updated 3.28.2023

Regalia for UNM Faculty and Guests

• CONVOCATION PLATFORM PARTY - UNM Faculty that are a part of the Platform will have their regalia orders placed by either their own Department, the Regents, or the Office of Medical Student Affairs.
• GOLDEN GRADS - UNM alumni invited to the Platform as Golden Grads will have their regalia provided by Advancement & Alumni Relations.
• MARSHALS - UNM Faculty selected as Marshals will have their regalia orders placed by the Office of Medical Student Affairs
• HOODERS - Hooders, whether they are Alumni from UNM or elsewhere, are responsible for renting or purchasing their own regalia.
  • Guest hooders may wear regalia from their own Alma Mater. However, regalia is not required by hooders and they may instead dress professionally.
  • Hooders who are also selected as Marshals or members of the Platform will have their regalia provided by OMSA.

The Guest Hooder

The Regalia

• UNM Doctorate Gown (Black/Red)
• Student Tam (Black)
• UNM Doctorate Degree Tassel (Old Gold)
• UNM Medical/Legal Doctor Hood Medicine (Green)

Letters of Recommendation

Visiting Student Learning Opportunities (VSLO)

Completed LoRs should be uploaded to the OMSA | LoR Upload Portal for Away Rotations.

Alternatively, LoRs may be sent directly from the author to CaTrent@salud.unm.edu for upload to the student's VSLO profile.

Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS)

In order for a letter to be uploaded to the Portal, the letter must meet the following system requirements:

• File must be in a PDF format.
• File size cannot exceed 1 MB.
• File cannot be encrypted or password protected.
• Filename cannot contain the following special characters: | * ? :
• Page size must be 8.5 x 11 inches.

It is recommended that letters are written on professional letterhead and signed by the author. Before uploading a letter, carefully review the letter for accuracy and grammatical errors. LoR(s) should be signed by the LoR Author and include a date.

• ERAS^® for Letter of Recommendation Authors (LoR)

• 2023-2024 Phase II/III Block Schedule [PDF]
• 2022-2023 Phase II/III Block Schedule [PDF]

Per HSC standards, course evaluations are due two weeks after the end of a rotation block.

UNM Students

• FACES is the primary method for submitting Phase III (4th year) student evaluations. This system has been prioritized as grades entered by evaluating Faculty feed directly into the database and are available the same day. This involves no extra work on the evaluator and reduces the burden on both departmental and OMSA administrators with fewer emails, potential errors, or processing delays. 
• Please notify OMSA at HSC-OMSA@salud.unm.edu if you cannot locate your course or student in FACES. OMSA will first reach out to have the course and/or student added. If we are unable to resolve this promptly, evaluators may submit an evaluation using the online UNM MD Student Evaluation Smartsheet form.

• 901 - Research I
• 902 - Research II
• 903 - Research III

Visiting Students

• All visiting students should have an evaluation form submitted as a pre-application requirement in VSLO. Please download the Home School's desired form and submit it on behalf of the student via the school's instructions.
• A few institutions do not have a form of their own and instead ask that we use our own form for evaluation. Even if the institution states that no evaluation is necessary, we MUST complete a form for our records.

A reminder to CDs and Clerkship Coordinators:

• Email OMSA Manager once a student is notified of a failed shelf.
• Notify OMSA when a student remediates along with the submission of the Grade Change Form.
• OMSA Manager will notify LC mentors of a remediated grade when they receive the grade change.

Processes are subject to change.

UNM Phase III Student Scheduling Stages

1. Students attend a mandatory Phase III Meeting in the Spring of their 3rd year. (February)
2. Students meet with both an OMSA Career Advisor (Dean or Director) and a Specialty Match Advisor. (by April 30th)
3. After students have met with both advisors, they submit their Phase III Schedule Requests with their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Choices for each block selected from available "no prior approval" courses. (Due by May 1st)
4. Requests are reviewed for completeness and obvious discrepancies.
5. Class Phase II clerkships end (Mid-May)
6. Class adjustments are made and off-cycle Phase II clerkships are incorporated into Phase III schedule requests.
7. Schedule requests are uploaded and initial schedules are generated via an auto-scheduler.
8. Initial Phase III schedules are released. (Last week of May or first week of June)
9. ONLY AFTER the release of initial schedules may students begin approaching departments to begin the add/drop process for catalog courses in MD web/FACES for those courses where "prior approval" was required or if students want to attempt to rearrange their schedules.
10. AFTER UNM STUDENTS HAVE BEEN SCHEDULED (approx 2nd week of June) departments may begin sending offers to VSLO applicants.
11. ONGOING - Students initiate the add/drop process to change courses. Students must first initiate the drop of an existing course before adding the new course.

Departments see also the Visiting Students page, and Phase III Clerkship Coordinators Teams (with permission).

UNM as Host Institution

VSLO Application Stages

1. Upcoming academic year catalog(s) are made viewable-only in VSLO (approx March 15th)
2. UNM applications open in VSLO (approx April 1st)
   1. Applications (Student Applicants)
      • Applications to "OPEN" UNM courses are submitted in VSLO.
   2. Eligibility (OMSA)
      • OMSA Determines the Eligibility of each applicant. (see Eligibility Determinations below)
   3. Schedule (Departments)
      • Each department pre-schedules students. (The initial batch of applications received between April 1st and 15th is released to departments by approx April 15th). Denied applications can then be notified by OMSA right away as a courtesy.
   4. Approve (Departments)
      • Each department reviews the remaining applications and approves/denies each based on department standards.
   5. Notify (OMSA)
      • After approval, selections return to the OMSA queue and applicants receive notifications.
   6. Confirm (Student Applicants)
      • Successful applicants confirm their acceptance of an offered rotation.
3. OMSA begins the registration process for each applicant, including initiating Affiliation Agreements where needed. Students are advised not to make non-refundable travel and lodging arrangements until an affiliation agreement has been fully executed.
4. Once all processes are complete for a visiting student in VSLO, visiting students receive informational welcome packets approximately 3 weeks before their scheduled rotation starts. It is at this time that coordinator contact information is released and students are asked to contact the department with any further questions.

Affiliation Agreements

Determining Eligibility

VSLO Applications Only

VSLO, not VSAS!

• The official name of the AAMC system is VSLO.
• Please review your internal documentation and public-facing communications (i.e. web pages) for any references to "VSAS" and replace them with "VSLO."
• The change took effect with the 2019-2020 catalog year when the domestic "Visiting Student Application System" and the international "Global Health Learning Opportunities" were combined into one - "Visiting Student Learning Opportunities"
• VSLO has worked to develop its specific branding and style guidelines. We will steadily work to ensure our UNM branding can incorporate VSLO trademarks and style guidelines as we collectively work to create interest in our programs.

All visiting students must apply for a rotation through VSLO. Only final-year students seeking credit toward graduation may apply.

The UNM School of Medicine does not offer observerships or shadowing opportunities. No visitor may operate in a clinical capacity (i.e. scrub in or suture) if they are not on an official rotation as they would not be covered by liability.

Departments may work with UNM Hospital Volunteer Services to permit visitations within those parameters.

OMSA is unable to facilitate visitations outside of the VSLO application system.