At my school, the policy is that anytime you participate in an externship that takes within scheduled school time/days (clinic or classes), you must complete an "Offcampus Rotations" application.
Most students that I've talked to that did OMFS externships participated either during breaks (Winter, summer and/or spring breaks) or during the school year onced they've completed all their clinical requirements or they are ahead of their clinical requirements.
Now, I'll be participating in my first month-long externship this upcoming summer and I'm actually missing 3 weeks of clinic which I had to get approved by the school. One week out the month that I'll be gone is the Florida State Licensure Board exams so all sim labs and clinic will be closed to students. So there you go, one week of official vacation days due to Florida boards and three weeks of officially excused days that I had to apply for.
I believe that I was very fortunate that both of my Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Director of Undergraduate Clinics approved my application to go offcampus for 3 weeks during the beginning of my mandatory clinic time this summer! This is very uncommon for several reasons:
1) externships are usually reserved for D3s and D4s (summer between D3 and D4 years)
2) my school's policy states that student may ONLY apply for a total of one week during scheduled school time (we may include a scheduled break to increase this time) - I applied for 3 weeks
3) I'll be missing my very first 3 weeks of scheduled initial clinic days as a D3
Schools' policies for offcampus rotations during scheduled clinic/class days will vary, you might want to check with your Deans. Remember, conflicts only comes into play when you're trying to go offcampus during scheduled clinic/class days. When I did my mini-externships at University of Minnesota during my spring breaks in 2003 and in 2004, I never had to complete a "Offcampus Rotations" application and seek approval from my school.
Your school should know that OMFS externship usually recommends a longer stay for their externships so it's not uncommon for students to apply to miss more than one week of scheduled school days. See, if you're already a D3 or a D4, then you must have all your requirements done or at least be ahead of the game as far as requirement goes for you to be able to go on your externship.
For example, next summer when I apply for another OMFS externship during summer time, I better have all my requirements finished before my Academic Dean and Clinic Director will allow me to leave during schedule school days. BTW, I'm already applying for my Winter Break OMFS externship NOW for two weeks at University of Miami Jackson Memorial Hospital! Getting them lined up!
Have done:
04/2003 University of Minnesota, Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Fairview Hospital
04/2004 University of Minnesota, Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Hennepin County Medical Center
Will be doing :
06/2004 Lousiana State University Health Science Center, Dept. of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Univeristy Hospital and Charity Hospital
Anticipated:
12/2004 University of Miami, Dept of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Jackson Memorial Hospital
6/2005 my last OMFS externship somewhere
If you need anything else, feel free to ask. If I know the answer, I'd be glad to help out. Looks like we'll be going head to head in 2006 fighting for one of those 176 spots in residency. Heck, we'll probably even run into one another at our interviews (fingers crossed, if I even get them
).
Andy
