Jagiellonian 2015 Applicants

[realaircanada]

Hey everybody, just thought I would start a thread for anyone who plans on applying to Jagiellonian University School of Medicine in English for the fall of 2015. I've already sent in my application and confirmed an interview already, but it would be nice to see who else is applying this year. Just for comparison, my stats are 3.08 cGPA and 30 MCAT.

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[mattoprolol]

realaircanada

I am a first year student at JUMC in the 4 year program, if you have any questions feel free to give a shout. Your stats look competitive based on previous years.

 

[realaircanada]

realaircanada

I am a first year student at JUMC in the 4 year program, if you have any questions feel free to give a shout. Your stats look competitive based on previous years.

Hey Charleston, hope all is going well with your studies so far! I do have a couple questions that maybe you could answer. First off, what is life in Krakow like? Have you been able to get out and see the city much? Also, how do you find the quality of education so far? Is the English med school like an entirely separate entity or is it kinda integrated with the rest of the Polish language school?

 

[realaircanada]

Hi there,

I am willing to have my medical studies in Romania, I heard that the country has a quiet good universities, a education system granting diplomas that are recognized throughout Europe. Also graduates become highly skilled and rival their colleagues anywhere in the world, is that true? Why should I consider Romania?
My only disadvantage is that I am a professional guy who is returning to study!
Had you or anyone you know were in a similar situation,I would be very happy if you could recommend in this regard.

I've noticed you spammed a bunch of threads with this message. This thread isn't about Romania, its only about Jag lol

 

[mattoprolol]

Yea so far so good! Krakow is a great city. I personally have no connections to Poland with family and whatnot so for me it was probably more of a shock than for others. Additionally, I had never been to Poland or Krakow before starting my studies. You will most certainly have time to get out and see the city as well as the surrounding area and countries. Just this year some of my classmates have singly or in groups had opportunities to travel to most countries in Europe as well as Morocco, UAE, and India. You can easily secure an apartment with little to no hassle and compared to USA/Canada just about everything is a bargain.

Quality of the education is good, it is a definite change from North American styles though. Some classes are undoubtedly better than others depending on professors and methodology. You've probably heard through reading other posts that studies are somewhat more self directed in Europe in general and that you have to be disciplined enough to sit down and get stuff done.

The schools numbers for USMLE pass rates were phenomenal this past year and of course we will find more about matching info come later in the spring. Preparation for the North American exams is highly self-taught and you will surely need to study for them while studying for actual school exams but the good news is that both will supplement and build off of each other.

The English program has classes in the same buildings as Polish students but seldom do you mingle in the academic setting. I have yet to have an actual class where there were non-english students. You will be more likely to interact with the students of the english-speaking 6 year program.

Some good selling points are Price, 50 state/Canadian accreditation, in Poland you can scrub in and help in procedures that would never be allowed of 1st year students in US and Canada, Pretty cool city in my opinion, Really good camaraderie with your class (we have 34 people and you're all struggling/enduring with the same stuff so its a really good support), Excellent reputation world wide

 

[realaircanada]

Thanks a lot Charleston! Its good to have input from someone going there now rather than having to read people's comments from years ago. From what you've said, it seems like Jag has a lot going for it. I'm also applying to schools in Australia so if I get into to both places, its going to be a really tough call (although just the fact that Jag's tuition is like less than a 1/3 of an Australian schools tuition might be enough for me lol). It would be great if you could come back and give an update on the the most recent match results this spring, because obviously that's one of the biggest concerns when going international.

 

[UBC2014]

OP, you might have a chance at a few USDO schools for the upcoming cycle- i would strongly look into that before going abroad.

 

[CptNemo]

OP, you might have a chance at a few USDO schools for the upcoming cycle- i would strongly look into that before going abroad.

The one thing that scares me about DO schools is the high cost. Just looked up a couple (Touro and College of the Pacific here in CA). Both quote tuition ~$50K/year and ~$80K/year total expenses. Ouch! I'm not sure of the match stats, but I'd think a lot of DOs do primary care... having ~$300K of med school debt on top of undergrad debt could be a huge albatross, especially given interest rates for student loans are >6% now.

