I'll be starting an American University next year as an undergrad. I'm an American citizen also. If I were to apply to Charles University 1st Faculty would I be best advised to it as if I were going after my first year or second year? Is it very difficult to get residency after I finish the degree if I get it from Charles? I know that it's a well respected university, but is it in the field of medicine in America? Could I get any information about the school sent to me? Thanks.

Hey Kim (I'm assuming your name from the other post),
About Charles University's First Faculty of Medicine. If you look at the stats you can (on the ECFMG website) see that a lot of primary care residencies (family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics) go unfilled thus, leaving no problem for IMG's. (international medical graduates). Others such as surgery, OB/GYN, etc still have a significant amount of IMG's admitted. Shoot, I'm here in North Dakota and the surgery residency always has a couple unfilled spots; that's just because no one wants to live in North Dakota. However, in my opinion IMG's who are US citizens are a whole different breed of IMG's. Why? TOEFL is no problem, profiecieny in English is no problem and there's no papers to take care of as far as visas and such since this is our country. Don't get me wrong, it will still be more competitive than if you were a US grad.

As far as applying. You asked if it would be better to apply after the first or second year of college. Well, you can essentially apply right after high school and I would almost suggest it. If you go to college, you will learn biology and chemistry, sure. But, you should have the skills right after high school to learn subjects such as anatomy, physiology and cell biology - If you go to college you'll just brush the surface with these subjects so you might as well go big and learn the real thing. I mean, why not?

I'm in my first year of college right now and I will be going to Charles this fall. I've been taking General Chemistry and General Biology for a year now. I wish I could of invested all my time into studying the physiology of the thoracic cavity of the human body as opposed to what I spend my time studying now; the coelom of a roundworm. Worthless to me - but interesting nevertheless.

I hear the entrance exam is not so bad (physics, bio and chem - I have yet to take it but the sample questions look like no problem) and if you took those subjects in high school or even have satisfactory knowledge of them, my guess is you should be able to pass the entrance exam thus, becoming admitted. If you apply after 1 or 2 years of college that is simply money wasted because you're not going to get a bachelor's degree from a US institution anyways. It is good in the respect that you will be building studying skills and the basics for science (again, unless you did well in that area in high school).


Message or e-mail for anything else,
Andrew Shaker

Thanks for all the information. I was thinking about internal medicine for my specialty. If I would have known I could do do this I would have applied for next year. I'm a senior this year and already have all my college plans for next year. I can't back out now anyway. In high school I had bio, chem, anatomy and physiology, and I'm taking physics this year. I'll be taking bio next year and most likely chem also.This way I can brush up on some of it.

Well Kim,
That's exciting that you have plans for next year. Starting college is a way fun experience and hard work. Keep in mind, the deadline date for Charles' First Faculty is June 15th for 2004's fall (just in case).

I'll keep you informed throughout the year when I start this fall (if I have time with studying and all). I think it would be in my best, as everyone else's to start a website (not the firstfaculty.com, however it's okay) and list students currently attending so that prospective students may contact them. Maybe a few grads from the USA as well.

Thanks very much,
Andrew Shaker

Thanks. I'm just going to brush up on my sciences next year at college. I'll probably apply for 2005 though. That's a late deadline. They must need people to go there. I saw that someone wrote that their program was accepted in CA and NM. Are those the only states? I know that here in CA it isn't a great place for doctors. They get sued a lot and their malpractice is high. It costs an arm and a leg to live anywhere too. Thanks for all the help and info, I really appreciate it.

Kim,

why dont u apply to US med schools?

I'm just looking at all of my options. My biggest problem is money. The college I'm going to costs at least $25,000 a year. Multiply that by four years and you get $100,000. Much of that is in loans. Med schools here cost between $40,000 and $50,000 usually when you add everything up. That's per year also. That's about $200,000 more. All of the med school would have to be on loans, too. I could go to a European school for a whole lot less money and spend less time there. I know money shouldn't be the driving force, but I really need to weigh it very heavily. I don't have financial help from anyone.

Hey Kim,
You asked if Cali. and NM were the only states to get approval of the medical school (First Faculty). No no. Those were the last two states to approve the medical school's English program. That just mean that now the medical school's graduates are allowed to practice in all 50 states. Cali just has the toughest standards to meet for IMG's (and NM just uses Cali's approvals).

Thanks for the info about approval. It just looked kind of weird when I saw it. I wouldn't work in CA anyway. Do you happen to know any states that are supposed to be particularly good to work in? Thanks.

That's a difficult question for anyone to answer.

It depends in part on which specialty you wish practice, what kind of practice you wish to have, what kind of environment appeals to you, etc...