US Med school vs Polish Med school

[GregoryMD]

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Hey guys, I had a question regarding foreign medical schools. Now I'm a U.S. born citizen, lived here my entire life but my family moved here from Poland. Long story short my mother now wants to move back to Poland. Since my father died when I was young, and most of my family is back in Poland I'd have no family life here back in the states. Now, it's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is somewhat scary to not have that safety net. Knowing I was completely alone.

Anyway my mom brought up the idea of polish medical school. I heard they have some American-based programs where the classes and such are taken in English. It's considerably cheaper than med school here, and they have 6 year programs for someone who hasn't done undergrad/pre-med, or 4 year programs for those who have. Now I'm a freshman in college right now, but she was telling me something about how they usually shave off a year or so if you're partially done with pre-med. So I'd actually be able to become a doctor sooner than anticipated.

Also while it is harder to get back into a residency in the states, it wouldn't be groundbreaking for me if that didn't happen. Now my grades are really good right now (3.8), so the foreign med school route isn't a cop out due to difficulty, but I'm fairly confident that I'd be able to get back into a residency in the states. And on the off chance I didn't, I actually wouldn't mind living in Poland, or possibly England (As finishing med school there opens the door to at least the EU). Since my parents were polish, I learned quite a bit. I can read and write, and speak pretty well (albeit a little brokenly). But with a year tops I can easily master the language, since I learned it before I learned English, just chose not to keep it up once I started school here. So the medical polish classes that are part of the American curriculum would be more than enough to assimilate given my Polish-American status. Plus, I'm technically eligible for Polish citizenship.


So, while the idea of foreign medical schools is usually not recommended for people wanting to ultimately practice back in the U.S., how smart of an idea is it if where I end up is open ended?

 

[n4pher]

Hi! Well, I am polish too, so... hi! ^.^

First of all, after graduating fomr a polish med school, even if it's an english language based program, don't you have to take some tests before you get a US license?

Besides, honestly... even one of the low tier med schools in the US is better than any school in Poland. Besides, a degree obtained from a US school is recongnized everywhere, while polish degrees are not. It is true, you pay nothing; however, you earn nothing. I remember the times when physicians in Poland used to make mabe $13k a year? And quite frankly, not much has changed since then. I knew and talked to many physicians in Poland (I moved out just a few years ago) and they all told me not to go into medicine, unless I wanted to get paid pretty much nothing and work at ghetto hospitals (yeah, average polish hospital compared to an american hospital is like comparing a wine that comes in a carton to a $100 bottle).

If you have a choice to stay and continue here, do it. If you want to please your mom and try something new, well, go for it. As long as you do what you want, you're good. 😉

 

[Abby_Normal]

I think you should consider which potential scenario would be easier for you (logistically, financially, emotionally, etc):

a) Go to American medical school, then decide you'd really rather be in Poland, and move to Poland after getting your US MD.

b) Go to Polish medical school, then decide you'd really rather be in the US and move back with your Polish MD.

If you haven't already, you should look into how easy it is to get a US residency/get licensed in the US with a Polish MD and vice versa. I do remember hearing that in some European countries it can be difficult to get an internship/residency/equivalent thereof without having an EU medical degree and I don't know if this applies to Poland.

 

[cpants]

I would only go the Polish route if you are sure you want to live and practice in Poland. I'm not pissing on the education in Poland. I'm sure they turn out well educated doctors. If you decide to work in the US though, that degree will seriously impair your chances at residency in any competitive field and without stellar grades and board scores you may not be able to work as an MD in the states period. That's the reality.

 

[n4pher]

AMH0505 thanks for reminding me. Regarding residency, the chances that you'll do what you actually want to do are really really small. You either have to have someone inside or have really really good grades; however I'm not sure if even that will help. My friend is going to graduate from a polish med school next year and I heard that some residents have side jobs (working at a bar or restraunt) because they don't get paid enough to pay their bills. Now you tell me, how ridiculous is that?

Actually, something just poped to my head. I read this article few years ago. There was this resident who really wanted to be an opthamologist. However, they had no spots (as in 0 residents) because no one wanted to finance that. So the girl ended up doing residency for free and having a side job at a restraunt. Again, she was a good student at one of the top polish med schools.

 

[Longshanks]

If you want to work in the states, don't go to Poland for school. The "American" programs would present an even more difficult road than the Caribbean route to residency in America, and there's a reason why their admissions requirements are so lax. With the decreasing amount of IMG/FMG residency spots, you're putting yourself behind the eight ball. The only way it'd make any sense to go to Poland, is if you were studying in a legitimate program at Uniwersytet Jagiellonsk, which is not going to be in English or an American program. However, then you'll face the same difficulties as any FMG trying to practice in America, and I don't know what Poland's medical education system is like, so you may end up having to stay there.

Only go to study in Poland if you hope live and practice there.

Powodzenia!

 

[DrBacchi]

The average salary is something like $550/month for doctors in Poland. If you want to practice medicine in Poland, you should go to medical school there. But if you want to practice medicine in the US/UK, go to a US/UK medical school.

 

[schrizto]

I think there are some reputable English programs in Poland, the ones at Jagiellonian and Poznan come to mind. These are some of the top schools in Poland, but I agree that they probably give you a worse chance at competitive residencies in the US than the most well-known Caribbean schools.

