**Notifications have been sent to students who were selected from our random selection process. Should more spots become available, we will be randomly selecting more students but there will be no further notification beyond Oct 4th 2024.

ONLY APPLICATIONS FROM STUDENTS SELECTED THROUGH THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LOTTERY WILL BE ACCEPTED. ALL OTHER APPLICATIONS WILL BE REJECTED, AND NO REFUNDS ISSUED.

FOR UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO FEES, PLEASE VISIT: https://afmcstudentportal.ca/visiting-electives-fees-by-school 

Before applying, you will need to review the “How to Have a Successful Application” video (coming soon).

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR INTERNATIONAL VISITING ELECTIVES

Applications may be rejected, if:  

• Requests are outside the application window (12 – 26 weeks) and/or placement window (January 20 – June 27, 2025)
• Selected start and end dates are not Monday and Friday (public holidays excluded) 
• Combined elective duration is greater than four weeks
• Requests are less than two weeks or more than four weeks
• Multiple applications for the same dates are submitted
• Synergy verification fails or is not complete when an application is submitted on the AFMC portal
• Failure to follow application policies and procedures

Application refunds ($250CAD) will not be issued if:

• You were NOT chosen as an applicant through the lottery process
• There is no placement agreement between your home school and the University of Toronto
  • For a complete list of schools with a placement agreement visit: https://md.utoronto.ca/visiting-elective-student-agreements
• If two or more AFMC placement applications are submitted for the elective period
• If you decide to withdraw your application due to personal circumstances (travel arrangements for example) anytime throughout the application and placement process

Do not contact preceptors or departments directly to inquire about elective placements. All elective booking must be done via the AFMC portal, which ensures an equitable process and prevents booking error. Students are not permitted to contact preceptors or site (placement) contacts directly (i.e. via phone or email) to arrange, hold, or book electives. Failure to abide by this administrative process may result in application rejection and/or reported as a professionalism lapse.

APPLICATION DATES FOR 2025 ELECTIVES

ELIGIBILITY

• Must be enrolled in a FAIMER/IMED-accredited medical school located outside of Canada
• Must be graduating in 2025 or 2026 (final or penultimate year)
• Undertaking clinical electives for academic credit only – no observerships or research placements are offered
• Must be selected in random selection process (lottery) to be eligible to proceed with application – no exceptions – irrespective of department or preceptor support
• Home school must have signed the University of Toronto’s Visiting Elective Student Agreement for student to be eligible to participate in the lottery. Placement agreements must be signed and in place by July 1, of the year prior to completing the elective
  • Visiting Elective student agreement for placements between January and June 2025 must be in place by July 1, 2024
• Completed or scheduled to complete the requirements below prior to elective placement date for the following specialities:
  • Emergency Medicine:
    • Must be in final year of study; completed core rotation or elective (minimum duration of two weeks)
  • General Internal Medicine or Internal Medicine
    • Completed core rotation or elective (minimum duration of two weeks)
    • CTU electives: Experience in CTU environment and able to excel on a multidisciplinary team
  • Pediatrics
    • Completed Pediatrics core rotation or elective (minimum duration of three weeks) for In-Patient Pediatrics at SickKids
    • Exception: Above pre-requisite is not required for Pediatric Dermatology, Adolescent Medicine, Neurology, Clinical and Metabolic Genetics, Social Pediatrics, Ambulatory Hospital Pediatrics and Community Pediatrics.

Note: Students from international schools should consider the time required for onboarding; a minimum three-week elective period is recommended.

Special Program Eligibility

For students interested in Pediatrics CVS, please visit the ‘Speciality Electives’ tab.

• Students who apply outside this process will be rejected and no refunds issued
• Students selected through the Pediatric CVS program are not permitted to apply for additional electives outside of the CVS program

Combining Programs

Students are permitted to participate in a maximum of one visiting elective program per year.

PLACEMENT AGREEMENTS

Students and home schools whose students are interested in our visiting electives programs must have signed the University of Toronto’s Visiting Elective Student Agreement by July 1 for placements in the following calendar year.

Students wishing to participate in the lottery for electives between January and June 2025 must have an agreement in place by July 1, 2024. No exceptions will be made.