According to Jagiellonian's website, tuition is just 12,000 Euro/year (with the currently strong US dollar approaching parity with the Euro, this could be a great deal)... That's less than when I was paying for state tuition attending a UC school in the mid-2000s (although student loan interest rates were really low then).

I'm not sure what will happen for US IMGs in the match in the upcoming years, but at least the opportunity cost is not high (unless you are doing this instead of some other high income career...) So, basically lots of homework needs to be done before making such a decision.

 

[UBC2014]

The one thing that scares me about DO schools is the high cost. Just looked up a couple (Touro and College of the Pacific here in CA). Both quote tuition ~$50K/year and ~$80K/year total expenses. Ouch! I'm not sure of the match stats, but I'd think a lot of DOs do primary care... having ~$300K of med school debt on top of undergrad debt could be a huge albatross, especially given interest rates for student loans are >6% now.

According to Jagiellonian's website, tuition is just 12,000 Euro/year (with the currently strong US dollar approaching parity with the Euro, this could be a great deal)... That's less than when I was paying for state tuition attending a UC school in the mid-2000s (although student loan interest rates were really low then).

I'm not sure what will happen for US IMGs in the match in the upcoming years, but at least the opportunity cost is not high (unless you are doing this instead of some other high income career...) So, basically lots of homework needs to be done before making such a decision.

80K total expenses is dependent on the person, but yes it could be as high as that. Not far off from many USMD schools (especially if you look only at private schools, that is actually cheaper than many)


As a USDO you have significantly higher match rates than any foreign school. If you're going abroad your chances of matching non-primary care is much lower than a US-based student, full stop. So that isn't really a real reason.

Is it a 6 year program? That is 6 years of your life and easily 100,000k for a not that good of a chance at matching.

BUT it says your a Fellow, so not sure if these comments make sense directed at you.

Those 50K tuition marks are probably 60th percentile of private medical schools. Expensive yes, but not as bad as some private USMD schools out there too.

 

[CptNemo]

Looking up the range of private med school tuitions, the range is 31-57K per US News.

I finished med school some time ago at a University of California school, when they were more affordable than now (i.e., less than 20K tuition per year), but I've known people who have gone abroad to Europe to study and have come back and matched (family med at a university based program)... it's a tough road, but possible - and it helps a lot if you have connections and a great Step 1.

Jagiellonian has a 4 year program post BS (the 6 year program is designed for people post high school).

Obviously US allopathic > US osteopathic > everything else when it comes to future opportunities, but with a DO, you are still statistically most likely to do primary care while carrying a high student loan burden. There is no perfect choice here. I agree that if I'd have that choice, I'd probably choose the DO school... but the difference in $ would give me pause.

 

[UBC2014]

Looking up the range of private med school tuitions, the range is 31-57K per US News.

I finished med school some time ago at a University of California school, when they were more affordable than now (i.e., less than 20K tuition per year), but I've known people who have gone abroad to Europe to study and have come back and matched (family med at a university based program)... it's a tough road, but possible - and it helps a lot if you have connections and a great Step 1.

Jagiellonian has a 4 year program post BS (the 6 year program is designed for people post high school).

Obviously US allopathic > US osteopathic > everything else when it comes to future opportunities, but with a DO, you are still statistically most likely to do primary care while carrying a high student loan burden. There is no perfect choice here. I agree that if I'd have that choice, I'd probably choose the DO school... but the difference in $ would give me pause.

The range is wrong lol. I can name 3 schools that are private and waaay outside that range, but maybe the statistic you saw doesn't take into account OOS fees.



You make the money back- the savings aren't worth it for the risk of not matching lol. But everyone has different thresholds of taking risk. Mine is less so haha. But going abroad just for the MD over a USDO seems really bad- especially when you're more likely to go to primary care, that is if you even match, compared to a US student.

A lot of USDOs going primary care could be self selection too, not saying all of it is as that would be naive, but some is for sure. As a Canadian I am aiming for FM or IM because the atmosphere for those specialities are actually good here in Canada.

 

[UBC2014]

Its funny how different Canada is from the US. Here people are matching in FM at high rates- as their first choices but in the US people dont want to touch it for some reason.

 

[CptNemo]

I was under the impression that, generally, only public schools care about in state vs. out of state.

From what I remember, even 10 years ago when I was in med school, Tufts was at or near the top of the list for most expensive schools.

