International Pre-Med Academic (B.Sc.) Program

The Department of Pre-Med Education of Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson School of Medicine invites you to join the International Pre-Medical (B.Sc.) Academic Program (IPAP) in English. The IPAP is unique in Israel and it is designed to accommodate both international and Israeli students (including repatriates/Olim). The program is based on the university’s Hebrew language Pre-Med undergraduate studies, which is approved by the Israel Council for Higher Education (MALAG/CHE) and has been an integral part of the curriculum at Ariel University for several years now.

The establishment of a four-year medical program at several universities in Israel paved the way for many graduates from a wide range of professions to realize their dream of becoming a doctor. However, the path to the realization of a dream is long and convoluted. Pre-medical undergraduate education at Ariel University is optimized for successful passing of the “knowledge exam” (Mivhan Yeda) required for admission to the medical faculty. Retrospectively, just in 2021, 10 out of 70 students admitted to the Adelson Medical School at Ariel University were graduates of the Pre-Med B.Sc. program in the Hebrew language. This is a great success considering the huge competition of 818 candidates, the graduates of multiple prestigious faculties of all Israeli universities for 70 available places! In addition, many graduates from the Pre-Med B.Sc. program at Ariel University have been accepted to four-year MD programs at Bar Ilan and Tel Aviv Universities.

The establishment of IPAP allows further expansion of the boundaries of pre-medical education. The disciplines included in the IPAP curriculum provide an extensive and profound knowledge of the basic sciences, core biological, and pre-clinical sciences. The program exposes the students to the psychological, ethical, legal, economic, technological, and social aspects of medicine to establish a more holistic approach to medical practice in modern society and provide future physicians with the ability to adapt to new and emerging medical care challenges. The rigorous study program successfully prepares graduates for the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test), necessary for admission to medical schools adopting US-based standards in the USA or beyond its borders. The program is also fully compliant with the admission standards of the next stage of medical education – a four-year medical degree (MD) offered at several Israeli universities. Thus, the IPAP endows the students with a solid scientific foundation for the future study of clinical medicine.

Opportunities

The Second Stage of Medical Studies

The Medical Sciences program ensures that students acquire the required knowledge for successful high scoring in the MCAT and the Israel Core Discipline Sorting Exam (Mivkhan Yeda*) to pave the way for admittance into the second stage of medical education – the four-year “school of medicine MD program. Ariel Medical Sciences graduates can also continue their MD studies at medical schools in the USA and beyond its borders according to their admission criteria (USA Medical Schools and Canadian Medical Schools )**.

*-only in Hebrew and for Israeli citizens

**-64 out of 158 allopathic (MD) medical schools accept international students without or with some conditions

Additional Possibilities

Students having graduated from the Medical Sciences program have also a great opportunity to pursue other advanced degree studies.

Rigorous admission criteria, intensive study, and evoking analytical thinking is an outstanding way of preparing students not only for clinical studies but also for admission to scientific research programs. Our extensive study program opens student access to almost all graduate research fields.

Students who have completed the program with a grade of 85 and higher will be eligible for admission to the integrated DVM-M.Sc. program of the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine at the Hebrew University (for more information see DVM/M.Sc. and DVM/Ph.D. programs).

Graduates of the program will be able to find jobs in clinical studies, biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries.

The entire program spans three academic years and will include frontal lectures, laboratory and practical classes, and tutorials. Students will matriculate with 135 credits over 168 semester hours (Not including the Hebrew language, which is optional).

The first year is dedicated to basic disciplines, such as mathematics adapted for medical sciences, general physics, general and organic chemistry, computational sciences, and introductory courses to anatomy, psychology, and sociology. Cell biology will be the only core discipline in the first year of study.

The second year of study will deal with the major core biological disciplines, including biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, and evolution. During the second year, the major preclinical medical disciplines studied will include anatomy, histology, microbiology, general and systemic physiology, and neurophysiology. The students will also be exposed to biostatistics, experimental design, and physical chemistry.

The third-year study exposes students to advanced preclinical disciplines, including reproduction, embryology and developmental biology, virology, immunology, pathology, and pharmacology. The program further deepens the acquaintance with preclinical and clinical disciplines, such as medical imaging, medical emergencies and first aid, information technologies in bioinformatics, and the use of online databases in biomedical sciences. Philosophical aspects of our program will focus on critical analysis and reasoning skills, which are required for the MCAT.

Year One

Winter Term – Semester A

• Mathematics
• General Physics
• General and Analytical Chemistry
• Introduction to Psychology, section 1
• Introduction to Sociology
• Introduction to computational sciences
• Hebrew language

Spring term – Semester B

• Introduction to Psychology, section 2
• Introduction to anatomy
• Cell Biology
• Laboratory for General & analytical chemistry
• Mathematics, section 2
• General Physics, section 2
• Organic chemistry
• Hebrew language

Year Two

Winter Term – Semester A

• Biochemistry – structure & enzymology
• Anatomy
• Histology
• General Physiology – cell & excitable tissues
• Microbiology, Section 1 (General Microbiology, Bacteriology)
• Molecular Biology
• Hebrew language

Spring term – Semester B

• Molecular Biology lab
• Genetics
• Biochemistry – metabolism
• Biochemistry lab
• Physiology of the systems
• Biostatistics and experimental design
• Evolution
• Introduction to Neurophysiology
• Physical Chemistry
• Hebrew language

Year Three

Winter Term – Semester A

• Reproduction, Embryology, and Developmental Biology
• Microbiology, Section 2 (Virology)
• Immunology
• Pathology – general
• Introduction to Pharmacology
• Introduction to medical imaging
• Hebrew language

Spring term – Semester B

• Information Technologies in Bioinformatics
• Medical Emergency and First Aid
• Scientific reading & writing
• Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills
• Hebrew language