{
 "standard": "data/img-opportunities.json — U.S. experience taxonomy and verified institutional opportunities. A row exists only where an official institutional programme was located; absence of a row means no formal programme was identified, never that none exists.",
 "asOf": "2026-09-01T21:00:00-07:00",
 "taxonomy": [
  {
   "term": "Elective",
   "typicalStatus": "Medical student",
   "handsOn": "Usually hands-on where the institution permits",
   "counts": "Most likely to satisfy a stated USCE requirement",
   "note": "Requires active student status at a school the host will accept."
  },
  {
   "term": "Sub-internship",
   "typicalStatus": "Medical student",
   "handsOn": "Student-level clinical participation",
   "counts": "Generally counted as clinical experience",
   "note": ""
  },
  {
   "term": "Externship",
   "typicalStatus": "Student or graduate",
   "handsOn": "Variable — sometimes hands-on graduate experience",
   "counts": "Depends entirely on the programme",
   "note": "The term is not uniformly defined. Ask what the activity actually involves rather than relying on the label."
  },
  {
   "term": "Observership",
   "typicalStatus": "Graduate",
   "handsOn": "Observation only; no independent patient care",
   "counts": "Some programmes count it, many do not",
   "note": "Do not assume an observership satisfies a stated USCE requirement."
  },
  {
   "term": "Research fellowship",
   "typicalStatus": "Graduate",
   "handsOn": "Research, not clinical",
   "counts": "Research experience, not automatically clinical experience",
   "note": ""
  },
  {
   "term": "Shadowing",
   "typicalStatus": "Either",
   "handsOn": "Observation",
   "counts": "Weakest form; rarely satisfies a requirement",
   "note": ""
  }
 ],
 "qualityTiers": [
  {
   "tier": "A",
   "label": "Academic institution-run clinical elective",
   "why": "Institutional supervision, defined curriculum, most likely to be recognised"
  },
  {
   "tier": "B",
   "label": "Academic institution-run observership",
   "why": "Institutional programme with a named host department"
  },
  {
   "tier": "C",
   "label": "Formal research fellowship or scholar position",
   "why": "Real output possible; not clinical experience"
  },
  {
   "tier": "D",
   "label": "Hospital or clinic observership with clear supervision",
   "why": "Legitimate where supervision and scope are documented"
  },
  {
   "tier": "CAUTION",
   "label": "Third-party paid placement",
   "why": "Verify that the named institution confirms the placement. Fees, promised letters and promised publications are the warning signs."
  }
 ],
 "institutions": [
  {
   "institution": "UCLA — David Geffen School of Medicine",
   "programme": "International visiting student electives",
   "audience": "Medical student",
   "access": "RESTRICTED",
   "detail": "DGSOM states that international visiting-elective participation is open only to pre-selected students from schools with established reciprocal exchange agreements. General international students cannot submit an ordinary VSLO elective application. VSLO is used for U.S. visiting students, which should not be presented as broadly available to students studying abroad.",
   "handsOn": "Clinical where permitted",
   "fee": null,
   "visa": null,
   "officialSource": "https://medschool.ucla.edu/",
   "lastVerified": "2026-09-01"
  },
  {
   "institution": "UCLA Health",
   "programme": "Physician observership",
   "audience": "Graduate (medical degree completed)",
   "access": "APPLICATION",
   "detail": "Published parameters include a completed medical degree, English proficiency, typically one to three months, host department or physician approval, and B-1 visa status. UCLA does not process the visa. A published application fee of $750 applies and the observer pays travel and living costs.",
   "handsOn": "Observation only",
   "fee": "$750 published application fee",
   "visa": "B-1 required; UCLA does not process it",
   "officialSource": "https://www.uclahealth.org/",
   "lastVerified": "2026-09-01"
  },
  {
   "institution": "UCLA",
   "programme": "UCLA IMG Program",
   "audience": "Specific eligible IMGs",
   "access": "NARROW — DISTINCT PROGRAMME",
   "detail": "A specialised programme with its own eligibility and immigration/residency requirements. It is not a route to outside rotations for arbitrary IMG applicants and must not be conflated with the general physician observership.",
   "handsOn": "Programme-specific",
   "fee": null,
   "visa": null,
   "officialSource": "https://medschool.ucla.edu/",
   "lastVerified": "2026-09-01"
  }
 ],
 "absenceRule": "Where no centralised IMG programme is identified at an institution, the correct statement is \"no centralised IMG programme identified; faculty-level opportunities may exist but require individual verification\" — not silence, and not an inference that the institution is closed."
}