Charles Uni all Faculties (Reprot!)

[Andyland]

Hey Guys, I am going to Study Medicine at Charles, in Prague in September 07. I have applied to pretty much all the Faculties (1st, 2nd and 3rd), sat the exams and have been offered a place, which is great. But I am still considering which one to accept I have been talking to some students from every faculty in order to get a better understanding about the colleges and enable me to choose the right faculty for me. Here’s what I came up with. The First Faculty has many harsh (and bitter) critics, a lot of negatives especially unfair treatment. The second Faculty seems great, well organised and fair (But situated outside of Prague City). The third Faculty great also, difficult exams but again fair. According to First Faculty students (and they ALL seem to agree on this) that the system in the First Faculty is somewhat unfair and at times harsh. Even though it’s the biggest faculty, very central and “most prestigious” it has a lot of negatives. Many say the first faculty is upping its standards abnormally and dramatically and wants to “reduce a year that started as 120 students down to 7 by the 6th year”. So a lot of people are dropping out and/or changing faculties because of this. Also the examiners and lectures conducting orals are “biased and cranky”! Often failing people if they are in a bad mood on that day. Especially in the Biochemistry department “nightmare”. According to many Second Faculty students, their faculty is the “better organised” and “fairest”. The second Faculty works/teaches out of Motol hospital (a bit outside Prague City), which is one of the largest hospitals in the Czech Republic. It has “excellent facilities” and “is great for when you’re doing the clinicals”. Also the second faculty has many extracurricular activities and optional subjects to choose form in their program. According to the third Faculty students, there are "disadvantages" but many positives about this Faculty. It’s small (so you get to know everyone) and modern. It teaches a ‘problem based learning’ medical course and apparently treats their students very well. Its examination system is very difficult (it is medicine after all!) as the exams are bunched together at the end of two years. Also it can seem disorganised (applying there was a nightmare!) Anyway if anyone wants to agree or disagree, I would really appreciate your thoughts on this matter! AL

[dankameny]

I can't comment on the first three theoretical years of the second faculty but I can comment on Motol. Motol hospital is on par with western standards. When I have the option of picking where to do a clinical rotation I pick Motol. Not only is it a big hospital which has every department imaginable in one place, but almost all the doctors speak english well and are foreigner friendly. The hospital has a special foreigner department where a variety of languages are served in. Many of the doctors there are young and have been abroad and understand the systems and countries we come from. The hospital is very modern and with the exception of their language I would imagine I was in America. My landlord is a surgeon in Motol and I visit him there often. I can't say enough good things about that hospital. It's not far from the center of the city either. I live in the center of the city and have rode my bicycle to Motol all year long including during the winter. It's a tram ride away at the worst.

[Andyland]

Tanx for that!
What faculty would you be in? I ask because I wonder do all the Faculties do their clinicals out of Motol?

[shrey]

Hey Andyland, I think Dankameny is in the First Faculty (you can check the previous thread posted by him and also if you go to the first faculty site (www.lf.cuni.cz (http://www.lf.cuni.cz)), check the LF1 English parallel link and you'll see his name posted there (Dan Kameny's corner)....

[Superman19]

Hello

I can't comment on faculties 1 and 3, but can certainly on faculty 2. Faculty 2 has been voted the ''strictest'' faculty interms of their intake this year. This is very well done as majority of the students this year found it rather difficult to cope with their medical studies (5 quit in total; 2 for known reasons), so hopefully choosing the most talented bunch would avoid this. In concordance with this, I must mention the fact that the curriculum of faculty 2 is percieved to be difficult because of the addition of unnecessary subjects such as Biophysics, Latin and possibly Nursing for some students, along with the demanding subjects such as Histology and Anatomy. It may also startle you to know that in contrast to many countries such as the UK, in which neuroanatomy is done as a seperate subject to anatomy (most commonly in the 2nd year), the second faculty has taken on the challenge to do it all in 1 year (though this may be typical of the other faculties aswell). This serves to be one major reason as to why many people do not proceed to reading physiology (in the 2nd year), because many of them do not succeed inspite of passing histology, which may seem to be difficult with the intense colloquials (oral test in front of the class) but in reality is relatively easy to succeed in.