Tufts quotes $57K tuition currently.
http://medicine.tufts.edu/Student-S...ts/Cost-of-Attendance-MD-Program-2014-15-Grid

Highest = $57K tuition (Columbia, last year)
http://www.usnews.com/education/bes...vate-medical-schools-with-the-highest-tuition

People don't go into primary care here because it generally pays poorly and you are often stuck doing lots of unreimbursed work (answering telephone calls, secure messages, refilling prescriptions, etc.); plus if you want to make $, you have to see a ton of patients, to the point that there is no way that you can do a good job manging their care in the 10-15 minutes you have to devote to them.

In Canada, I guess it's different... I was pretty surprised to hear that Canadian nephrologists make about twice as much as we do in the US, where the reimbursements for nephrology have been utterly gutted over the past several years.

 

[Yazo]

I'm a US & EU citizen and I'm thinking about applying to the 4 year program.
Does anyone know if I were to move to another country (ie UK or Ireland), would they prefer the 6 year degree (which can be started right after high school) versus the 4 year post bachelor?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Judemav]

I was just granted my 2015 interview for May 16th. Is everyone granted an interview or does it mean they have already begun evaluating our application?

 

[realaircanada]

I think that anyone who applies and gets all their documents in, gets an interview.

 

[Judemav]

Thats a little intimidating

I was looking at this: http://www.medschool.uj.edu.pl/documents/2903420/0/4 MD - wyniki 2014-15.pdf

The ranking list of the 2014/2015 applicants and it showed only 5 not admitted and the rest admitted. Is it very competitive?

 

[realaircanada]

If only 5 people out of 40 didn't get admitted, then on that stat alone you have an 87.5% of getting admitted and that should tell you how competitive it is... If you have looked around on the website you should have seen how they calculate the values for MCAT & GPA, and you should also have seen that generally nobody scores lower than a 20 on the interview, so you should be able to place yourself on the list...

 

[Medstart108]

Wow Jag is pretty uncompetitive haha

 

[realaircanada]

Yea so far s.o good! Krakow is a great city. I personally have no connections to Poland with family and whatnot so for me it was probably more of a shock than for others. Additionally, I had never been to Poland or Krakow before starting my studies. You will most certainly have time to get out and see the city as well as the surrounding area and countries. Just this year some of my classmates have singly or in groups had opportunities to travel to most countries in Europe as well as Morocco, UAE, and India. You can easily secure an apartment with little to no hassle and compared to USA/Canada just about everything is a bargain.

Quality of the education is good, it is a definite change from North American styles though. Some classes are undoubtedly better than others depending on professors and methodology. You've probably heard through reading other posts that studies are somewhat more self directed in Europe in general and that you have to be disciplined enough to sit down and get stuff done.

The schools numbers for USMLE pass rates were phenomenal this past year and of course we will find more about matching info come later in the spring. Preparation for the North American exams is highly self-taught and you will surely need to study for them while studying for actual school exams but the good news is that both will supplement and build off of each other.

The English program has classes in the same buildings as Polish students but seldom do you mingle in the academic setting. I have yet to have an actual class where there were non-english students. You will be more likely to interact with the students of the english-speaking 6 year program.

Some good selling points are Price, 50 state/Canadian accreditation, in Poland you can scrub in and help in procedures that would never be allowed of 1st year students in US and Canada, Pretty cool city in my opinion, Really good camaraderie with your class (we have 34 people and you're all struggling/enduring with the same stuff so its a really good support), Excellent reputation world wide

So I got accepted about a month ago, I've payed my 200 euro admission fee to secure my spot for September, but I'm still having trouble deciding if I want to go to Jag or an Australian school (Queensland, Sydney, or ANU are the schools I've applied to). If your still lurking around these forums, CharlestonMD, and have any updates on this years Residency Match, that would be helpful.

 

[Judemav]

I just got accepted a few days ago. Im really looking forward to it. Are there still no loans from the US available? Is there a fb group for the incoming 2015 class?

 

[Medstart108]

So I got accepted about a month ago, I've payed my 200 euro admission fee to secure my spot for September, but I'm still having trouble deciding if I want to go to Jag or an Australian school (Queensland, Sydney, or ANU are the schools I've applied to). If your still lurking around these forums, CharlestonMD, and have any updates on this years Residency Match, that would be helpful.

