medical university of Lodz

[doct]

Does anyone know anything about the living arrangements in Lodz and if it is decent for US students? Also, does anyone know the cost of living and to go to school there? I will be attending there but havent got any info on cost yet. Did anyone have any problems getting loans through US agencies to fund a school in Poland?

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[Mestremed]

Hi

I think that Medical University of Gdansk is better than Medical University of Lodz

 

[cilia]

you'd better study in Lublin! it is much cheaper and the city is pretty!!! of course Medical University in Lublin is the best greetings for all young doctors from L-in

 

[xmxpro]

Med U of Lodz is a very political school, as with all schools... The profs are very good, although it can be hard to get info from them at times. You need to be on there good side, and keep it that way. They have more power than Profs here in the US and can f... up your career.
As far as living, Lodz is a mod. priced city. Lodz vs. US city, Lodz is very cheap, and you can find a place to live for 500+, and be in really good shape. Make sure you are in person, and know what your getting. Some folks in Poland my take advantage of you, if you just send them money and expect to have a apartment waiting for you when you get to town.

Hope I helped. If you need more info, feel free to contact me.

Regards,
MD

 

[mamorcy]

Hi
I am just inquiring at the moment about the possibilities of reputable English speaking schools to study medicine. I studied Biology in Germany so I am interested in a 4 year course as offered in the US/UK or Aus. Unfortunately I didn't get good marks in the GAMSAT and was wondering what other options I have apart from US?UK?AUS. Any ideas?
Thanks for your input.

Med U of Lodz is a very political school, as with all schools... The profs are very good, although it can be hard to get info from them at times. You need to be on there good side, and keep it that way. They have more power than Profs here in the US and can f... up your career.
As far as living, Lodz is a mod. priced city. Lodz vs. US city, Lodz is very cheap, and you can find a place to live for 500+, and be in really good shape. Make sure you are in person, and know what your getting. Some folks in Poland my take advantage of you, if you just send them money and expect to have a apartment waiting for you when you get to town.

Hope I helped. If you need more info, feel free to contact me.

Regards,
MD

 

[KWBum]

You need to be on there good side, and keep it that way. They have more power than Profs here in the US and can f... up your career.

Regards,
MD

I dunno. Maybe they could hurt your career if you want to practice in Poland. But, if you want to practice in the US, if you pass your classes, you're fine.

What you do in Poland, and who your professor is, is meaningless.

I'd even go so far as to say that the only meaningful thing you get out of an M.D. degree in poland is the M.D. degree. That let's you get the ECFMG certificate.

Nothing else matters. Not your grades. Not your letters of rec. Not your profs opinion of you. Not how "well-known" your prof is. Because, frankly, no matter how well known your prof is, he's from Poland. The guy at Dallas medical center won't know him. And maybe the guy from Georgetown met him once at a conference in Barcelona, and enjoyed his chat with some Polish doc with a funny accent.

A U.S. residency director will not know, nor will he care, under whom you took pathology. And he won't care if your surgery professor was the best in Poland. Poland? Where is that?

Your USMLE scores matter, and it matters how you do at your residency interview. And that's it.

Cynical? Harsh?

Maybe.

But true.

 

[xmxpro]

I dunno. Maybe they could hurt your career if you want to practice in Poland. But, if you want to practice in the US, if you pass your classes, you're fine.

What you do in Poland, and who your professor is, is meaningless.

I'd even go so far as to say that the only meaningful thing you get out of an M.D. degree in poland is the M.D. degree. That let's you get the ECFMG certificate.

Nothing else matters. Not your grades. Not your letters of rec. Not your profs opinion of you. Not how "well-known" your prof is. Because, frankly, no matter how well known your prof is, he's from Poland. The guy at Dallas medical center won't know him. And maybe the guy from Georgetown met him once at a conference in Barcelona, and enjoyed his chat with some Polish doc with a funny accent.

A U.S. residency director will not know, nor will he care, under whom you took pathology. And he won't care if your surgery professor was the best in Poland. Poland? Where is that?

Your USMLE scores matter, and it matters how you do at your residency interview. And that's it.

