Bad Situation (Eastern European Med School)

Started by bbkh
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bbkh

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Hey all,

My cousin and his family, for financial reasons, are moving back to Serbia. My cousin is bright, having a 1600 SAT score and a solid scholarship for college - however, there is no way to afford school right now for him or his family and they have decided to return to their home country. He will have to withdraw his degree 2 years in.

Now, there are 6 year medical schools in Serbia with English speaking programs. I am wondering if this might be a viable option for him to practice later in the US, as I know residency spots in the US will be squeezed out in the impeding crunch (predicted for this year, in fact). His Serbian is not exactly up to par and he was raised in the US - this is his home.

Any thoughts? I apologize if I posted this in the wrong thread - first time posting.
 
If he wants to practice in the U.S., his best chance by a long long shot comes from doing medical school here. He will need to take out loans to do so, and it's up to him to decide whether it's worth it.
 
bbkh said:
Hey all,

My cousin and his family, for financial reasons, are moving back to Serbia. My cousin is bright, having a 1600 SAT score and a solid scholarship for college - however, there is no way to afford school right now for him or his family and they have decided to return to their home country. He will have to withdraw his degree 2 years in.

Now, there are 6 year medical schools in Serbia with English speaking programs. I am wondering if this might be a viable option for him to practice later in the US, as I know residency spots in the US will be squeezed out in the impeding crunch (predicted for this year, in fact). His Serbian is not exactly up to par and he was raised in the US - this is his home.

Any thoughts? I apologize if I posted this in the wrong thread - first time posting.
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his chances of coming back to the U.S. are poor. His chances of doing well at a Serbian Med school, if his language skills are poor, is zero.

He grew up in the U.S. -- is he a citizen? He may be able to stay behind and finish school while working part-time, or transferring to his state school, or perhaps even do US military service, after which he can finish college on Uncle Sam's dime.
 
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doc05 said:
his chances of coming back to the U.S. are poor. His chances of doing well at a Serbian Med school, if his language skills are poor, is zero.

He grew up in the U.S. -- is he a citizen? He may be able to stay behind and finish school while working part-time, or transferring to his state school, or perhaps even do US military service, after which he can finish college on Uncle Sam's dime.
Click to expand...

He is a dual citizen, yes. The Serbian school has an international program that teaches in English. I've told him to look into the military as well, it might be a good option.
 
The military looks like a fantastic option for him. He'll make a bit of money and be able to attend school for free., in addition to the discipline you are taught.
 
If he got a solid scholarship for college, what is left for him to take care of for his final two years? Food and entertainment?

I think perhaps some organization might be in order in the form of a job on campus or somesuch to cover the expenses if they are not too big.
 
Belgrade's medical school actually teaches in English (though the accents are very thick) and is only like 7k USD per year. But of course, practicing in the US almost requires going to school here.
 
LizzyM said:
While the teaching in medical school will be in English, the care of patients and communication with hospital staff is likely to be in a language other than English. Rather difficult to take a history and give discharge instructions if you don't speak the language.
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In Belgrade? English is pretty well spoken. Outside of the capital you can't expect people to speak anything other than Serbian (unless you're speaking to youngsters), but inside the capital you should be fine. Another plus: if he can pick up Serbian, he can speak it throughout all neighboring countries (and Croatia is gorgeous).
 
Affiche said:
In Belgrade? English is pretty well spoken. Outside of the capital you can't expect people to speak anything other than Serbian (unless you're speaking to youngsters), but inside the capital you should be fine. Another plus: if he can pick up Serbian, he can speak it throughout all neighboring countries (and Croatia is gorgeous).
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Yes it is. Sadly, the place is crawling with medical school grads waiting for residencies. It is one of the European countries where graduating from medical school is as likely to be a prelude to driving a car for hire or being a drug rep as being a practicing physician.
 
If he is in undergrad or entering undergrad soon, I would strongly suggest something like ROTC. If he's okay with military medicine, he can get college and medical school paid for in the US in exchange for practicing as a doctor in the military (may need to give up dual citizenship--depends on DOD if that's an issue). If not, there are other scholarships available, as well as federal loans for citizens (he'd probably get a good FAFSA package if the financial situation with his folks are not good).
 
