guys , i've found something weird

[dr_evil]

i've found that lugansk state medical university(lsmu) in ukraine , is recognized by the medical board of california ....

the weird thing is that it's not listed under "ukraine", instead , it's listed under "Russian Federation" !!!!!!

is this weird , or it's just my poor knowledge of geography & politics ????

[shrey]

Hey there dr_evil,
Yes I checked and it is recognized by the California Medical Board but it's not for the English program. Almost all the medical schools are CA approved but that only applies for medical programs taught in their native languages. There are very few "English" medical program that have a CA approval.

[dr_evil]

how can i know if the english program is approved by other states ?

i tried to search it , but didn't find other medical boards with a list as california

[dr_evil]

by the way ,
does an unrecognized school mean that you can't get licensed in even if you have passed usmle tests ????

because most of the unrecognized schools are imed listed which means that after graduation you will be able to take the usmle tests ...

[devildoc8404]

Most states don't work exactly like California. The Golden State is more particular than most. Do a search on this site for more information on that topic...

Dr_Evil, if the school is not recognized by California you cannot get licensed there (or even complete residency there)... even if you pass the USMLE with a 99. However, there are other states which are not as finicky, and you may be able to complete residency and practice there.

Many people in this forum recommend focusing your efforts on CA-approved schools, for the simple reason that it opens up those options -- there are also a few other states which follow CA's lead.

[shrey]

Hey there dr_devil, if you look at the list of the CA-approved schools, scroll down to the Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic sections and you will clearly see that they mention that the 6 year english programs are also recognized. Unfortunately there are no other European schools that are CA recognized other than few ones in these 3 countries.

The reason why many people use CA-approval as a standard is because it is like a rating in itself. Getting a CA-approval is both hard and time-consuming (and not to mention the tons of paper work needed to get the approval!!!). If the respective medical school is not CA approved, that just means you won't be able to practice in California. You might then have to check with the other state medical boards if they recognize that particular school.

The advantage of being CA-approved is that, the students from that school are entitled to work in any 50 states of the States (US).

[devildoc8404]

To be precise, note that MOST of the native-language European schools are California-approved -- it's just the English-language programs which often do not have that approval.

One other important consideration is that there are schools which allow English-speaking students to matriculate in their native-language programs, teaching them the local language during the classroom years of medical school to use during clinicals.

For example, this is the case in Bratislava, Slovakia, and Sofia, Bulgaria (among some others). Because the English-speaking students learn the language and graduate specifically from the native-language program, their medical education is recognized by the State of California.

[shrey]

Even Russia has tons of schools that follow this where students learn the russian language in the 1st 3 years of their study (while doing english courses) and then have to switch to the russian medium of instruction from their 4th year on. However, this is slowly being replaced.

[Moldovanits]

Even Russia has tons of schools that follow this where students learn the russian language in the 1st 3 years of their study (while doing english courses) and then have to switch to the russian medium of instruction from their 4th year on. However, this is slowly being replaced.


so if its English medium is it still accredited as a native language?

[shrey]

Hey there Moldovants,
No, if the medium of instruction is in English, then it's not accredited as a native language program.

But if you're asking if the 6 year programs in Russia, where the students have to move into the russian mode of instruction, I'm not sure if that qualifies as a native language (it might as the students are completely changing to a Russian medium of education).
But you would have to check up on that.

However, here are some of the reasons people gave me not to attend russian medical schools:
1) High violence rate in the country
2) Outdated technology (with a few exceptions)
3) Racism/Discrimination
4) The universities are too cheap which kind of makes you wonder what they have to offer to the students.
5) No particular advantages of graduating from a Russian medical university (as opposed to graduating from a university that's part of the European Union - as it entitles students to work or even transfer to another european country).

[Moldovanits]

Hey there Moldovants,
No, if the medium of instruction is in English, then it's not accredited as a native language program.

But if you're asking if the 6 year programs in Russia, where the students have to move into the russian mode of instruction, I'm not sure if that qualifies as a native language (it might as the students are completely changing to a Russian medium of education).
But you would have to check up on that.

However, here are some of the reasons people gave me not to attend russian medical schools:
1) High violence rate in the country
2) Outdated technology (with a few exceptions)
3) Racism/Discrimination
4) The universities are too cheap which kind of makes you wonder what they have to offer to the students.
5) No particular advantages of graduating from a Russian medical university (as opposed to graduating from a university that's part of the European Union - as it entitles students to work or even transfer to another european country).

makes sense. im thinking of Moldova med. I was actually born there so i speak the native language Russian. but then again do i want to be their for 6 years? its kind of a long time. how would it work for the usmle? do you know anything about that?

[shrey]

Hey there Moldovanits,
Well I guess since you speak the language, it really shouldn't be the problem. I've heard of many native born europeans who moved to the States and went back to their respective country to do a 6 year course and they did fine in the USMLEs.....many people manage it....it just takes extra effort (but that applies to all of us doing 6 year medical programs in Europe). And you seem to fluent in both, so you shouldn't really have a problem preparing for the USMLEs (but start your preparation from the 2nd year and pace yourself...)

6 years is a long time indeed and it can get very frustrating...I'm just in the first year and I get so frustrated because I find that european medical schools are quite hard (and the profs. don't cut you any slack)...and it's all about self-study...and self-motivation. That being said, you'll still have very good fundamentals once you do graduate from here (one of the EU countries)....

However, I would check if any of the Moldovan universities are CA-approved (I don't think any of them are). Going to a CA-approved school is always an advantage as it's a ranking criterion itself.....

[devildoc8404]

FWIW, on the California Medical Board website there is one Moldovan medical university listed as approved:

"State Medical University N Testemitanu of Republic of Moldova."

[shrey]

Hey there Moldovanits,

thanks to dr.devildoc8404, I completely forgot that you were doing the native 6 year program. I'm sorry....all the native programs are CA approved...so you shouldn't have a problem at all!!!!