A list of institutions which have signed this agreement may be found here.

If your school has not yet signed our agreement, then please visit this link to initiate the agreement signing process. Note: This process may take more than six months to complete. 

LOTTERY SELECTION

Students from international medical schools wishing to complete a visiting elective at the University of Toronto must first be selected through a randomized selection process to be eligible to apply for an elective.

It is very important that you have read carefully all prerequisite and fee requirements for International Visiting Elective Placements at the University of Toronto BEFORE applying to the lottery.

AFMC portal registration instructions will be provided to students who are successful in the lottery selection process.

Students who are not successful in the lottery will receive an email notifying them that they were not selected.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS 

Each application allows students to apply for one elective. Students may select up to five site preferences, one set of dates, and one specialty. See ‘FAQ’ tab for examples.

• For elective descriptions, including sub-specialties, refer to the University of Toronto Electives Catalogue
  • Not all electives in the catalogue are offered as visiting electives or have capacity.
• Electives are to be completed in two, three, or four-week durations (a minimum of 3 weeks is recommended)
• Each elective must be done in consecutive weeks with no breaks in between (e.g., vacation time)
• Students are limited to a maximum of four weeks in an academic year
• All electives begin on a Monday (except when Monday is a public holiday), in which case, the elective will begin on Tuesday and end on Friday

Application Timelines and Process

• Applications will be received a maximum of 26 weeks in advance and a minimum of 12 weeks prior to the elective start date (for examples visit our ‘FAQ’ tab)

• Applications should not be submitted outside of the 26-12 week window

• Students will be notified through the portal when there is a change to their application. If you have not received a status update regarding your placement application within 3 weeks of submitting your application, please contact the University of Toronto Electives Office (medicine.intelective@utoronto.ca)

Elective Capacity

• The elective portal capacity feature is not an indication of capacity and can change frequently; it is up to each site to identify and manage capacity
• There is not a central database of electives; these are maintained at the hospital level. It is not possible to provide elective availability, nor to advise which electives are more likely to receive an offer
• The University of Toronto Electives Office, as well as placement sites, do not carry a waitlist. If your request for placement cannot be accommodated, nor can your additional preferences, you will not be added to a waitlist and your application will be rejected
• Elective placements may be limited during the first two weeks of May and the first two weeks of June, as the University of Toronto offers electives to its own medical students during these time periods

Multiple Applications

• Submit one application for each set of dates
• Students may submit multiple applications (maximum of two applications) with different dates with a maximum combined elective duration of four weeks
• Students may select up to five site preferences per maximum of two applications

Change Requests

• Change in dates will be considered if your choices cannot be accommodated or if you are in contact with the electives office prior to offer/placement confirmation
  • If you would consider an alternative date, leave a comment on your application with one alternative date
• Once an elective has been published, changes are not permitted. This applies to dates, duration, and specialties. There are no exceptions to this policy.

Confirmation Process

• Students will receive an elective offer via email and must accept or reject the placement; an elective is not secured until the student logs into the portal to accept the placement
• Students have seven days to accept a placement offer (for information regarding acceptance fees, please review the University of Toronto fee schedule: https://afmcstudentportal.ca/visiting-electives-fees-by-school
• If a student does not accept a placement offer within seven days, the application will be automatically declined
• A confirmation/reminder email will be sent four to six weeks prior to the start of the elective date with additional information
• All electives must be confirmed via the portal prior to commencing

DOCUMENT REVIEW AND REQUIREMENTS 

Review

All international visiting elective students must review the policies of assigned clinical site, as well as the following University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine’s policies:

• Ethics and Professionalism
• Emergency Response
• Professional Practice and Behaviour
• Internet Use
• Student Relations with Industry

Required

All communication will occur through the AFMC portal. Check your portal account regularly for updates/comments from elective coordinators and placement contacts.

Consent to Disclose Information Form

Complete the Consent to Disclose Information form, providing consent for your personal information to be shared with Synergy for the purpose of document verification. Login details for Synergy Verified will be sent to your school email account, as provided on the Consent to Disclose Information form. Do not contact Synergy prior to receiving the activation email. Requests for account activation will be sent to Synergy on a weekly basis.

