jf1987
Distance/time by bus depends where in Tel Aviv, but yes you are right. Bus ride can range from 10-25 minutes depending where in Tel Aviv you are coming from. Extremely south locations like Jaffa and further east might take longer, especially in mid-day traffic. Living in Ramat Aviv I still went out a lot in Tel Aviv, so no worries.
Can't comment on your academic calendar dates as I do not know. My break between first and second year was lengthy, I went back to the states and worked a job for $$$. I believe the current 1st years get a nice big break as well. Some students go chill in the States, some work, some travel and do health volunteer activities, research.. whatever you want. Can't promise you your schedule will be the same but I would guess it's likely.
Work load 1st year was super light in the first block, which was nice, gave us a lot of free time to adjust here and explore the city. It gradually picks up steam as the year goes on. The school offered a 2-night a week Hebrew Class which I found to be not so great. I tended to be tired after a long day of lecture and I didn't like the teacher very much, stopped going. Some people stuck with it and liked it. Hebrew for 3rd / 4th year is definitely a great tool to have at your disposal but A LOT of us definitely get by quite fine without it. Usually we can find patients to interview or examine that speak English depending on the department and hospital. There are times when we cannot however and we tend to pair up with a Hebrew speaker student to translate and work as a team. This takes away a little bit from the experience. If you have will-power to learn Hebrew you'll love yourself later for it. Get an Israeli boyfriend or girlfriend and that tends to expedite the process. I myself cannot take a history in Hebrew and get by just fine in the hospital.
And yes, you get to be really good friends with your classmates. Everyone is always helping everyone else out for the most part, a lot of class emails and communication.
nycfuturedoc
Nobody can answer this question accurately for you. If someone does, they probably do not know. What I can say is every year people do get accepted off the wait-list from now until August.
correctdonkey
I went to the vast majority of all the classes/lectures 1st and 2nd year. A lot of my classmates stopped going late 1st year and dropped off during 2nd year. I thought the MAJORITY of the lecturers were fine. People study and learn differently, and some rather just learn the material on their own. I have to admit though, I find a lot of the lecturers add information and clinical points you will not find in the textbooks. Backing up concepts with peer-reviewed studies and so on. The school is starting to crack down on attendance it seems so this might be changing. Personally I think there should be some sort of mandatory lecture. There were some students that almost never came unless it was a mandatory CBL (case based learning) group exercise. You can expect clases with a CBL style session built in here and there.
Students live near campus 1st and 2nd year just because you are at school a lot especially if you go to class all the time. Also there is an AMAZING gym with outdoor/indoor swimming pools, weight rooms, and all sorts of group classes. We get a special rate there. Also basketball courts and a full size soccer field that we play on once a week. Since I went to class a lot and used the gym 3-4 times a week living near campus was great for me years 1 and 2, even when a lot of my classmates moved to Tel Aviv after first year. I don't regret it.
I really do not like studying in the library (which is VERY nice though), in fact, I think I only studied there once in my whole time here. We also have access to a room just for us on the 9th floor of our medical school building which you can access 24 hours a day. Some of the real hard core studiers essentially lived there for periods of time. I also really did not like it and never studied there. This is mainly because Ramat Aviv and Tel Aviv are beautiful (most of the year) and I much prefer to be on my balcony or apt desk with the windows open or sitting for hours at a sidewalk cafe or something. Undergrad I spent tons of time in the library. This is a very personal choice however.
From what you say, living in Tel Aviv might be a good fit for you if you'll enjoy the city.. and don't mind things being a bit more expensive. From my apartment in central Tel Aviv it takes me about 20-30 minutes to get to school by public transport door to door.
