Help.. Caribbean v.s. Poland medical schools!!!

[mdmadmd]

Hello

This is my second time applying to med school, and things are not working well for me. Last application cycle, I didn’t get any interview offers. This time, I only got one interview offer for next month, and probably I will end on the waitlist and not make it. So, I am exploring the option of going to a foreign medical school either to the Caribbean or Poland, but I do not which one will be better. I do not care much about the lifestyle, I think I can adapt well to either environment, but I am concerned about the quality medical education. What do you guys think!!!


Thanks alot

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[squirrelking]

probably the caribbean is a better bet... I've not heard anyone ever mention polish medical schools, though I'm sure they are fine. Do you speak polish natively? You probably would need to, right? I do know that German medical schools are excellent, but you would have to speak german fluently. Also, maybe check out Irish medical schools too.

 

[PokerDoc]

I think US DO is a better option than either

 

[186321]

As far as education, I think you'll get the best at ST GEORGES in the Carib.. no where else.

As far as a successful career, DO would be your best route.

Not to mention it will be a lot harder to get into St. George's than 80% of the DO schools. So maybe you should go DO in that sense.

If you go to St. George's, you will get a great education and have average board scores compared to US schools, but your opportunities will be limited due to the stereotypes of a foreign education. Good luck!

 

[PokerDoc]

Not to mention it will be a lot harder to get into St. George's than 80% of the DO schools. So maybe you should go DO in that sense.

i do not believe this is true

 

[mdmadmd]

I have heard about St.Goerges, but it is so expensive. what do you think about saba.

 

[avalon18217]

I was in Poland (Proznan) and talked to some American medical students there. They loved it, Poland is cheap, and you don't have to speak polish (for med school there, but some would be useful for getting around). I think if I didn't want to be closer to family I would chose Poland over the Caribbean but that's because I love Europe and it might be easier to work elsewhere in Europe if you get your degree there. I also have no idea what there USMLE pass rates are, but it sounded common for American students so you should be able to find that or try talking to other American students who have done it. I'd be interested in seeing what you find out just for curiosity.

 

[mdmadmd]

I was in Poland (Proznan) and talked to some American medical students there. They loved it, Poland is cheap, and you don't have to speak polish (for med school there, but some would be useful for getting around). I think if I didn't want to be closer to family I would chose Poland over the Caribbean but that's because I love Europe and it might be easier to work elsewhere in Europe if you get your degree there. I also have no idea what there USMLE pass rates are, but it sounded common for American students so you should be able to find that or try talking to other American students who have done it. I'd be interested in seeing what you find out just for curiosity.

The two schools that I am looking at in Poland are Poznan Medical School and University of Lodz, both have been around for decades, but their 4-Year MD program just started recently about 5-7 years ago. As you said it is cheaper and you can even apply for stafford loans for those schools. One thing that worries me is passing rate of the USMLE, which I can find any data for those schools. as far as clinicals, the university lodz allows all of the clinicals to be completed in the us or uk or even in poland. Do you know anyone attending a medical school in poland that I can contact.

thanks alot

 

[avalon18217]

I didn't get contact information from students, but if you aren't in a huge hurry I could see if contacts have contacts. It's just a matter of how long it would take people to respond. It would probably be faster for you to ask the schools if you could get contact information for students.

Sigh... I miss europe... Poznan was neat btw.

 

[avalon18217]

This thread had a med student in Poland, you could see if they're still on SDN.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=479304&highlight=Poland

 

[mdmadmd]

I didn't get contact information from students, but if you aren't in a huge hurry I could see if contacts have contacts. It's just a matter of how long it would take people to respond. It would probably be faster for you to ask the schools if you could get contact information for students.

Sigh... I miss europe... Poznan was neat btw.

No I am not in a hurry, I still have about a month to submit my application for the fall semester. I would greatly appreciate your help.

Thanks alot

 

[HomerSD]

As far as education, I think you'll get the best at ST GEORGES in the Carib.. no where else.

As far as a successful career, DO would be your best route.

Not to mention it will be a lot harder to get into St. George's than 80% of the DO schools. So maybe you should go DO in that sense.

If you go to St. George's, you will get a great education and have average board scores compared to US schools, but your opportunities will be limited due to the stereotypes of a foreign education. Good luck!

Those are quite provocative statements. What are you basing them on? It would be nice if you quoted some numbers to support such statements.

At Western:
Average Science GPA 3.46
Average Non-science GPA 3.55
Average Overall GPA 3.50
Average total MCAT Score 27.00


At Nova:
Average Science GPA 3.19
Average Non-science GPA 3.47
Average Overall GPA 3.34
Average total MCAT Score 23.40


At Touro CA:
Average Science GPA 3.36
Average Non-science GPA not listed
Average Overall GPA 3.44
Average total MCAT Score 25.00


At SGU:
Average Science GPA 3.30
Average Non-science GPA not listed
Average Overall GPA 3.40
Average total MCAT Score 26.00


Just pulling admitted applicant numbers from the few DO schools I could recall from the top of my head, the admission statistics are quite comparable. Unless I'm missing something (and you care to pull the stats for the other schools I didn't list), that 80% number you quoted is quite suspicious.