I strongly advise against going to school here. Unless you have a desire to stay in Israel after school, strong Hebrew skills, or simply an unwavering calling to study in Israel, do not go here. Yes, there are many positives, but the risks make these pale in comparison. I agree the school is a notch above Caribbean schools, but the problem is that many residency programs have never heard of the Technion and do not want to take the risk of taking a student from here. This is why so many people match into New York schools-- these schools are more IMG friendly and know of the Technion. Regarding this year's match list, the class was as a whole "successful" on paper, but many of these places were the students' lower choices. Medical school is meant to get you to residency, and this school doesn't do a good job of getting you there. It's getting tougher and tougher for the IMG crowd, and I really think that if you have options elsewhere, avoid this place. The administration tries to be helpful, but they simply don't have the man-power or experience to address students' needs. It's just too much of a gamble to come here. The affiliations the Technion has generally mean absolutely nothing-- for the vast majority, they don't help you secure clinical electives in your fourth year, etc. Also, the hospital experiences within Israel will leave any student struggling to adjust on their US rotations as they are much much less rigorous with lower expectations here. There is no adequate preparation doing SOAP notes, pt presentations, case management, etc. And if you don't happen to speak Hebrew fluently, you miss a HUGE part of your education bc you can't gain from meetings, journal clubs, rounds, pt interviews. Of course you can do well on boards (although the school struggles to adequately prepare students) and these scores can take you far, and there are benefits of being here (very hands-on, cultural competence, forces resilience with all the difficulties of living here, the doctors have impressive knowledge, huge diversity in care), but it's not worth the gamble, especially with the huge disadvantage IMGs face as more and more medical students apply for a static amount of residency spots. The Technion has matched well in the past, but it's become harder and will continue to be harder. Obviously, if this is your only option, then you can make it to residency, but you will likely be settling for less than you want even with all of your hard work. Medical school is hard enough on its own; don't make it harder on yourself by coming here. There have been so many hassles of trying to get even the simplest of things done here or trying to get needed information, and you want a program to help you with these basic needs. It's not a good sign when most of your class is ready to leave the Technion and never look back. If I had known what I know now, I would not have come here unless I had no other option.
You are not the first person to try and tarnish the reputation of the Technion. Also, based on what you have said-I doubt you are a student here. My guess is that you are someone who did not get in and are angry. Either that or you are an student from many years ago when the Technion was having some serious problems and you suffered tremendously. (If it's the latter- sorry dude. That sucks.) Your message doesn't really deserve a response since it is by and large a lie but I will address your points for the prospective applicants on this page.
1) "I agree the school is a notch above Caribbean schools". Yes we are way above the Caribbean schools. That is based on yearly match percentages as well as the overall quality of the residency placements.
2) "The problem that many residency programs have never heard of the Technion and do not want to take the risk of taking a student from here." This is simply not true. The Technion has multiple Nobel prize winners, and our students get great residencies. Most normal programs have heard of us and as our match results show year after year- they are very willing to take us... I really doubt we'd get great residencies if the programs had never heard of us.
3) "This is why so many people match into New York schools-- these schools are more IMG friendly and know of the Technion." Many of our matches over the last few years were in programs with either very few or no IMG's. Also, many students match in NY because NY has a ton of great programs and many of our students are from NY. Also, there are many great programs with IMG's...
4) "Regarding this year's match list, the class was as a whole "successful" on paper, but many of these places were the students' lower choices." The match list is great on paper but what?!?! You go on and on saying we have trouble finding residencies etc. yet you admit we seemingly do very well. The match lists have been excellent and you have no way of knowing if students matched low on their lists. That kind of information is generally kept very private- I guess not for you! Also, If the great matches were in fact low on the match lists (which you completely made up) that just means our students had some pretty awesome places above where they matched. (Strange how we get great interviews if no one has heard of us)
5) "The affiliations the Technion has generally mean absolutely nothing-- for the vast majority, they don't help you secure clinical electives in your fourth year, etc" Many of our students do electives at our affiliations. If you were actually part of our school you would have a list of where students rotated each year and you would see that what you are saying is just false.
6) "Also, the hospital experiences within Israel will leave any student struggling to adjust on their US rotations as they are much much less rigorous with lower expectations here. There is no adequate preparation doing SOAP notes, pt presentations, case management, etc." Our 4th years told us they were extremely well prepared when they got back to the US. They said they were at the same level or better than any other students they encountered. They got excellent residencies because they got excellent letters of recommendation from their US electives since they were very well prepared and performed very well. Do you think they could have done that if they were ill prepared? Do you think that matching well and being unprepared go together?
7) "And if you don't happen to speak Hebrew fluently, you miss a HUGE part of your education bc you can't gain from meetings, journal clubs, rounds, pt interviews." The vast majority of this is done in English. (You're simply not a student here.)
8) "but it's not worth the gamble, especially with the huge disadvantage IMGs face as more and more medical students apply for a static amount of residency spots." This has nothing to do with the Technion. This is true of all IMG's. However, our match rates are above and beyond virtually all other IMG programs. Specifically for the Technion and the rest of the Israeli schools- It seems it definitely IS 'worth the gamble'.
9) "It's not a good sign when most of your class is ready to leave the Technion and never look back." This is not even remotely true for any of the 4 classes. All prospective students are encouraged to contact the school to speak to actual students here.
10) "If I had known what I know now, I would not have come here unless I had no other option." First of all it seems you know nothing. Second of all, you didn't come here.
The Technion has it's problems like every other medical school- just not any of the problems that you mentioned. Our students leave the Technion with an excellent education an excellent residency, and an incredible group of friends. You are not a student here and I'm sorry for whatever it is you went through.
Like I said before, you did not deserve a response and I will not waste any more time responding to you. My guess is that you will create new usernames and respond to yourself as if you are other students to help validate your points. Have fun.