Your safety net during med school.

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GodoShingo

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I am soon finishing my studies in an European country and something has been on my mind.
Ever since I remember starting my studies, I have never felt any support nor any way to rely on the administration of my med school.
It's pretty much like whatever happens, you are on your own, and nobody cares.
There are some individuals that are employed in the school who occasionally agree to help you out if you really need it, but that's not their job, and they have to bend the regulations or go "out of line" to do so. Alas, they are the regular "good guys", who help out because of that they have a conscience.

To further clarify with examples:

1) A student's wife/husband gets really sick. He/she has to be absent a week or two to take care of things, support his/her spouse. This is allowed if you have a note from some kind of authority and allowance from the Dean. But upon coming back, it's fully the student's responsibility to clear everything up personally with the departments concerned (even though it's the administration's job). Even if the absence was allowed, and approved by the Dean, the departments can make a great deal out of the absence (even though it was discussed beforehand) and make a fuss about it and not complying due to stubbornness. This leads often to the student having to tell about his personal affairs, even though this isn't needed.
The administration (whose job it is to clear these things out) hardly help out.
Any complaints are met with deaf ears.

2) A top student suddenly starts to fail classes. The administration tends to pretty much ignore this.

3) There is no one to turn to if you need help. If a student is, say, depressed or burnt out, it's not anyone else's problem. There is no way to turn for help. The school doesn't offer any help.

4) Nightmare teachers. Year after year they harass students (many times they zone in to the "Arabs"). Any complaints are met with deaf ears and sometimes they let you speak to the offender in person rather than take in a mediator.
Or teachers that are unable to teach at all that are still employed by the university, even though there are complaints.

5) A student comes in drunk/high. If this happens, he is warned or thrown out of the class. Nothing more.

6) One look on your grades (who by the way are easily obtained by any teacher if they want to) can determine how well you are treated by the teacher.

7) Unorganized classes and lectures. Teachers/doctors don't show up and give sub par lectures and classes. There is a huge difference about how much you learn depending on if you get a doctor that actually gives a damn about teaching you.

So to the point: I don't know if this is normal in all universities, but I feel that this is not an acceptable way to treat students. I have spoken to some friends who study in other countries and many of them have more rights and better treatment (and safety nets) overall than we have had during my studies.

Overall the general consensus from students that have studied (and are studying) at my university is that the studies themselves have never been the problem. Even though we get poorly prepared exams from time to time.
It's rather the administration and the total lack of interest from the "upper" guys to solve any problem whatsoever that is the problem.

So, simply:
How do you /did you feel about the treatment you receive/received during med school?
Is every medical university as bad as where I have studied?
Is what I have described pretty much what to expect when you go to med school?

Thanks to you who reply.

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In the US, there's some financial incentive to help medical students who are falling behind or require additional time off for various reasons mostly because our education here is subsidized by the government.

As far as I know, there is no financial incentive to help residents who encounter similar problems, though if the problem is minor, it may be easier to deal with the issue than go through the process of hiring a new resident.
 
I have encountered more annoyance from administration than from faculty, everywhere I went. The faculty actually care (even if sometimes they give terrible lectures).
 
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In the US, there's some financial incentive to help medical students who are falling behind or require additional time off for various reasons mostly because our education here is subsidized by the government.
We pay out of our own pockets with huge loans. Maybe that's why they don't give a damn about us.
I am very glad that very soon the school won't have students from other countries to come anymore since changes of state regulations regarding internships abroad will make it pretty much a bad choice to study at our university.


I have encountered more annoyance from administration than from faculty, everywhere I went. The faculty actually care (even if sometimes they give terrible lectures).
It's good to hear that it works with your faculties, it gives me some hope that it's not ****ty everywhere.
Do you also have individual teachers/doctors that harass students? If they do, that will happen to them?
In our case, the employees that act that way have connections with the "higher ups" and are pretty much untouchable.
 
We pay out of our own pockets with huge loans. Maybe that's why they don't give a damn about us.
I am very glad that very soon the school won't have students from other countries to come anymore since changes of state regulations regarding internships abroad will make it pretty much a bad choice to study at our university.



It's good to hear that it works with your faculties, it gives me some hope that it's not ****ty everywhere.
Do you also have individual teachers/doctors that harass students? If they do, that will happen to them?
In our case, the employees that act that way have connections with the "higher ups" and are pretty much untouchable.

Where in Europe do you study? I haven't heard of any country where you need to take "huge" loans.
 
Where in Europe do you study? I haven't heard of any country where you need to take "huge" loans.
Poland. If you are a student from another country, or if you haven't got your grades and are a Polish citizen, you have to pay from your own pocket.
When I finish, my debt will be around 70,000$. It's not an amount that's impossible to pay off, but then, our salaries won't be that high either in the future (when I return to my country).
Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary are not free for foreign students (which is very much understandable). The cheapest of them to study in would be Romania, I believe.
Even though it doesn't sound like a huge amount, it is in our home countries.
I am not complaining about the debt itself, though. I know how high it would be before I started.
And I don't honestly know how much the debts are in the US, so I can't compare personally.

But it makes me feel like a cash cow. Lure them in (we did in fact have no information about the state of the university or the attitude of the administration, which got worse every year) and milk the money.

In hindsight I understand that maybe I am being too sensitive and complain too much. But I believe that we should have been taken care of a little bit more than we were, as in the administration and the staff actually doing their job.

I am though grateful over the fact that I have had the possibility to follow my dreams and become a doctor.

I just want to know if our university is rather an exception or if this is what to expect when enrolling.
 
I have never heard of a case of harassment here, except from the locals. Don't professors have better things to care about, like their research or which beach to go to after lecture?
 
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