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They look ok - the classes are taught in English, etc. Is anyone else looking at them? Any opinions?
Anyone looking at a POLISH medical school?
- Thread starter kylek044
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No.
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You're going to be an FMG whether you go the Poland or to the Carrib. So why not at least choose the location that's warm and beautiful?
I've always figured that getting to live on an island paradise is a pretty good consolation prize for not making into a US school.
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hey,
A friend of mine just started at a Polish med school this past year. She is Polish and is living with family there. She seems to like it alot and I believe will come back to Canada to practice. That's all I got!
A friend of mine just started at a Polish med school this past year. She is Polish and is living with family there. She seems to like it alot and I believe will come back to Canada to practice. That's all I got!
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my sister is graduating from the medical school in krakow, poland this spring. She didn't get into schools in the U.S. so she went there and it's been a great experience for her. She's done a year of clinicals in the U.S. and has had residency interviews for neurology all over the U.S. so it's worked out pretty well. I'm considering going as well if I don't get an acceptance here. I'd rather go there than the Caribean. Sure, you're on an island, but i'd rather be in europe so I can travel a bit as well, and the school has been around for a long time and has a very good reputation, even in the states. Also, Krakow is an amazing city, tons of history, culture, and a lot of students/young people.
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You're going to be an FMG whether you go the Poland or to the Carrib. So why not at least choose the location that's warm and beautiful?
Tuition is outrageous in the Caribbean...
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Isn't outrageous in Poland, too? I was under the impression that European med schools purposely jack up the tuition for Yankees.
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The Polish medical diploma may be no good...Example from recently on SDN:
http://www.gotomedschool.com/
http://www.gotomedschool.com/
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that is absolutely not the truth, like i said, my sister has had residency interviews and very good feedback from many very good hospitals in the U.S. and she didn't even score very well on her boards. She did average at best. I know many very good doctors who went to the exact school i am speaking of, the jagiellonian university where they have a english speaking program which is linked to the university of rochester. Many of her residency interviewers knew this school and thought of it highly or either didn't think twice about it. It is by no means a joke. Maybe if you want to flaunt your acceptance into a U.S. program, go ahead, but medicine is about more than where you went to school or where you got in, it's the end results of your work that matter.
Oh, and also, the tuition is far from jacked up. It's very affordable, much less then the caribbean.
Oh, and also, the tuition is far from jacked up. It's very affordable, much less then the caribbean.
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Best place to ask about going to europe for med schools it the international forum on here. Pre-allo consists mostly of students looking to do med school in the US.
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Have you considered reapplying to US med. schools? Unless you have some personal interest in Poland, why would you just randomly choose Poland for medical school?
Although some people have posted anecdotal evidence in support of foreign medical schools, I would personally check into the facts and see what residency placement rates are. In addition, I would randomly select a decent number of residencies and contact them to find out their opinions and requirements for foreign med grads.
Further, if you are considering Poland, why not Serbia or Croatia? They have milder summers.
Although some people have posted anecdotal evidence in support of foreign medical schools, I would personally check into the facts and see what residency placement rates are. In addition, I would randomly select a decent number of residencies and contact them to find out their opinions and requirements for foreign med grads.
Further, if you are considering Poland, why not Serbia or Croatia? They have milder summers.
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So either the school sucks or your sister isn't that sharp or didn't pay attention enough.......yeah....that's supporting your argument.
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poland has a few english language medical programs, specifically for american and other international students. They're known for it. People do very well for themselves in matching out of the jagiellonian university, which is considered the best, you just need to do well, like you would anywhere. And my point about my sister was not about the school or how well she personally does on tests, my point was, she didn't have to do exceptionally well to have opportunities for residency. Krakow is actually an amazing city as well. Obviously anyone should check out what they're getting into, but i'm just relaying the information I have, and my impressions, which mostly, have been positive.
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I agree with you Hayden. My uncle graduated from there and is now practicing in New England. He's very happy with his life, well off, successful, and did not accrue a huge amount of debt. I'm thinking of applying there along with US schools, not because I don't think I'll make it to a US med school but b/c it might be more worth it to not have debt, have a chance to live and study in Europe and get a degree from Europe's most historical university - well-respected all over Europe. I sometimes feel this whole pre-med process brainwashes young undergrads...
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Well.....DO schools teach you to give backrubs.....so I guess this is their version of that. Do perogies have any historical medical application that won't stand up to close scrutiny and have true believers still insist on teaching about them anyhow?I hear they teach you how to make pergoies...yum yum
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Well.....DO schools teach you to give backrubs.....so I guess this is their version of that. Do perogies have any historical medical application that won't stand up to close scrutiny and have true believers still insist on teaching about them anyhow?
Oh ouch, you do know some of the applications are well proven. Some people call that evidence based medicine. Others call it science.
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For which treatment theory: perogies or OMM?Oh ouch, you do know some of the applications are well proven. Some people call that evidence based medicine. Others call it science.
And yes, I know that OMM is useful for musculoskeletal stuff, but I have yet to see a large scale (n= >50) clinical trial of it in anything else that shows a significant benefit over current therapy.
