Africa and Middle East Israeli Schools

Started by ramona223
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ramona223

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Has anyone applied to the Israeli schools this fall or winter (when?) and have you heard yet (when?)? I applied in late November and have not heard anything from anyone (although, I know with the holiday breaks and stuff)...

Someone else I talked to applied to Sackler last year in June and said the whole process took 2 weeks...But maybe because that was in June.
I guess some people are still waiting to see if they'll get into American schools-I haven't seen posts lately on the Israeli programs, it's been pretty dismal around here.

Does anyone who got accepted or rejected know how long it took? Stats would be appreciated as well.

Thanks!
Ramona
 
I wouldn't worry so much, last year I got one of the first interview dates, but they did not send me the invite till the middle of January. The New York office isn't so great about keeping up communication, especially now, since this still 'early' for them, it seemed like they didn't really get rolling until april/may. Just keep patient and maybe give them a phone call to make sure that all of your paperwork was recieved.

Good Luck!
 
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punchberry said:
The timeline for Sackler is listed on the web site:

http://med.tau.ac.il/ny/application.htm

As far as I know, they do not interview anyone earlier than that.


Hi Punch,
Thanks for the link...See, I knew they don't do the actual interview before February, but when do they NOTIFY you that they want an interview, and WHEN in February do the interviews BEGIN?

Are rejections without interviews sent out right away, or later in the game? Those are the things I can never tell from checking school timetables...Grrr..
Ramona
 
drkoriesh said:
😱 😱 i wander about those who want israeli schools, don't u know that israel is occuping the palastenian lands and the palestenian resistance fight against the israelian army to retain the palastenian lands, and every day there are many people killed from both sides,

u should think many times before going there

...wow, that was, to say the least, a rather ignorant comment.
 
Shoma irani hastid? Man irani hastam and I also applied and waiting to hear back. I spoke to the NY office last week and she said if you dont get a letter for an interview or rejection by the end of this month, call her as something is probably wrong. Therefore, hang in there another 2 weeks.

In response to the Palestinian thing, first, Citizens of Israel are Israeli, not Israelians - and if you want to defend the Palestinian cause, which is very admirable, I suggest you prepare yourself very well before sitting at the discussion table. If you have questions though, let me know, I majored in International Relations and Diplomacy with a concentration in Arab-Israeli relations.
 
In response to the Palestinian thing, first, Citizens of Israel are Israeli, not Israelians - and if you want to defend the Palestinian cause, which is very admirable, I suggest you prepare yourself very well before sitting at the discussion table. If you have questions though, let me know, I majored in International Relations and Diplomacy with a concentration in Arab-Israeli relations.[/QUOTE]

Hey Timbo...

I'm a couple of years from applying but am interested in the Ben gurion school or possibly Sackler. I'm trying to get a sense of the people i would be both surrounded by and be studying with if I went to Israel.

I am wary of religious convictions as they pertain to armed conflict. I believe we all are equal as god's children.

My question to you or anybody here for that matter is something like this. Will I be at odds with the people their if I don't have a healthy does of Israeli nationalism?

Thanks, Ben.
 
Timbo0984 said:
Shoma irani hastid? Man irani hastam and I also applied and waiting to hear back. I spoke to the NY office last week and she said if you dont get a letter for an interview or rejection by the end of this month, call her as something is probably wrong. Therefore, hang in there another 2 weeks.

In response to the Palestinian thing, first, Citizens of Israel are Israeli, not Israelians - and if you want to defend the Palestinian cause, which is very admirable, I suggest you prepare yourself very well before sitting at the discussion table. If you have questions though, let me know, I majored in International Relations and Diplomacy with a concentration in Arab-Israeli relations.

I just heard from Sackler, and they told me that the Committee will BEGIN looking at applications in FEBRUARY. Not sure when the rest of you applied, but my application was complete by December.
 
ramona223 said:
I just heard from Sackler, and they told me that the Committee will BEGIN looking at applications in FEBRUARY. Not sure when the rest of you applied, but my application was complete by December.

Just out of curiosity - would going to an Israeli school mean that you would be considered an IMG? What language do the schools teach in and do you have to write the MCAT? Lastly - you probably can't answer this unless you are one yourself - but do visible minorities get discriminated against by Israelis?
 
xylem29 said:
Just out of curiosity - would going to an Israeli school mean that you would be considered an IMG? What language do the schools teach in and do you have to write the MCAT? Lastly - you probably can't answer this unless you are one yourself - but do visible minorities get discriminated against by Israelis?

I'm running out the door, but here's the quick and dirty ...
1. Yes, you are considered an IMG (but BGU has a good record compared to most IMG schools for getting students into good residencies.
2. The BGU-MSIH program is taught in English, but you are expected to reach some level of competence by your 3rd year to make working on the wards possible. Yes, this is on top of your med school load.
3. Yes, you must write the MCAT ... newest data from the last class to enter (my class) was that average MCAT was 28 or 29 can't remember.
4. There is no open discrimination of minorities, in fact BGU is situated in a town with many immigrants and cultures (great for international medicine). I did hear of a rare and very benign incident, but Israeli's are very well traveled and cultured people ... it is usually never an issue. I would love to see more diversity at our school.
 
xylem29 said:
Just out of curiosity - would going to an Israeli school mean that you would be considered an IMG? What language do the schools teach in and do you have to write the MCAT? Lastly - you probably can't answer this unless you are one yourself - but do visible minorities get discriminated against by Israelis?

