medical school in slovakia

[redar]

hi to everybody ,
i need the help of someone who knows about the medical school in bratislava , i would like to transfer from a hungarian medical school .

thank you for all the help ,

happy new year 2008

[shrey]

why bratislava? i think there's two universities there that offer the english medical progaram:
1) Comenius medical university
2) Jessenius medical university (i hope i spelled it right)

[diogenes]

why bratislava? i think there's two universities there that offer the english medical progaram:
1) Comenius medical university
2) Jessenius medical university (i hope i spelled it right)
Jessenius is not in Bratislava. It's in Martin (ca. 100 miles Nth. East of Brat.).
It is a satellite of Comenius. A relationship similar to that between Charles Prague and Charles Hradec Kralove (or Plzen) - I would imagine.

[redar]

thank you all , for your respond . but i'm asking about the COMENIUS UNIVERSITY IN BRATISLAVA ,not other universities .

so pls if you have any info about this specific university ,it would be much apprecaited . what i'm loking for is the level of the studies and other info .

thank you

[shrey]

i think you should do a search on slovakian medical schools in this forum...coz there was this lady and her husband who went there (and she's poseted quite some stuff regarding the univ.)....however the info's probably a bit old....but still gives you a basic perspective...

[peacefuljourney]

Hi,

Yes, I'm 'that lady' from Comenius. I'm in 6th year 2 - state exams to go and I'm DONE! My husband graduated last year and is now preparing for the steps.

What are you hoping to know about the school. We have a bunch of Scandanavians who transferred from Hungary.

So, on that note there are a couple of differences - we don't have the horror stories of so many people failing out. The ones that fail here really have to be out of it to do so. I mean these guys did no work at all. The profs want to pass you but you must know something. It is a credit based system with 100% oral final exams. Another difference is that you don't have to pay to re-take the exams. If you don't make it the first time you can take it again (3x).

Tell me what your questions are and I'll do my best to answer.

S-

[redar]

hi peacefuljourney (http://www.valuemd.com/members/peacefuljourney.html) , how are you ? . thank you for your post . 1st i would like to congratulate you and your husband for his graduation and you , for your near to come .
i have many , many questions to ask . so if you have a messenger i think it would be perfect .

as for my questions :- how is bratislava as a city , rent and leaving expenses
- the level of studies , in your opinion ?
- are the classes with many students or is it 10 students per
group .
- the 6th year , the wards can you make it in your country or just
in bratislava ?

thank you again for all your help .

have a happy new year 2008 .

[redar]

hi sara ,
thank you for all your help .
haven't got any reply from you yet , other questions i have is , when do you recomend to do the USMLE strep 1 ?

thanx

[peacefuljourney]

Hi,

Sorry for the delay in response - I haven't been here in a while.

Bratislava has changed A LOT since we moved here. So now it is a modern city with all amenities you would want. Groceries are no longer a problem (they were when we first moved here). There are at least 3 major shopping malls with tons of shops. The old town is pretty but smaller compared with Prague. Most people who've lived in both countries find that the Slovaks are friendlier than the Czechs who sometimes (ok often) come off as arrogant somehow.

Rent has really gone up. It used to be cheap but you will need 15-18,000 sk to get a decent place. That is for a single apartment that is quite nice. i.e. the really pooh poohty places go for 10,000 sk per month and likely your standard of living is higher than that. They are really dirty and dingy for that price. Some students here (the rich ones) pay 800 EUR per month for a really gorgeous place. I never lived like that as a student.

Gas is about twice the price of North America if you have a car. Groceries are also more than in Canada.

The first year student body was about 60 students this year and yes, they are broken down into groups of max. 10 - it might even be 8 per group. The students are a realy mix of Scandanavians, Germans, Arabs, Greeks and a handful of North Americans. Some are keen to learn and others... well... they leave a lot to be desired.

You will be accepted and will pass the courses if you put in any effort at all. The exams are 100% oral final exams with the credit system where you have to do things throughout the year to earn your 'credit' before you can sit for the final. You have 3 chances to pass the finals and can choose your dates. If you fail, you can write again. Some courses have a written exam first.

