Visiting Students

The Department of Dermatology offers two visiting student programs: Dermatology Visiting Student Scholarship and General Visiting Students. 

Students will rotate at one or a combination of our teaching hospitals/clinics: UW Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center, and Roosevelt Clinic. 

General Visiting Students Overview

We love to meet students from other institutions, as you bring a different perspective and experience to our clinic and hospitals.  Unless your medical school does not have a dermatology program, we recommend doing no more than 1-2 away rotations in Dermatology for the following reasons:

• Away rotations are very expensive for students. The expectation that applicants must have done several away rotations disadvantages some students and makes the process less equitable and unnecessarily stressful for applicants.
• Our current climate crisis requires that we stop encouraging cross-country flights solely to bolster applications.
• We value students that have a passion for dermatology, but even more so those who have gained a broad exposure to other fields of medicine that will serve them well throughout their career.  These other non-derm electives make you a better physician in the long term.

Commitment to Holistic Application Reviews

In order to select the best applicants for the University of Washington Dermatology rotation and to improve equity in Dermatology please know:

• Students do not need to rotate at UW to be considered for a residency position later, nor do we guarantee interviews to those who do rotate here. 
• We do not have a minimum Step 1 or 2 board score to consider you for our program. 
• We review EVERY application we get for residency in its entirety.  We do not reject any applications based upon any screening criteria. 

TO APPLY

Below is the application timeline for visiting students applying to a dermatology elective at the University of Washington. Applicants must be fourth‑year medical students in good standing and have successfully completed eight weeks of required internal medicine rotations by the start of their rotation. All applications must be submitted through VSLO by March 16, 2026.

Required Application Materials

All of the following materials must be uploaded to VSLO:

• The UW Dermatology Supplemental Visiting Student Application is required for consideration and can be accessed in VSLO when applying to DERM 604. Instructions for applying to the Dermatology Visiting Student Scholarship will be included in the supplemental application.
• Recent medical school transcript
• Recent curriculum vitae (CV)

Application Timeline

• February 2, 2026
  VSLO Elective Catalog becomes visible to visiting students.
• March 2, 2026
  VSLO Elective Catalog becomes active, and visiting students may begin submitting applications. Applications must include supplemental application, recent medical school transcript, and recent CV.
• March 16, 2026
  Application deadline.
• April 2026
  Selected applicants will be notified.

For questions, please contact drmedstu@uw.edu.

application requirements

• Fourth year medical student standing and successful completion of 8 weeks internal medicine rotation(s) 
• UW Dermatology Supplemental Visiting Student Application uploaded to VSLO
• Recent transcript uploaded to VSLO
• Recent CV uploaded to VSLO

Cancellations

You must withdraw at least 6 weeks before your starting date. Fees are non-refundable. All cancelations and changes must be made in writing to the department contact listed above.

Absence Policy

Please note our absence policy. Each elective has standard days off (weekends off for DERM 604 electives). Additional days off are generally not allowed. Please do not schedule an elective during a time when you are expecting to do residency interviews. One day off for a local interview may be granted with at least two weeks of advanced notice at the discretion of the clerkship director.

DERM 604 – Clinical Dermatology

Open ONLY to students applying for a residency in Dermatology. Participation in dermatology clinics and inpatient consultations at either University of Washington Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center, and Roosevelt Clinic. Grand Rounds, Journal Club and other didactics are held each week with entire staff in addition to a continuing series of teaching seminars and weekly dermatopathology conferences.