The AFMC Working Group on Application Fees and Refunds has been investigating the impact of students applying for concurrent dates and would like to raise student awareness and encourage best practice.

It is common for students to apply three times for visiting electives on the same or overlapping dates. This can mean that host schools are simultaneously completing three unique searches. While students can’t hold more than one confirmed elective at a time, they can leave requests for concurrent weeks pending after accepting an elective. As a result, this can inflate the queue for other students interested in the same weeks. This practice can inadvertently lead to students spending more on visiting elective applications. 

The working group encourages students to cancel open applications for concurrent dates in a timely manner if they receive and accept an elective placement, particularly if you have already received the elective of your choice.

The AFMC Student Portal experienced serious technical difficulties with its server between 7:50 am EST on Easter Monday April 22 and 8:50 am EST on Tuesday April 23. New applications were not accepted, email notifications were not sent and users were unable to upload documents to existing applications during this specific time. AFMC resolved the technical issue and communicated all who had contacted the Portal help desk. AFMC has identified the 168 student applications that have been affected. A total of 73 applications were delayed in processing by more than a week due to email notifications not being sent to Placement Contacts. AFMC will refund the faculties’ elective application fees for these 73 applications even if the student secured an elective at the school of choice, found another visiting elective or cancelled the application.

AFMC would like to thank the Elective Coordinators who alerted us to the issue and worked quickly to manage this situation and minimize impact to students.

Please email service@afmcstudentportal.ca if you any questions or concerns.

Questions and Answers

Q. How does the visiting elective process work and what processes were affected on April 22 and 23?
A. Students log into the Portal and submit a visiting elective application. When an Elective Coordinator (EC) processes a student’s application they can send a request to a Placement Contact to see if there is availability to host a visiting student. Placement contacts typically work in clinical locations. The Placement Contact receives an email with the details of the request (dates, specialty, etc.). The email has three ‘buttons’ embedded in it allowing the Placement Contact to “Accept” “Decline” or “Propose a Change”. They do not need to log into the Portal to perform this task and rely on direct links within the email to perform desired action. The Elective Coordinator, using the Portal, sees the request was sent on their dashboard. Likewise, medical students could also see placement offers on their dashboards. The emails to the Placement Contacts and students failed to send between April 22nd and April 23rd. In addition, new applications were not accepted and users were unable to upload documents to existing applications during this specific time.

Q. Why did this technical problem occur?
A. The technical difficulties were due to server capacity constraints with the information technology (IT) service provider. AFMC will be enhancing the process of verification of issues with the IT service provider to ensure this does not happen again.

Q. How do I know if my application was impacted?
A. If your application was impacted, you will be contacted.

Q. Will impacted students get a refund?
A. A total 73 applications were delayed in processing due to email notifications not being sent to Placement Contacts. AFMC will refund the faculties’ elective application fees for these 73 applications even if the student secured an elective at the school of choice, found another visiting elective or cancelled the application.

May 24, 2019 - Information for International Students Applying through Limited Enrollment at Host Schools

Limited Enrollment (LE) is a two-step randomized application process used by medical schools to give students an equal opportunity to access the application process for visiting electives when the demand is high but the number of spaces available is limited. AFMC has a help document and FAQs to help guide you through the limited enrollment process.

Help Document: Limited Enrollment (LE) for Students, FAQs: Limited Enrollment

Upcoming LE Registration Periods

The University of Toronto

• June  25, 2019 – July 16, 2019 for January - March, 2020 electives

McMaster University

• July 2, 2019 – July 29, 2019 for January - June, 2020 electives

The University of Ottawa

• August 12, 2019 – August 23, 2019 for January - April, 2020 electives  

*Dates are subject to change, always consult the institution profile ahead of time

May 16, 2019 - Help Desk Support during Victoria Day 

The AFMC offices will be closed on May 20 for Victoria Day. Any tickets sent to the Help Desk will be addressed on Tuesday May 21.

The AFMC office will be closed on April 19 for Good Friday and on April 22 for Easter Monday. Any tickets sent to the Help Desk will be addressed on Tuesday April 23, 2019.

April 9, 2019 - CCME Meeting Schedule

Each year, the Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME) is the venue for the Portal team to directly engage with stakeholders on issues and priorities for visiting electives in Canada.The Portal Team will meet with the AFMC Electives Network to provide an update and we are hosting three meetings: the Portal Data Analysis Working Group, AFMC Student Portal Steering Committee, and the AFMC Working Group on Application Fees and Refunds.For more information, please contact Fatou Thioune, Project and Communications Assistant at fthioune@afmc.ca

About the Conference

The Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME), April 13-16, 2019, is the premier medical education conference in Canada. It hosts the largest annual gathering of medical educators in the country and this year McMaster University is hosting the conference.

Effective today, the application period for students enrolled in a Medical school in Canada is reduced from 28 weeks to 26 weeks. Students will be able to submit their applications no earlier than 26 weeks in advance of their start date.