I found the education to be quite high quality but totally self directed. If you just want to cruise by, you can do that. But if you want to assist with surgeries and make your wishes known, you can do that too. I'm just starting to study for my step 2 which will be the first step I do because it goes along with my studies in the final year for surgery and internal medicine. I've already finished my state exams for ob/gyn and paediatrics and then looked at the step 2 materials - there is nothing there that I haven't seen before. The format is different so I plan to do lots and lots of questions. My husband is starting to do step 1 now and again, there is no 'new' material there that we didn't do here but he must do lots of questions to be on top.

You will find the teaching here very traditional - i.e. not 'problem based' but we memorize tons of (in my opinion) stupid details and thus often forgoe a general understanding that would last long after the details have faded - i.e. biochem. We had to memorize every equation for every pathway and had to spit that out for the exam. Now, I don't remember the chemical structures or which hydoxyl moved here or there and my knowledge of practical biochem is weak.

Re: wards. The Scandanavians did surgery rotations and Internal rotations in their own country for 6th year. For North America, the schools I enquired at wanted Comenius to pay for medical insurance. Our school doesn't do that so for me, it wasn't possible, but I didn't try very hard because we choose to stay here to keep the kids in their same school as long as possible before moving back - it wouldn't have meant that they started at a new school mid-year.

I'll try to check back again for more questions.

We have had a couple of guys transfer here from Prague and some from Hungary.

Any more specific questions and I'll try to assist.

S-

[shrey]

Hey there Peacefuljourney,

wow I completely agree with you that Czechs are arrogant in comparison to Slovaks. In fact, after meeting a bunch of Slovaks last week, it affirms your opinion even more.

[Foveroulis]

Hey there guys!
It seems you guys no a lot of things about the Slovakian Med Schools! I'm currently a student at Semmelweis in Hungary, and I've had almost enough from it, and I'm thinking of transferring to Slovakia. As of right now, I'm thinking to take the rest of the semester off, and transfer in September. Do you guys know anything about transferring into the med school there?

How are the oral exams there? Are the examiners nice, or do they do their best in trying to suck out every little information that you know? Do people fail out? And does your final mark, solely depend on your final examination or do the midterms also count toward that mark?

How is Bratislava as a city? Metro? Buses? How do u guys get around? And is there a campus or is the university spread out throughout the whole city? Apartments? Easy or hard to find something decent?

Thank you guys in advance.

[EvanH]

it's probably a whole different country over there.. haha never been to czechland or near there...

interesting... how are Americans viewed over there??

lol...

[shrey]

Well in general the Slovaks are much more friendlier than the Czechs. That being said, a little command of either languages will be of immense use and the czechs/slovaks very much appreciate that (as they know that their language/s is/are not in many countries).

The problem arises when the Americans/Canadians/British start comparing the facilities and the cost of things (as their currency is stronger). The czechs really don't like that. But in general, they're reserved (although they can be friendly if you attempt to speak a czech phrase or two).

[redar]

hi

thank you for the last post :) , you gave me lots of important information .

i have couple of more specific questions , and i hope you can give me your insight about them .

i'm planing to travel to slovakia on this march ,to see the place and speak with people , will you and your husband be there ,and may be available to meet with me ??

as for the other questions:
1.) is the university helpful in the social areas ,i.e finding accomodation,immigration ?
2.) did you speak or meet other americans who graduated from the university and did the USMLE exams .
3.) is the university accredited in the states , i mean is the english program of the university accredited in the states like in california ?

thank you for all your help

have a nice day

[peacefuljourney]

Hi,

You are welcome to contact me and we can meet while you are here. My email address is: sarah_takach@yahoo.com.

No, the university doesn't get involved with helping with accomodation etc.

Apparently many slovaks have written their usmle's and are working in the states - I don't know of any 'americans.'

There is only 1 program here - with language variances - thus, we are qualified to work in all states, including California.

S-