Clinical Electives

Case Western Reserve University medical students, under the guidance of faculty advisors, self-arrange the final year of medical school to meet graduation requirements using the Centralized Scheduling Request System (cSRS). 

CWRU medical students should carefully review elective information and the scheduling process on the School Of Medicine Registrar website and in the online course catalog to fully understand scheduling requirements.

Rising final year medical students can begin self-scheduling 2-and 4-week AIs and electives at the VA, UH, CC, and MetroHealth in cSRS on February 1 prior to their final year.

Rising third year medical students can begin self-scheduling electives/AIs beginning on March 1 prior to their 3rd year.

Instructions

All Clinical Electives listed in the Course Catalog (Login Required) are scheduled in 2- or 4-week blocks only and in accordance with the appropriate academic calendar. Be sure to review the following:

Step 1

Log in to the online Course Catalog. Select any elective and review the course description for prerequisite requirements (if applicable) and scheduling instructions for cSRS. The course codes end in a letter that references a campus location (A = UH, B = Metro, C = Cleveland Clinic, D = VA, E = St. Vincent, M = School Of Medicine). Departmental policies vary, so request electives via cSRS starting 1-4 months in advance, depending on the rotation. Students must carefully review Core Clerkship prerequisite requirements, if any, before requesting an elective. 

Step 2 

Student requests submitted in cSRS are reviewed by the hospital coordinator regularly. When a hospital coordinator confirms a student elective request, the course will then be officially enrolled in SIS by the SOM Registrar's Office or the CCLCM Registrar (for College students), which adds the elective to your transcript. The elective must be in SIS to use the Clinical Assessment System (CAS) during the rotation in order for the final End of Rotation Assessment (EOR) to occur.

Reminders

All students must use CAS to log a patient log during each rotation as part of the final End of Rotation Assessment (EOR) process in order to receive full academic credit and a final grade for the transcript. This includes clinical electives from the Course Catalog as well as self-arranged Unlisted Electives. See Using the Clinical Assessment System for full instructions. 

An elective will be available in CAS 24-hours after the student has been enrolled in SIS. Students must add the rotation in CAS on the first day of the rotation by logging patient experiences. If the rotation is not added and a log is not started, an End of Rotation (EOR) Assessment cannot be generated and sent to the faculty assessor for a final grade.

For each semester, the enrollment period opens about 1.5 months prior to the start of the semester (does not open earlier). If a cSRS request has been confirmed by the hospital but not yet enrolled by our office, please be patient. This in no way affects any arrangements that are confirmed with a department. It simply means the enrollment will occur in SIS when the enrollment period opens for the University. 

For courses outside of the medical school, please note the university-wide academic calendar and use the Add/Drop form on our website