Lil Mick said:
If he is in undergrad or entering undergrad soon, I would strongly suggest something like ROTC. If he's okay with military medicine, he can get college and medical school paid for in the US in exchange for practicing as a doctor in the military (may need to give up dual citizenship--depends on DOD if that's an issue). If not, there are other scholarships available, as well as federal loans for citizens (he'd probably get a good FAFSA package if the financial situation with his folks are not good).
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+1. If I had to go back and do undergrad all over again, I'd do ROTC. Had a bunch of friends in it and they got to do a lot of cool stuff along with getting a lot of financial support! Also, being a flight surgeon in the Navy would be pretty dapper.
 
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gyngyn said:
Croatia in particular.
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About half of Croatians speak English, a greater proportion than most other Eastern European countries. However, I stand by my statement that the people you may care for in the hospital including small children and the elderly may not have English skills sufficient to communicate with a physician in English. Also, when ill, many people want to speak in their native tongue.
 
Hey all, thanks for your replies. My cousin's Serbian is pretty fluent, but nowhere on the level of understanding clinical terminology. So far I've been looking into keeping him around so he can finish his B.S. and apply allopathic in the U.S. The ROTC sounds like an interesting idea, though we're a little hesitant because of our lack of knowledge. Thanks again for the ideas everyone!
 
bbkh said:
Hey all, thanks for your replies. My cousin's Serbian is pretty fluent, but nowhere on the level of understanding clinical terminology. So far I've been looking into keeping him around so he can finish his B.S. and apply allopathic in the U.S. The ROTC sounds like an interesting idea, though we're a little hesitant because of our lack of knowledge. Thanks again for the ideas everyone!
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If he's already fluent he'll pick up clinical terminology pretty quickly. My Serbian is nowhere near fluent but I picked up a great deal of medical language in 6 months when my grandmother (who spoke only Russian and Serbian) fell ill. If he has to move, don't let that be something that stresses him out.

But I agree, staying in the US for school would be ideal. The ROTC generally has an outreach program on every campus that is very open to questions and just generally incredibly helpful. Reach out to them if that's something he's considering!
 
It will be difficult for him to get a residency in the US.


bbkh said:
Hey all,

My cousin and his family, for financial reasons, are moving back to Serbia. My cousin is bright, having a 1600 SAT score and a solid scholarship for college - however, there is no way to afford school right now for him or his family and they have decided to return to their home country. He will have to withdraw his degree 2 years in.

Now, there are 6 year medical schools in Serbia with English speaking programs. I am wondering if this might be a viable option for him to practice later in the US, as I know residency spots in the US will be squeezed out in the impeding crunch (predicted for this year, in fact). His Serbian is not exactly up to par and he was raised in the US - this is his home.

Any thoughts? I apologize if I posted this in the wrong thread - first time posting.
Click to expand...
 
bbkh said:
Hey all,

My cousin and his family, for financial reasons, are moving back to Serbia. My cousin is bright, having a 1600 SAT score and a solid scholarship for college - however, there is no way to afford school right now for him or his family and they have decided to return to their home country. He will have to withdraw his degree 2 years in.

Now, there are 6 year medical schools in Serbia with English speaking programs. I am wondering if this might be a viable option for him to practice later in the US, as I know residency spots in the US will be squeezed out in the impeding crunch (predicted for this year, in fact). His Serbian is not exactly up to par and he was raised in the US - this is his home.

Any thoughts? I apologize if I posted this in the wrong thread - first time posting.
Click to expand...


Could he try for community college in the US then transfer to an affordable state school? or if he is in college already (Im a bit confused as to your family situation), he could transfer to a more affordable state school rather than a private school. That would give him much better chances of getting into a US med school and wouldn't be financially infeasible with part time work.

Also arent SAT scores out of 2400 now? unless he took the SAT years ago...
 
Affiche said:
If he's already fluent he'll pick up clinical terminology pretty quickly. My Serbian is nowhere near fluent but I picked up a great deal of medical language in 6 months when my grandmother (who spoke only Russian and Serbian) fell ill. If he has to move, don't let that be something that stresses him out.

But I agree, staying in the US for school would be ideal. The ROTC generally has an outreach program on every campus that is very open to questions and just generally incredibly helpful. Reach out to them if that's something he's considering!
Click to expand...

Send me a pm. I can let you know how ROTC/military doc is done and what he would need 🙂
 
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