Cynical? Harsh?

Maybe.

But true.

I agree with you 100%. I am here in the US (PGY1). The point I really wanted to make, and mabe it was out of the scope of this topic. I was teaching there after med school and Phd, and it was hell. As a chick, you are treated with little or no respect. At least in the US they tend to be a bit more political to your face anyway.

 

[Kazien]

Is it really true that your grades don't matter ??

 

[KWBum]

Is it really true that your grades don't matter ??

I really think they do not....at least when you go overseas to school.

First consider the unfamiliar 2-6 or 2-5 system. Ok, easy enough to translate. A 2 is terrible, and a 6 is fantastic.

But it's not that simple.

Our school is trying to standardize, with everyone using the 2-5. But some professors, because they are kings in their own department, still use the 2-6. They like to reserve the "6" for their "extra special" students. You can't get one simply by doing the classwork very well. In fact, it is only possible to get if the professor likes you very very much.

So, I do great in one course, and get a 5. Great in another, and get a 6. What now?

Some professors feel that no one in the whole class can legitimately earn anything over a 3.5. At our school, this happened in two courses. One Basic, and one Clinical. In both, the good students get the 3.5, and all the rest get a 3. Suddenly, simply by doing well in a class, you have two "C+" equivalents on the transcript.

The testing is extremely spotty. Some MCQ tests are great. Some, terrible. And even with "Shelf exams," the professor still decides your grade on criterea not always of the most objective variety.

In other words, when you go to med school in Eastern Europe, there are simply too many variable in the grading for the grading to make much sense. Not the least of which are those things you never talk about. The "under the table" stuff. It's not simply Eastern Europe. It's just that it isn't America. Cheating and other "irregulariies" are not punished in the rest of the world like they are in the US. In fact, in many ways, they are a respected tool for getting ahead.

Look, you can't try to "explain" your two "3's," in your transcript full of 5's and 6's. I mean, how can you explain this to the residency director? "Well, doctor, the professor just doesn't give higher grades." Yeah, right...

 

[endodoc]

Is it really true that your grades don't matter ??

You have to post your grades when applying for Resi. Also, letter matter as well. Many Resi. positions Req. you to have Deans letter.

 

[KWBum]

You have to post your grades when applying for Resi. Also, letter matter as well. Many Resi. positions Req. you to have Deans letter.

You are absolutely correct.

A transcript is, of course, required. As are the recs, and the "dean's letter."

But, coming from a foreign school, these things are formalities. It is a rare foreign, and especially Eastern European, professor, or doctor, who is capable of writing a truly outstanding and subtle letter of rec. Their English is fine for medicine. However, is their English suitable for letters of rec...?

Read some abstracts of Eastern European articles on Medline. See how the English is. I've edited enough articles to be intimately familiar with the English skills of the Eastern European faculty.

But, crappy English does not preclude outstanding content. Still and all, the letter of rec is not a European tradition. It is American, largely. So, they have no clue what to write in the first place.

And your transcript is just what it is. A collection of numbers beset by all the vagrities I described above. It denonstrates that you, indeed, took all the requred courses. That's all.

 

[m_shootingstars]

Hi,

How well do the Profs speak English? And how hard is it getting into the university?

thanks

 

[Kussemek]

Hi. I am looking at the application info and they seem to have a special application for students from Israel. Does anyone know what the connection between this school and Israel is?

 

[Dr.Pomegranates]

KWBum, you well know how right you are! I could only laugh when I read your posts in this thread...so true...so true. I remember studying the living daylights out of second year anatomy, only to be given a 7 by the grumpy old fossil of a professor...the highest grade he would give out. As if giving high grades would make him seem less respectable. Its a loopy, old world, Spartan mentaility in some cases.

As for letters of rec...ha ha. Its still a foreign concept. "You want me to toot your horn??" "You want a letter from me saying how fantastic you are?" And its not like the Dean knows you, or knows uhm, anything....about you. You just look like a presumptuous fool.

A Byzantine labyrinth of customs, peculiarities and stress...but fun, nonetheless, very educational too if any of you plan to go into trancultural psychiatry (not me) !! lol