 

[Perrotfish]

Medicine is very nationalized. Countries make it very, very hard to practice if you trained somewhere else. In the US, you need a US residency to practice and the system is set up so that all of the foreign grads get the leftovers after every single US grad has matched. For that reason, many, many qualified foreign grads get turned down for US residencies. So, as many others have said, don't go to school in Poland unless that's where you want to practice.

BTW, check and see if you can practice in Poland with a US MD. If you can, I would probably recommend training here even if you think you probably want to practice in Poland. There's no reason not to keep your options open.

 

[Abby_Normal]

The average salary is something like $550/month for doctors in Poland. If you want to practice medicine in Poland, you should go to medical school there. But if you want to practice medicine in the US/UK, go to a US/UK medical school.

Don't quote me on this, but I"m pretty sure that if you want to practice in the UK you're better off with going to med school in Poland than the US because Poland's EU and, generally speaking, EU grads come before non-EU grads. Though, of course, going to a UK med school would be the best option if you want to practice there...

 

[Hoody]

Medicine is very nationalized. Countries make it very, very hard to practice if you trained somewhere else.

Posters say this all the time and then I go and surf major hospitals (mayo, hopkins, duke, stanford, etc) and their directory's are full of people with foreign degrees. If you don't believe me, surf yourself.

I'm not saying its easy to graduate with a Polish degree and practice in the US, just that its possible and several people have done it. Deciding where to go to school isn't going to be the end all, be all. Everything you do in medicine takes hard work and persistence.....this really is no different. at least in my mind.

 

[MicA]

As far as I know, no matter which country you get your degree in you have to write primaries to work in another country.

And to be honest, just go where you believe you will get the best education, and not necessarily the highest ranked place, just the place where you will learn the most. I probably could have tried to get into an EU school because I have citizenship, but to be honest, I am really happy where I am. So a "better" school for you may be the one in Poland because that is where you will learn/see the most.

 

[n4pher]

As far as I know, no matter which country you get your degree in you have to write primaries to work in another country.

American MD's have incredibly high reputation in Poland and Europe in general, thus they would take such physicians w/o any questions.

 

[Perrotfish]

Posters say this all the time and then I go and surf major hospitals (mayo, hopkins, duke, stanford, etc) and their directory's are full of people with foreign degrees.
.

Who all needed to complete a US residency to practice in the US, even if they had been practicing for years in another country. I think it says a lot about the way we treat our physicians that so many of them are willing to do that. It also means that if the OP goes to school in Poland than he will be waiting in line for a residency behind not only every US doc but also Indian and Eastern European doctors with top degrees, really exceptional board scores, and a ton of experience. Unless your 'foreign' school has a special relationship with the US (top 4 Caribbean schools) it seems like that drops your chances of landing a residency to virtually nil.

I'm not sure if there are any exceptions to that rule (England, maybe? Canada?) but I'm reasonably sure that even if there are the English language school in Poland is not one of them.

 

[MicA]

American MD's have incredibly high reputation in Poland and Europe in general, thus they would take such physicians w/o any questions.

If you are an EU citizen perhaps, but new EU laws require your employer to prove that there is nobody in the whole of the EU that can fill that space.

And as far as I know any foreigners coming here have to do primaries before they can practice.

 

[DrBacchi]

Don't quote me on this, but I"m pretty sure that if you want to practice in the UK you're better off with going to med school in Poland than the US because Poland's EU and, generally speaking, EU grads come before non-EU grads. Though, of course, going to a UK med school would be the best option if you want to practice there...

I don't think it matters that much where the degree is from, only that you are a EU citizen. UK is much more picky in their post-graduate training, so doing med school in Poland isn't really that great for opening doors to residency-training in the UK (correct me if I'm wrong). On the other hand, if you know you only want to do IM/FM/psych/peds, then you have a good shot at US residency programs even from Poland.

You could always move to the UK after a fully completed residency training elsewhere, which shouldn't be a problem when you're a EU citizen. But I wouldn't find doing residency in Poland to be very attractive (salary, working conditions), so then we're back at the US residency option again, for which a US MD-degree would offer much more variety in terms of different specialties that are attainable. So I don't really see any good reasons for the OP to go med school in Poland, unless he can't live without his mommy, or can't get into a US med school.

 

[Staradmiral]

The stats are not that bad as everyone here is saying about Poland. IF you look at Jagiellonian's graduate statistics over half of the students obtained residency in the united states. Also not everyone who graduated necesarilly applied to the united states. Some went to canada, some to the UK. Therefore your odds are pretty good. You are at a disadvantage when it comes to specialties. But if your happy with family medicine then it shouldn't be too hard.

You can always work in the UK if things dont work out. The EU allows any doctor to work anywhere as long as they speak the language. You dont have to rewrite exams or anything. A polish doctor getting a license in the UK is as easy as picking up your bags and moving. Are you an EU citizen? Technically an EU graduate is on the same playing field as a UK graduate. you get to apply to the same number of residency positions. Of course you may always run into some subjective head of the hospital who thinks UK grads are better.

I'm not sure if the americans here know how EU works. EU has free trade of workers. If your licensed in this state then you are eligible in them all, your only barrier is language. Its the equivalent of a doctor in new jersey trying to move to south carolina. Moving around the EU as a worker is like moving around the united states.