Course Registration

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) students use OASIS for all Differentiation and Integration (D&I) registration. Students who do not have access to OASIS should submit a ticket by clicking the OPEN TICKET: Contact VP&S Education link in UserVoice.

Reviewing the OASIS Catalog

Students should review the OASIS catalog to determine which electives they want to take and what months electives are offered. Not all electives are offered during all months, so students are encouraged to read the descriptions carefully, including the Notes section for each course link. It is recommended that students review the OASIS catalog thoroughly before each lottery opens, as course changes may be made throughout the year.

Course Codes

Course codes consist of a two-letter prefix, a sequence number, and a one-letter suffix. The prefix indicates the specialty or department, and the suffix indicates the location of the elective. Example: UR01P is an elective in urology (UR) at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (P).

Registration Process

Three to four times a year, lotteries will be coordinated to set up preliminary enrollment. Students will make selections within OASIS, and the lottery will enroll students based on availability and each student's lottery number.

After each lottery, students will be given the opportunity to add/drop courses at any time up until four weeks (28 days) prior to each start date. For more information on the OASIS registration process, please review UserVoice.

Scholarly Project

Scholarly Project months are listed in the course catalog under the "Scholarly Project" department. Students can sign up for the first month without any special approval. To sign up for month two and beyond, students need mentor approval and a proposal in place. Students should add themselves to the waitlist for the months that correspond to their proposal.

Wait-listed Courses

Several electives in the OASIS catalog are listed as wait-listed courses because of the site location (Stamford and Bassett) or because their enrollment may be variable throughout the year. These are courses that require permission from the course director or site before enrollment can be secured. These courses cannot be added during the lottery. Once the lottery is closed and results have been released, add/drop settings will open up and students can add themselves to the wait list for these courses. In order to best capture first-come, first-served interest for a course, students are discouraged from reaching out to the course director or administrator prior to each semester lottery. After the lottery, students may reach out for permission, and registration will be approved once confirmation is forwarded to pselectives@cumc.columbia.edu.

Enrollment in electives at Bassett Healthcare must have approval from Bassett before registration is finalized. After each lottery, students may contact the hospital's Office of Medical Education at 800-852-4566 for more details.

Self-Arranged Electives: Preceptorships and Research

All self-arranged preceptorships and research electives are included in the OASIS catalog. If you plan to arrange or have already arranged a preceptorship or research elective, please review the instructions in UserVoice.

Away Electives

If you have arranged an away elective that is four weeks in length (three weeks for the University of California system), please review the instructions in UserVoice.

Global Health Electives

For more information on global health electives, please visit our Global Health CourseWorks site.

Interview/Vacation Months

VP&S students are required to register for at least one month of vacation during peak interview season. To register for interview/vacation months, students will add two different courses: OME-VA91P and OME-IV90P. Students should utilize OME-IV90P for interview/vacation months taken between November and January. OME-VA91P can be utilized for any interview/vacation months taken outside of the November - January window. Interview/Vacation information can be found in the VP&S Office of Medical Education section in OASIS.