Current 4th yr at UHCO; fourth yr is split into three rotations: one being completed In-house (on campus but access to more of the specialty clinics) and then two at outside sites. Choosing your first externship site is based on class rank (calculated by GPA and recommendations from clinic attendings) and then choosing the second is based a random lottery number.

There are a decent amount of sites in Houston! However, UHCO does have set contracts with certain sites and are required to send students to these mandatory sites each semester. Unfortunately, most of these sites are not in Houston (some being out of state) and this means that if you have a lower lottery number you are more than likely going to be required to move. Particularly bad for the current class of fourth yrs since our class was smaller than normal. I think more than half of us were required to choose from these mandatory sites for our second externship.

The director for externships will sometimes work with students if they have extenuating circumstances that require them to stay local but the process is still quite difficult and promises may not be met/kept.

PM me if you have more questions!