Should you not receive an activation link from Synergy after one week of completing the Consent to Disclose Information form, please reach out to University of Toronto’s Electives Office (medicine.intelective@utoronto.ca).

Submission

Do not submit an application to the AFMC portal unless all prerequisites listed below have been verified by Synergy with a “Pass” status or your request on the portal will be rejected and no refunds issued.

For more information regarding Synergy, please review the Synergy tab in the menu to the left.

Documents to upload to Synergy (do not upload these documents to the AFMC portal) rather upload PDFs (unless otherwise specified):

• University of Toronto Criminal Self-Disclosure Form
  • Pay particular attention to Section 3
• Citizenship
• A recent and clear photo of yourself
• AFMC Student Portal Immunization and Testing Form
  • New applicants graduating in 2025 or later must submit the 2023 AFMC immunization form
  • Review the AFMC Immunization guidelines at https://afmcstudentportal.ca/immunization for both students and healthcare providers prior to completing the immunization form
• Proof of annual influenza vaccine
  • Required for electives during November to June inclusive
• Proof of COVID-19 vaccine
• University of Toronto Learner Mistreatment Form

• Evidence of English proficiency
  • Required if the language of instruction at home school is not English. See following tests with the stated minimum accepted results
• If applicable, upload a valid Canadian Provincial Health Card

Note: All documents/certifications must be valid until the end of the elective period. Students are responsible to ensure all documents/certifications are valid.

Documents to upload to AFMC portal (do not upload these documents to Synergy)

Upload PDFs, unless otherwise specified:

• Attestation of Core Rotations/Electives & Year of Study Form
  • ALL international students must fill out the Section 1
  • Only those applying to specialities noted in the Eligibility section are required to complete Section 2
• Proof of Synergy verification – compliance summary indicating “PASS” status
• Proof of a current N95 mask fitting that is valid until the end of the student elective

Due to the significant volume of applications, email responses regarding status updates or declined applications are not possible. Thank you for your understanding.

Elective Confirmation

• Health insurance
  • For students without a valid Canadian health card:
    • University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP), secured through the MD Program Electives Office, is mandatory – the 2024 UHIP fee is $63CAD per month
    • Please contact the U of T Electives Office for more information on UHIP
• Malpractice insurance
  • Proof of insurance must be uploaded to the AFMC portal within six weeks of elective start-date
  • May be provided by home school
  • If not covered by home school, students must request coverage through a stand-alone insurance program at the University of Toronto
  • The program runs Jan 1 to Jan 1 and the current rate for $5 million limit is $244CAD plus 8%PST

Applications will be rejected, and no refunds issued if:

• Requests are made at the site/speciality level. Requests must be made at the sub-specialty level indicated by “apply here”
• Prerequisites are missing or incomplete
• Requests are outside the application window and placement window
• Selected start and end dates are not Monday and Friday (public holidays excluded)
• Combined elective duration is greater than six weeks
• Requests are less than two weeks or more than four weeks
• Multiple applications for the same dates are submitted

Application Dates

Eligibility

• Students registered in an MD Extension Program in Canada and identified on the Attestation of Core Rotations document (prerequisite document)
• Electives must be undertaken for academic credit only
• Completed requirements below prior to elective placement date for the following specialities:
  • General Internal Medicine or Internal Medicine
    • Completed internal medicine core rotation or elective in internal medicine (minimum duration of two weeks)
    • CTU electives: Experience in CTU environment and able to excel on a multidisciplinary team.
  • Pediatrics
    • Completed Pediatrics core rotation or elective (minimum duration of three weeks) for In-Patient Pediatrics at SickKids
    • Exception: Above pre-requisite is not required for Pediatric Dermatology, Adolescent Medicine, Neurology, Clinical and Metabolic Genetics, Social Pediatrics, Ambulatory Hospital Pediatrics and Community Pediatrics.

Note: Non-UofT students should consider the time required for onboarding; a three-week elective period is recommended.

Special Program Eligibility

• Pediatric CVS – See Speciality Electives tab. Students who apply outside this process will be rejected and no refunds issued.

