Polish and Czech medical programs

[md2be40]

Does anyone have any ifo on the english-language medical programs in the Czech Republic and Poland (specifically, Charles University in Prague and the Karol Marchinkowski University of Medical Science in Poland). Both programs appear quite attractive, but I'd enjoy hearing from someone whose either attended the school(s) or who might have heard something about them. Thanks, and good luck to all!!!

md2be

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[neilc]

i am currently at the first faculty of medicine, charles university in prague. i am loving it here. i would be happy to answer any questions you may have. just some words of advice, first...whatever you decide about med school here, avoid the programs that use agents. as far as i know, the prague faculties do not use agents, and i do not know about the polish programs. i do know that the agents will fleece you and mislead you about the programs, wherever they may be.

another note is, stick with the 6 year programs. the educational model in europe is based on a 6 year program, and it is different then the US model. the 4 year programs are not what they are used to doing, and it also does not give you enough time to learn the language.

but, living in europe is awesome, and it is one big reason why i am here. i did not want to do the island thing, and being here gives you access to so much. also, the education is very strong. they have been educating doctors for hundreds of years and doing it well. grear hospitals with tons of excellent clinical exposure. and, if you want to rotate to the US, we have exchange agreements with several major US med schools. if you are more interested in rotating through Europe, they have the Erasmus/Socrates program which allows you to do semesters at nearly every school in Europe.

So, upside is that it is a serious education in a great location, cheap. Downside is learning the language (not too bad), longer program (but all summers off), and it is not tailored to USMLE. If it sounds like a good fit, visit the schools if you can! Good luck and let me know if you need contact info or a tour guide when you get here!

 

[Atlas]

How difficult is it to get into Charles University? What is the "average" class profile like for North American matriculants?

Thank you for fielding my question.

Atlas

 

[neilc]

it is not difficult to get in. you just have to pass a basic exam on physics, biology and chemistry, like high school/jr college level.

the program is around 10% north americans, maybe 4 of 40 (in each of 6 classes) are from the US and Canada. Not too popular, mainly from the length of the program, and unlike the island schools you are not home in 2 years. however, as the word gets out it is becoming more and more popular. especially with the pending European Union membership.

 

[careerchanger]

are there any web sites for these schools? the only ones i can find are in czech and english.

 

[neilc]

try <a href="http://www.lf1.cuni.cz" target="_blank">www.lf1.cuni.cz</a>

in the upper right corner click on the british flag for the english version.

 

[Youngling]

I like the fact that the tuition is cheap. I have some questions however. I am a second year medical student in the US. I passed all the courses of the first year of medical school. However, I am having problem in my second year at medical school. So, I am thinking of leaving here. Is there a possibilty that I could transfer to your medical school. Also, is my completion of the first year of med school going to reduce the number of years at your med school in any way? In other words, can I get credit for my first year of med school from your school? Also, I intend to come back to the US after finishing med school. Do I still need to study the foriegn langauge?

•••quote:•••Originally posted by neilc:
•try <a href="http://www.lf1.cuni.cz" target="_blank">www.lf1.cuni.cz</a>

in the upper right corner click on the british flag for the english version.•••••

 

[neilc]

you could prob get credit for any course completed at a med school, but you would need to talk to the school for that. assuming you got credit for one year of us school, it would prob get you out of the first two years here. that would leave you 4 years. and you would need czech, in order to get the most out of the wards. we have translators, and all the profs speak good english, but maybe 5% of the patients speak english. so, it is doable, and czech is not essential, but your clinical education would suffer. good luck!

 

[neilc]

by the way, i still think the best thing to do is just kick ass this year, or repeat a class or whatever you need to do to stay in the US. your life will be much easier, and you only have 2 years to go! you got this far, i know you can finish too!!!