potential interested residencies in one day! Simply showtime making a list.
Go to ACGME.com to detect the accreditation status of residency programs in your specialty that yous are interested in. Here you tin can cross off anything military (if you aren't military) and meet any residency programs that are on probation or have any issues. You usually don't want to deal with programs struggling to get re-accredited, are on alert, or on probation.
Use FRIEDA to help find more than information about programs. This unremarkably gives you the general stats and a contact person. Do not go overboard with contacting the sites. I basically merely emailed the sites I was interested in to discover out when they would be posting on VSAS and if they were planning on taking students in 2021-2022 yr.
Y'all tin can also apply Clinician NEXUS and residency explorer tool to look into programs.
Start breaking downwardly the list of things you demand to upload to VSAS into smaller, more manageable chunks. If there is something quick and easy you tin exercise, and so do it if you can.

Third year, January-February:

You lot should be narrowing downward a potential list of programs yous may desire to practice residency at. Pick a few of your top choices to attempt to rotate their. Just call up, you lot may non get a spot, and then be prepared to apply to more places to endeavour to get auditions.
You need to exist uploading what you can to VSAS. List volition exist down lower in the post.
You should be reaching out to people for messages of rec. Nearly specialties practice not require a letter of the alphabet of rec for visiting students. Simply some specialties practise. When doing your enquiry on programs, this is something to look for. If required, it volition need to be from a specialty that you lot are trying to rotate in, non a letter of the alphabet of rec from anyone.
Aforementioned with letter of interest. Some sites/specific specialties want a alphabetic character of involvement of why y'all desire to audience in that specialty. Start thinking nigh formulating this.

Third year, March:

If yous haven't finished uploading everything to my documents, yous demand to do that.
Whatsoever sites of interest that accept opened up by this indicate y'all should apply to.

3rd year, April-beginning of fourth year:

The residual of this time will be sites opening up for awarding. You lot can star places to find them more hands.
You will be using this fourth dimension to find out when the sites have yous, when they are available for you to visit, or reject you.
You will utilize this data to build your fourth year schedule.

What do i need to upload to Vsas?

Immunization class and proof of immunizations.
Background cheque
Urine drug screen (UDS)
ALS certification
BLS certification
CV
Board scores
official transcript
letter of interest (dependent on specialty)
letter of the alphabet of rec (dependent on specialty)
COVID vaccination (not currently required, only likely highly recommended)

How do I observe the immunization form?

Immunization form can be found here. This is the 2021 version, only if you go to the VSAS site and type in "immunization form" into the search bar it should come up up. I incertitude it will actually change much.

You need to fill this out. Now, there are 2 options: Yous tin can fill it out and accept a provider sign information technology and then y'all tin upload it (MUCH FASTER), or y'all can send information technology in to your clinical coordinator who volition sign information technology and upload information technology for you (Tin can TAKE WEEKS TO MONTHS). I went the provider road. Also, I had to dissever this document with the proof of my immunizations in ii uploads considering it wouldn't upload that big of a file. But an FYI.

How practice you go a copy of your immunizations, drug screen, and background bank check?

As KCU students, yous should have sent everything to be uploaded via SentryMD. They basically continue rails of that for the school and send reminders when y'all are due for things. You should take gotten most of your immunizations before medical schoolhouse. The background check, UDS, and annihilation else you will go before starting your third year. At least at KCU you lot volition as these are your clinical years. I'yard assuming its the aforementioned or similar for other medical schools.

You basically only email SentryMD for a copy of everything and they will transport information technology to you. If you are anal like me yous would have a copy of that already on your reckoner.

How do I get a re-create of my transcript sent to VSAS?

Well, you lot accept to get through your school for this one. KCU kids I gotchu, everyone else I hope information technology is a like procedure for ya'll.

Step ane: Go to the kcu login folio. You will need to login with your student ID number and password.

Step 2: Click on the KCU intranet icon.

Step three: Click the carte du jour on the left hand side of the screen. Select Forms. Then select Registrar forms.

Footstep 4: Under this, choose student forms. At the very bottom yous should find "VSLO transcript release". Make full this out and submit the grade.

Step v: It took a month for me to recheck to run across if this was uploaded. It was not and I requested the upload as presently as I came back from Wintertime pause in early January. What I didn't know is until you endeavor to send your application to a site, they won't transport a transcript. But it is never a bad matter to achieve out and make sure it is uploaded. I simply couldn't see it on my end!

How do I upload a letter of rec to VSAS?

There is a way to exercise it through ERAS, just you I haven't figured that out. If y'all are more savvy than me give it a shot.

Otherwise, you have the person email it to your clinical coordinator and they will upload it for you to VSAS. Make sure you are keeping on pinnacle of when your letter of rec writer sent it into your coordinator so you tin annoy them to practise their job and upload information technology.

What takes the virtually time to get together?

Honestly, getting your alphabetic character of rec uploaded and your official transcript uploaded. And if you choose to have the schoolhouse fill out your immunization form. Otherwise, everything else y'all yourself can upload, and so you take control over how long it is going to accept to go this information on their.

Last thing!

Make sure yous've besides filled out the virtually me spots and uploaded a moving-picture show of you to the VSAS website. Information technology will ask for when you've completed your core rotations, when you completed ALS, BLS, and PALs (if you accept), and for Practice students they ask for your AOA number.

KCU students, if you become to your student 360 portal your AOA number volition exist on the first page along with the information about you. Otherwise, y'all can call the AOA line and they will send it to yous if you are a Do student and don't know it. I for sure had no idea I had one.

Anywho, promise this helps on your journey through medicine!

Cheers~