I can see the potential cost savings but an Australian school imo is probably better suited to matching especially because they are an English speaking country with English speaking patients and less of a culture difference.

 

[36MD]

Hey I'm interested to see how everyone here who ended up going to Jag is doing? I interview next month and am still debating whether it's the way to go.

 

[raiyna]

Hey everybody, just thought I would start a thread for anyone who plans on applying to Jagiellonian University School of Medicine in English for the fall of 2015. I've already sent in my application and confirmed an interview already, but it would be nice to see who else is applying this year. Just for comparison, my stats are 3.08 cGPA and 30 MCAT.

Hi realaircanada!!!

I know this is an old post, but I'd like to know if you got in and if so, how's it going?
I'm applying to the 4 year program for this year and would like to hear more about the interview process ( if you can still remember something about it, I know its been a while since you had yours)
thanks

 

[raiyna]

realaircanada

I am a first year student at JUMC in the 4 year program, if you have any questions feel free to give a shout. Your stats look competitive based on previous years.

Hi Charleston,

Hope you're doing alright?
I'm applying to JUMC's 4 year program. I'm hearing alot about how competitive it is to get in so I'd like to know what to expect for the interview process? can you give a bit of an overview on that if you remember something from your own interview in the past?

thanks

 

[mattoprolol]

Hi Charleston,

Hope you're doing alright?
I'm applying to JUMC's 4 year program. I'm hearing alot about how competitive it is to get in so I'd like to know what to expect for the interview process? can you give a bit of an overview on that if you remember something from your own interview in the past?

thanks

Hi Raiyna,

So the program has been gaining notoriety and popularity for sure. As far as competitiveness goes you can already judge how you compare to last years' first year class as far as GPA/MCAT go based on the rank list that is available on the university website so you can ballpark your location if the list turns out to be similar this year.

Rank List:
http://www.medschool.uj.edu.pl/documents/3128353/18323916/Kandydaci_4MD_2015.xlsx.pdf
How to calculate your score is on this page:
http://www.medschool.uj.edu.pl/prospective/md-university#M1

The interview is relatively laid back no serious curveball questions or anything like that.
They ultimately want to know what motivates you and that you have the stamina and ability to make it through the program without any problems.
Most certainly you'll be asked the "Why Poland?" question. I don't think there's necessarily a right/wrong answer as long as you have one and can back it up. Any combination of Heritage/school reputation/financial reasons are acceptable in my mind.
The interview when I did it was like 20-25 mins with 2 people. Typically they'll be professors or former graduates conducting the interviews. Keep in mind just as far as etiquette that Prof > Doctor in Poland. So to be safe address them as professor until you have confirmation otherwise.

Any more questions feel free to message!

 

[flossit]

Hi all, hope someone who is/was a student at Jagelonian Med school can get back to me. I would like to know what it takes to be able to practice in the United States after graduating from Jagelonian Med school and doing the last year internship at Rochester medical school? What will be the fallowing speps for me to take? And about how long it takes to become a doctor in the US? I'm a US citizen wanting to go study to Poland because of the cost. Please if anyone knows.

 

[tesladr]

Hi all, hope someone who is/was a student at Jagelonian Med school can get back to me. I would like to know what it takes to be able to practice in the United States after graduating from Jagelonian Med school and doing the last year internship at Rochester medical school? What will be the fallowing speps for me to take? And about how long it takes to become a doctor in the US? I'm a US citizen wanting to go study to Poland because of the cost. Please if anyone knows.

Flossit, I'm in my 4th year at Jag, currently in the states completing 4th year rotations, sent out residency applications 3 days ago for Peds and already getting interview invites. It takes a good STEP 1 score, smart planning for 4th year rotations in the US, not failing anything, and some flexibility in your choice of specialty to get back to the US, but totally doable. Most of us who apply to the Match do indeed match. When you apply for residency during your 4th year you just want to make sure you have everything ready to be submitted including 3 US LoRs from your rotations that you do here.

The main downside that we're facing by being at Jag now is the insane amount of 4th year rotation/elective requirements the school has put on us. This is something new but we're all working around it just fine.