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sorry to bump this up... but if you go there, DON'T Go to Warsaw. Poznan (Posen) or Krakow are the best... Krakow is gorgeous, too, and there are something like 200k students (spread among many universities) there so I've heard the nightlife is great also
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thnx for the info...i'm actually thinking of lublin
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I went to Warsaw Medical University this past fall for a semester before finding out I got accepted at UW-Madison for this coming fall. If you want tips, ideas, I would be more than happy to help. I also met about 5 other students from all the other schools on the plane ride back to the US, so I sort of know how their experiences were as well.
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"Yankees" pay more than the Polish students do, but it's still tons less than you pay in the US.
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For Lublin you'll have to apply through Hope Medical Institute. The plus side is that you'll do clinicals in the US, the down side is that HMI takes thousands of dollars a year for their "services" which I've heard by rumor are generally not delivered.
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did u apply elsewhere? why did u chose silesia?
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I'm a graduate from one of the Polish universities. I did A LOT of work on my own to get me where I am today.
1. Agents=EVIL. In essence it's a business making scheme, leeching money from helpless students and controlling the universities by setting contracts that they cannot admit students without the agent. This HMI company has been the pinnacle of unscrupulous tactics. Feel free to visit the CEOs multi-million dollar home in Virginia. Then feel free to see how many alumni from his universities are actually practicing physicians. Get names, get locations, get contact numbers and get a lot of them.
2. Independent universities- Preferable. The profits they make stay within the universities and thus re-invested. Many of the independent universities not only cater to americans, but to europeans, middle eastern, and south asian communities. Thus they have a reputation to hold. Especially because some of the M.E. and S.A. graduates stay within Poland as opposed to the US agency schools. Think about it, if you were training a physician who was going to stay in your country, you'd want to train him/her well. If you were training someone who is going abroad and the bottom line is making profits, you're not gonna really care how they turn out in the end.
Also compare the independent univ. syllibi, they are more akin to what the Polish students study and a lot more fun--you get an earlier exposure to clinical medicine and fun electives.
3. Get FIRST TIME board passing scores in writing. You'll note that many programs dodge around this and other important facts. Don't be fooled! I know the HMI company actually had a contest for students to write sappy letters, but then were distributed to applicants as being genuine out-of-the-blue appreciation letters.
4. The language barrier is an issue, being of Polish origin, I could often ellicit a better understanding by later speaking to the professors in Polish. This was not an option for my colleagues who became very frustrated.
5. In the end, I'm not entirely sure these schools would prepare you for (US) boards. The medical education in the US is very integrative and clinically focused, whereas in Poland and much of central-eastern EU the education is more basics and core concepts rather than correlations.
And this whole baloney of being able to do rotations in the US. You can arrange it with the independent universities. The rotations set up by agents are nearly as much as a US med student pays, but without the educational component, the hospital affiliation with these agents are often sporadic, there one day, gone the next. I would be very careful of this temptation.
best to all of you. I gave a friend this same advice, he went to the carribean and seems to be happy. If you have the time, I encourage you to re-apply in the US to allopathic or osteopathic med school before choosing this route.
1. Agents=EVIL. In essence it's a business making scheme, leeching money from helpless students and controlling the universities by setting contracts that they cannot admit students without the agent. This HMI company has been the pinnacle of unscrupulous tactics. Feel free to visit the CEOs multi-million dollar home in Virginia. Then feel free to see how many alumni from his universities are actually practicing physicians. Get names, get locations, get contact numbers and get a lot of them.
2. Independent universities- Preferable. The profits they make stay within the universities and thus re-invested. Many of the independent universities not only cater to americans, but to europeans, middle eastern, and south asian communities. Thus they have a reputation to hold. Especially because some of the M.E. and S.A. graduates stay within Poland as opposed to the US agency schools. Think about it, if you were training a physician who was going to stay in your country, you'd want to train him/her well. If you were training someone who is going abroad and the bottom line is making profits, you're not gonna really care how they turn out in the end.
Also compare the independent univ. syllibi, they are more akin to what the Polish students study and a lot more fun--you get an earlier exposure to clinical medicine and fun electives.
3. Get FIRST TIME board passing scores in writing. You'll note that many programs dodge around this and other important facts. Don't be fooled! I know the HMI company actually had a contest for students to write sappy letters, but then were distributed to applicants as being genuine out-of-the-blue appreciation letters.
4. The language barrier is an issue, being of Polish origin, I could often ellicit a better understanding by later speaking to the professors in Polish. This was not an option for my colleagues who became very frustrated.
5. In the end, I'm not entirely sure these schools would prepare you for (US) boards. The medical education in the US is very integrative and clinically focused, whereas in Poland and much of central-eastern EU the education is more basics and core concepts rather than correlations.
And this whole baloney of being able to do rotations in the US. You can arrange it with the independent universities. The rotations set up by agents are nearly as much as a US med student pays, but without the educational component, the hospital affiliation with these agents are often sporadic, there one day, gone the next. I would be very careful of this temptation.
best to all of you. I gave a friend this same advice, he went to the carribean and seems to be happy. If you have the time, I encourage you to re-apply in the US to allopathic or osteopathic med school before choosing this route.