So far as I have seen, there isn't discrimination against minorities here; although as the fellow from BGU said, I have heard of an incident (but it was quite minor as far as discrimination goes). If you don't mind me asking, what minority are you? You may find that it's not such a minority here. As for grades, here at Sackler they definitely feel that you are more than the sum of your numbers, but you are required to take the MCAT. As for Hebrew, you can get by without knowing it, but they definitely would like you to be able to speak when it comes time for your clinical years.
 
I know this wasn't aimed at me, but I'm just going to throw my $.02 in (or 10 agarot as it would be here). Sackler is in a suburb of Tel Aviv, and Tel Aviv is very reminiscent of a European city. It is laid-back, and very secular (especially as compared to Jerusalem).

As for a healthy dose of nationalism, I don't think anyone would notice one way or the other. While all of us really seem to enjoy Israel, I don't think anyone of us would qualify as having a huge dose of Israeli nationalism. Hope that helps.

--Dave

Hey Timbo...

I'm a couple of years from applying but am interested in the Ben gurion school or possibly Sackler. I'm trying to get a sense of the people i would be both surrounded by and be studying with if I went to Israel.

I am wary of religious convictions as they pertain to armed conflict. I believe we all are equal as god's children.

My question to you or anybody here for that matter is something like this. Will I be at odds with the people their if I don't have a healthy does of Israeli nationalism?

Thanks, Ben.
 
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xylem29 said:
Well - I'm asian - are asians ORM in isarel too?

No, Asians are definitely not ORM here, but there are Asians around. There are a few Asians in each of the other year classes.
 
dhm2101 said:
No, Asians are definitely not ORM here, but there are Asians around. There are a few Asians in each of the other year classes.

Well - I don't think I'll be heading to Israel for med since I do not have intentions of staying and wouldn't want to have to learn another language while doing med...though I would love to visit. What are the best places to visit for a first timer like myself??
 
xylem29 said:
Well - I don't think I'll be heading to Israel for med since I do not have intentions of staying and wouldn't want to have to learn another language while doing med...though I would love to visit. What are the best places to visit for a first timer like myself??

The program here at Sackler isn't designed for us to stay and practice medicine here in Israel (in fact, it's frowned upon, due to the tuition costs). That and all the classes are taught in English. Hebrew is good to know for when you spend time in the hospitals, but it's not a requirement by any means.
 
dhm2101 said:
I know this wasn't aimed at me, but I'm just going to throw my $.02 in (or 10 agarot as it would be here). Sackler is in a suburb of Tel Aviv, and Tel Aviv is very reminiscent of a European city. It is laid-back, and very secular (especially as compared to Jerusalem).

As for a healthy dose of nationalism, I don't think anyone would notice one way or the other. While all of us really seem to enjoy Israel, I don't think anyone of us would qualify as having a huge dose of Israeli nationalism. Hope that helps.

--Dave

I always considered Tel Aviv more of a dirty Russian city (which isn't hard to do considering that all the Russian immigrants seem to live there).
 
surebreC said:
I always considered Tel Aviv more of a dirty Russian city (which isn't hard to do considering that all the Russian immigrants seem to live there).

And that could be why some of my classmates live in Jerusalem. Not to mention, that most of us live just outside Tel Aviv. And you, like everyone else, is entitled to his/her opinion. As an FYI, those Russian immigrants have some good genes, and produced some very beautiful women. 😎
 
dhm2101 said:
And that could be why some of my classmates live in Jerusalem. Not to mention, that most of us live just outside Tel Aviv. And you, like everyone else, is entitled to his/her opinion. As an FYI, those Russian immigrants have some good genes, and produced some very beautiful women. 😎

Hey, I wont argue about the beauty of those Russian immigrants, just the beauty of Tel Aviv. I prefer Jerusalem, even if it shuts down for Shabbos. How do you classmates commute to Tel Aviv everyday? That's about an hour drive from Jtown right (well, when I was there last time it was more like 2 hours because of all the anti-disengagement protestors).
 
surebreC said:
I always considered Tel Aviv more of a dirty Russian city (which isn't hard to do considering that all the Russian immigrants seem to live there).

I will agree with you that Be'ersheva is not exactly the pride of Israel. However, I think it's important to look at it from a different perspective. The diversity of the city is really incredible. Where else can you find a top trauma hospital in which there are 4 primary languages ... Hebrew, Russian, Arabic, and Amhari? I think Ben Gurion is the best medical school in Israel, first for it's teaching philosophy, and second for its multicultural location. If your interests in medicine sway toward the developing world, or even a deep inner city where sociocultural issues are frequently more of a problem than the patients' ailments, then BGU is the place to go. Yes, the nightlife is lacking, but because it's such a huge campus with tons of students there is always something fun to do (of course Tel Aviv is only 1.5 hours away).
 
The guys that live there have cars, and they drive back and forth daily. They don't seem to mind it too much.

surebreC said:
Hey, I wont argue about the beauty of those Russian immigrants, just the beauty of Tel Aviv. I prefer Jerusalem, even if it shuts down for Shabbos. How do you classmates commute to Tel Aviv everyday? That's about an hour drive from Jtown right (well, when I was there last time it was more like 2 hours because of all the anti-disengagement protestors).
 
dhm2101 said:
The guys that live there have cars, and they drive back and forth daily. They don't seem to mind it too much.
When I spoke to them last they did not seem to enjoy it too much either esp. the having to wake up very early evey morning