SACKLER

What Slacker???

Are you talking about me? j/k

 

Skye,

I'm currently a third year at Sackler and I'll try to give you a quick overview about the program. It's a program through The University of Tel Aviv for American citizens, and received its license through the educational board in New York. It is considered a foreign medical school in all states outside of New York - within NY, we are considered a US medical school, as if the school was actually located in the state.

It's a four-year MD program based on the traditional medical system - 2 years preclinical and 2 years clinical. Everything is taught in English, but knowing Hebrew definitely is a plus for the 3rd and 4th years (By the way, I know no Hebrew, and I get along fine). We take the USMLE Step 1 after the second year and Step 2 after the third year. The only additional tests we need to take to be licensed in the US are the English Proficiency test and the Clinical Skills Assessment (a test in Philadelphia, soon to be given to all medical students in the US as well).

The first two years at Sackler are what I imagine any medical school to be like - Anatomy, Physiology/Endocrinology, Pathology, Biochem, Intro to Internal Medicine, Pharmacology, etc. etc. We use the same books everybody else does, so we learn the exact same material. As with any school, there are some good professors teaching you, and some not so good... we have had some pretty amazing professors however. One of our professors for anatomy travels to Ethiopia every year to do archeological digs - he is credited with finding the oldest known human skull, and if you walk into his office, you'd think he was Indiana Jones. Our professor for neurology is the ex-surgeon general of Israel. The list goes on, but honestly, the first two years of medical school could be done anywhere, as the majority of your learning is done by reading from standard medical texts.

The second two years are what makes Sackler special. First of all, although not every patient speaks English, all of the teaching is done in English and the doctors in charge of you will find you English speaking patients. The first huge plus to Sackler is the teaching - each group of 5-6 students in the hospital has a "tutor" in charge of them - like the resident in the US. However, the tutor is always a doctor who has completed his residency - in fact most of them are older, fully established physicians. My surgery tutor was 55 years old and my medicine tutor was 38 years old. This means that you are being taught by very knowledgeable physicians, not residents who don't know much more than us. In addition, a good portion of your time (at least a few hours every other day) is spent with the professor of the ward (the chief doctor on the ward). This time is truly amazing, and it is mainly spent doing rounds and presenting patients.

The second major advantage to Sackler students in the 3rd year is that our only goal is to learn. We do no charting, no scut work, no crap! Literally none! We also have a fairly normal workweek - 7-8am to 4-5pm five days per week. The rest of our time is given to us to study. During selected rotation you are expected to stay late, usually once per week, and typically only until 10-11pm or so. There are also plenty of opportunities to do more - including extra clinical work or research.

In the fourth year, we spend the first half in the US - we do 4 one-month rotations in any specialty in any hospital in the US. Then we have off the month of January to interview for residencies, and finally back to Israel for a final 5 months of electives.

Overall, I think Sackler has provided me with an amazing education so far, and I would highly recommend the school. Plus with all of the Jewish holidays we get off and our proximity to Europe, we get to go on some pretty incredible vacations! In fact I'm heading to the French Alps in 2 weeks to a Club Med to ski for the week! It's tough being a med student sometimes!


I hope this helps. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

 

Mighty K,
Thanks for the info. Can you tell me what the approximate tuition and cost of living are for Sackler? Thanks.

 

Safety issues?

 

Tuition at Sackler is about $21,000 per year - I can't remember exactly, but I can tell you that each semester I have to pay $777 above what the Stafford Loans pay. In total, I take out about $40,000 in loans each year to cover tuition and living expenses. Living in Israel is not cheap - expect to pay about $500 per month in rent (with a roommate).

Safety issues... I'm not exactly sure how to answer this question, but I can say that for better or worse, I go about my normal daily activities without hesitation. From what I hear, the news in the US paints a much gloomier picture than what is reality. Security here is much tighter than anything I've seen (for example there are gaurds at the entrance to every mall checking bags and using metal detectors, and you see soldiers everywhere carrying around their M-16's) - but you get use to it and feel some sort of comfort in it.

As far as planning electives in the states in your fourth year, it is a combo of school help and doing it on your own. Honestly, I'm about to go through the process in the next couple of months, so I don't know for sure, but from what I hear the school provides you with contacts and helps you to set up the rotations. I believe it's very similar to doing an externship from a US school.