"jew friendly" medical schools

[acnikyj]

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aside from albert einstein, can anyone suggest any med schools that would work well with an orthodox jew's schedule? (ie no friday classes past 3, during rotations, the ability to have saturdays off, maybe even holidays such as rosh hashanah and yom kippur off...) i'm specifically looking for schools in the northeast, but i'd me more than happy to consider any school that would work with my observance.

thanks.

Nicole

 

[dnt107]

NYU fits all the descriptions that you asked for...and just an observation, there are a very large number of jews in my class...at least relative to the entire countries population (NYC's population is probably much closer)

 

[Becket]

I agree with NYU...but during 3rd and 4th year, you will occasionally have to be on-call on Saturday.

 

[AJM]

One of my classmates at Stanford is an Orthodox Jew, and over the last 4 years our school has really worked with his schedule to help him out, even in the clinical years. I think it will be relatively easy to work things out no matter which med school you go to (as long as you have a generally supportive administration).

The main problem I think you will face is trying to maintain your schedule through internship and residency. I'm not sure how my classmate plans to do this -- I'll have to ask him.

 

[r124c41]

During rotations and residency, you're part of hospital staff. Do you think the hospitals in Israel close down on the Sabbath and on high holy days?

 

[AJM]

Okay, I think I need to clarify what I previously said. My classmate has been able to be excused from lectures and clinical rotations on Jewish holidays and the sabbath for the majority of med school. I think that is relatively easy to do in medical school, because med students aren't typically considered crucial to patient care.

What I meant about residency is not that all Jewish residents take off during the sabbath and holidays, but that some individual Jews may feel that they must take off because of their particular religious beliefs. I think that my classmate would like to work things out in the future so that he can get these times off.

Now I don't want to get into a religious debate, but I think I remember hearing that in Israel (as well as maybe other places) they made an exception for health care workers who are Orthodox Jews to be able to practice medicine on the Sabbath and holidays, so hospitals do not have to be "shut down". I don't know the specifics on this, but I digress...

I think any time you are trying to work out your work schedule to accommodate your individual needs, it is much more difficult to do so in residency than in med school. I can't imagine that residents would switch with a fellow resident every single Friday night and Saturday during their entire residency. People are working long enough hours so that in itself would be extremely difficult to coordinate. But then again, this isn't what Nicole was originally asking about... 🙂

 

[lilycat]

I agree with what ajm said about most schools being willing to accomodate your needs. I go to Baylor, and they changed the exam schedule for some students so that it wouldn't conflict with Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah for them.

 

[Toran]

Touro is sabbath friendly: they shutdown at five on Friday (everything is closed, EVERYTHING), and don't open until Sunday morning.

Hope this helps

 

[MikeS 78]

I think any where in NY is likely to be jewish friendly. I go to columbia and the whole school gets off for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah....as well as this a good portion of the preclinical faculty as well as the attendings are jewish......I had a urology attending who used to start clinic 30 min late on wednesday so he could run across the street to go pray

i dont know about saturdays off...and I'm sure there is probably no school better for your needs than einstein......most NYC schools would probably be rather accommodating

 

[cg1]

Nicole,

Several of my friends go to NYU and they are very impressed with how "Jewish friendly" it is there.

But like someone else pointed out, I would bet that most NY schools would be accomodating. 🙂

 

[Firebird]

Originally posted by acnikyj:
•aside from albert einstein, can anyone suggest any med schools that would work well with an orthodox jew's schedule? (ie no friday classes past 3, during rotations, the ability to have saturdays off, maybe even holidays such as rosh hashanah and yom kippur off...) i'm specifically looking for schools in the northeast, but i'd me more than happy to consider any school that would work with my observance.

thanks.

Nicole•

FINALLY!

There's someone out there with the same kind of problem as me!

In fact, I'm surprised that no one has mentioned my "Important Question" thread from the residencies and rotations forum.

Anyway, Nicole, here's my situation. I'm a member of the Church of Christ and we do not miss Sunday services for any reason, unless we are just physically unable to be there...and so any academic or job related situation must take a backseat to worship services.

So we have the same concern. Most people indicate that it will be fairly difficult to make it through residency with this situation. However, it has been mentioned to me that it would be fairly easy for a pathology resident to be out of the hospital every Sunday morning.

However, I won't necessarily want to do path. I would like ER, which wouldn't be as bad after residency...and if it wasn't for the PGY-1 and some of the PGY-2 rotations, it wouldn't be as difficult as other residencies.

Anyway, something that might help you would be to pair off with someone like me...someone who doesn't want to work Sundays...and you would be able to work their Sunday shifts, and the other person would be able to work your Friday/Saturday shifts.

I know if I could find someone to pair off with, I would be elated.

 

[Firebird]

Here's the link to my previous thread that is very similar to this one. Check it out.

 

[mikegoal]

nicole
i am orthodox and I am currently a first year at upstate if you have any questions about it email me at [email protected]

 

[groundhog]

I'm surprized that firebird does not recall the story of Jesus being rebuked for healing on the sabbath. Jesus responded by inquiring as to which of his detractors would not rescue his sheep that had fallen into a well on the sabbath. Jesus's accusers were left chagrined. I do not know if the point made in the story is consistant with Orthodox Jewish teaching, but a member of the Church of Christ would surely feel comfortable with said object lesson.

 

[Firebird]

Originally posted by groundhog:
•I'm surprized that firebird does not recall the story of Jesus being rebuked for healing on the sabbath. Jesus responded by inquiring as to which of his detractors would not rescue his sheep that had fallen into a well on the sabbath. Jesus's accusers were left chagrined. I do not know if the point made in the story is consistant with Orthodox Jewish teaching, but a member of the Church of Christ would surely feel comfortable with said object lesson.•

I do remember the story. I would explain the story in it's context, but I'm afriad it wouldn't be appropriate here. Check the link above...I believe it contains an explanation of that particular story. If you can't find it, email me.

Thanks for the thought, though.

 

[Firebird]

Originally posted by proffit:
•How can you ride a bike in that suit? Doesn't it get frustrating when people slam the door in your face?•

Maybe I missed something, but could you explain what you mean by this?

 

[Idon'tknow??]

If you are truly Orthodox (frum) you will want to go to Einstein or Touro in California. I'm told that 1st year students at Touro get off for all the Jewish holidays and they never have class after 3pm on Fridays.

 

[groundhog]

firebird,
I found the link. Apparently you feel that the sabbath healing story is not applicable in your case because Chistians are no longer bound by the Old Testament. I believe the principle of the story would still apply in your case. However I am not versed enough in logic to produce a formal proof that would point to an error in your thought.

Because you are likely a very caring person, I imagine that you experience some conflicting emotions when confronted with having to choose between aiding others and attending worship services. I do not experience such conflicts, but I do feel sympathetic towards your situation.