Application Information

• Each application allows students to apply for one elective, one set of dates, and one specialty
  • If more than one specialty is indicated on the application, only the first specialty will be considered
• Up to three subspecialties can be listed in the comments section.
  • Note: Listing multiple subspecialities reduces the chance of a confirmed elective placement
• For elective descriptions, including sub-specialties, refer to the University of Toronto Electives Catalogue
  • Not all electives in the catalogue are offered or have capacity.
• Electives are to be completed in two, three, or four-week durations
• Each elective must be done in consecutive weeks with no breaks in between (e.g., vacation time)
• Students are limited to a maximum of six weeks in an academic year
• The maximum duration of six weeks includes confirmed elective placements that are declined, not responded to, or cancelled by students
• All electives begin on a Monday except when Monday is a public holiday, in which case, the elective will begin on Tuesday and end on Friday
  • Requests with a different start and end date will automatically be rejected

Application Timelines and Process

• Applications can be submitted a maximum of 26 weeks in advance and a minimum of six weeks prior to the elective start date
  • Applications received outside the 6-26 window will be rejected and no refunds issued
• Do not contact preceptors if you are requesting placements 26-12 weeks in advance
• Students must apply at the sub-specialty level indicated by “apply here” on the portal; applications at other levels will be rejected and no refunds issued
• We cannot offer status updates. Students will be notified through the portal when there is a change to their application

Elective Capacity

• The elective portal capacity feature is not an indication of capacity it is up to each site to identify capacity.
• There is not a central database of electives; these are maintained at the hospital level. It is not possible to provide elective availability, nor to advise which electives are more likely to receive an offer.
• We do not carry a waitlist. If your request for placement cannot be accommodated, you will not be added to a waitlist and your application will be rejected. 
• Currently, Anesthesia at SickKids are not accepting visiting students

Multiple Applications

• Submit one application for each set of dates.
• Students may submit multiple applications (maximum of three applications) with different dates with a maximum combined elective duration of six weeks.

Change Requests

• Once an elective has been published, changes are not permitted. This applies to dates, duration, and specialties. There are no exceptions to this policy.

Confirmation Process

• Students will receive an elective offer via email and must accept or reject the placement; an elective is not secured until the student logs into the portal to accept the placement.
• Students have seven days to accept a placement offer
• A confirmation/reminder email will be sent four weeks prior to the start of the elective date with additional information.
• All electives must be confirmed via the portal prior to commencing

Arranged Electives for Students Applying Between Six to Eight Weeks ONLY

• Students requesting placement between six to eight weeks of the elective start date are required to arrange their placement prior to submitting an application.
• Applications received later than six weeks prior to the start date will be rejected and no refund issued.
• Students may refer to the University of Toronto Electives Catalogue to independently seek out supervisors or elective opportunities
• The AFMC Student Portal and the MedSIS electives catalogue are two different databases and are not linked
• Due to limitations, not all elective descriptors are listed on the AFMC Student Portal
• Preceptor or placement contact information including an email address must be detailed in the comment section of your application
• Arranging an elective six to eight weeks prior to the elective start date does not guarantee your application will be accepted. All other requirements must also be met.
• Information regarding arranged placements, submitted after an elective placement is secured by the electives office, will not be considered

Document Review and Requirements 

Review

All incoming visiting elective students must review the policies of their assigned clinical site, as well as the following University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine’s policies:

• Ethics and Professionalism
• Emergency Response
• Professional Practice and Behaviour
• Internet Use
• Student Relations with Industry

Required

All communications should occur through the portal. Check the portal regularly for updates/comments from elective coordinators.

Upload PDFs, unless otherwise specified:

• University of Toronto Criminal Self-Disclosure Form
  • Upload to portal only; not ShareFile
• A recent and clear photo of yourself
• AFMC Student Portal Immunization and Testing Form
• Police Records Check for Service with Vulnerable Sector (only for Quebec students)
  • Obtained from the police station
• Attestation of Core Rotations/Electives & Year of Study Form
  • ALL domestic students must fill out the Section 1.
  • Only those applying to the specialities mentioned in the Eligibility section, are required to complete Section 2.
• Proof of a current N95 mask fitting
• Proof of up-to-date influenza vaccine
  • Only required for electives occurring during November to June inclusive
• Proof of COVID-19 vaccine