''The second Faculty seems great, well organised and fair'', fairness may be brought into question but well organised is certainly in opposition in my view.

In the first year, majority of the lessons begin at 8 am. This can very tidious (especially if you are sharing an accomodation) as one would expect medical students to work very late in the night. To add to the misery, the university library (located in the motol hospital) is rather small with only 5-6 computers and four tables stacked together with towers of books standing high around the tables. Books are only allowed to be barrowed on weekends and must be return on the first day (i.e monday) of the starting week. Failure to return may result in a fine.

In comparison to Hradec Karlove (another faculty of medicine), the 2nd faculty is very poorly organised in that there is no mention of date of exams, holidays or vocation. The dates seem to be derived generically as when pleased, in that some students may go home early for christmas, others later. One would expect that in the very first seminar, one should be given the course details, resources and date of exams. But this is certainly not true of Histology as I recall it (and other subjects to a lesser extent). The first lesson is treated as any other, where the student remains blank and void as to what they are letting themselves into. The whole curriculum is self directed, that is to say, the most lectures are not delivered to a high degree of quality, and seminars in some cases are a joke and a waste of time (especially in the case of anatomy, where you have 30 students gathered around a body).

I would say that the 2nd faculty is fair in its approach of crediting exams, with the exception of Histology. How well do you in histology is a matter of luck. Of the three possible examiners, some come across as humble and others arrogant and more demanding. From this, one can anticipate that there is no set standard for passing the examination because of these individual differences.

If one is to succeed in their studies at the 2nd faculty, one must be prepared to work independently through out.

Please note that the above material is my view of the 2nd faculty and it may not reflect views of others.

[shrey]

hey Superman19, thanks for you insight on the 2nd fac. I have a question for you. How does one pass the "hard" subjects like Histology, Anatomy, and Embryology if the lectures/seminars are of low quality? I mean is it more of a self-study? Do dissections help?

[czdoc]

2nd fac like all facs here will require you to do alot of work on your own. dont expect to be spoon fed. Anyway like you andyland i got accepted into all 3 but i choose 2nd for motol hospital. have never looked back

[pruritis_ani]

I am a grad of first faculty. I had zero issues at the school. I am not sure if second and third fac have CA approval for the English language program, but if they do not I would NOT go there if you are from the states. If they do have approval, I don't think it would matter one bit which faculty you go to.

As for exams in first fac, they ranged from tough to very easy. They were almost always fair. The only exceptions to fairness where the rare classes that cheating was possible. I thought it was unfair that I busted my *** and others slid through. No matter, though, as the cheaters never made it past year 2 or 3. There were certainly some tough patches, and some classes that made me sweat. But, the bottom line was if you knew the material, you passed. Was there luck involved? Sure. All of us got easy exam questions once in a while, as well as the rare impossible one. But, it all averaged out in the end.

In short, I would go back to first faculty in a heartbeat. I had a blast. I learned medicine, and have done very well on all of my USMLEs. I wound up in the exact residency program and specialty that I wanted. I am doing very well in my program, and scoring well on my inservice exams. All of that, plus 5 years of my life in an amazing city, where I made great freinds from all over the world, partied like a rock star and drank cheap beer. It was such a blast. I miss it every day, and I am thankful every day that I had the opportunity.

Doing well in CR is simple. Study as much as you can. I studied Sun-Thursday when I was not at class or sleeping. Period. No weeknights out, no sitting in front of the TV, no screwing around. Book open in front of you. Then, enjoy the weekend. After class Friday I would put my books in my room, and have a good time. Parties, play soccer, out to dinner, leave town, whatever. Then, Sunday, back to the old grind. Worked perfect.

So, go to whichever faculty you want, as long as it is CA approved. Work your tail off. Enjoy Prague while you are there. Do well on your USMLEs. And then, you will do very well back home in the USA.

Best of luck!