Thread: Debrecen Fall 2012 Med Students Here!

Hi everyone!

I just found out about this great website. I am starting the Debrecen Med School (1st year) this September. I just thought maybe we could introduce ourselves first, why chose Hungary and Debrecen, ask questions if we have any (I have tons)..

Well, I am from Turkey originally, then went to college in the US and graduated in 2010. Wanted to pursue pre-med, yet my grades were not stellar, and would have no chance to pay for the med school in USA, let alone they would ever accept me.

So, I found the Hungary option, and took the test for Debrecen, and to be honest, it was piece of cake.

About the school, I have been religiously following many posts here about Debrecen, and I think they gave me a general outlook what I should expect: average education, horrible administration. Too much to work by myself with little to expect from the faculty and of course EU-diploma in the end.

I also contacted several Turkish people studying currently there, and they mostly had the same feelings more or less. I wanted to visit the university this summer before the program starts, but it will probably not possible I think.

I ve got tons and tons of questions in my mind:

1) What should I do about accomodation? I am on a tight budget, looking for approx. $100 - 200 for rent + not more than $60 for other costs (not food, I mean heating, internet, electricity etc..) I found couple of links on the university website, but I wanted to hear current students opinion about it

2) I read a little about the general education style, so I am playing the wait-and-see method for that. My concern is the research opportunities in the University. Are facilities and faculty easily accessible for us even in the first year? For example, I am interested in neurosurgery, can I directly go to a professor at the department and ask him/her if I could join in? Or how should I approach to them in general?

I just wanted to hear from you guys if you want to share/add anything would be much appreciated!


Thank you in advance

About the accommodation, I don't think I've seen anyone here paying less than $350 per month for rent. Add the other misc. costs to this and you're looking at something between $400 and $500. And that's just the accommodation part.

Of you are so tight on budget ,why not making 30 kms further to romania (oradea) , you'll get your rent for 150$ and tuition will be 3 or 4 times less... for the same 6 year english prog , I really don't get the interest of paying so much

Thank you guys for your replies.. Red_devil, do you think as a first year should I stay at dorms or get an apartment? I mean I thought if I get the dorms option, I would be able to meet new people and mingle for studying together, also it d be easier for me to get adjusted.. Do you think I would be missing a lot if I get an apartment by myself?

Thanks Chapelier! I ll keep that suggestion in my mind! I assume you are there already there / or recently graduated. How was your experience overall?

The price of a shared dorm room is $500 and if you don't know anyone here, you'll end up paying $600 per month for a single-bed room. The university and people here will try to rip you off whenever they can. You just have to be smart enough from day one to avoid any unnecessary losses.
Your social life will be a lot better if you stay in the dorms but at the same time there will be a lot of unwanted distractions. Most of the student population rents their own apartments so mingling with new people shouldn't be a problem even if you don't stay in the dorms. I had the option of staying in the dorms but I chose to ignore it as I wanted to focus on my studies from the beginning (sounds cool I know but I'm still trying to focus ). Remember that getting in is the easy part as far as this uni is concerned but lasting here is quite difficult if you're not serious about your studies. There are nearly 500 people in my year and it'll be interesting to see how many make it to the next year.

the_red_devil has said everything there is to say about accommodation and if i were you, i'd highlight that with a marker (you'd get this joke when you finally did choose Debrecen).
however, if finances are an issue for you, then i'd highly recommend considering the nice option given by the great chapelier.
romania is cheaper and imho you'll get the same EU-tagged degree like anyone else. by and large, all east european medical schools share the same problems and/or advantages.

lastly, this is just an advice from me. 1st year might be too early to join a research group at the university, and i dare say joining the neurosurgery research team might be a little bit ambitious (even though i aknowledge that you may have a previous degree in that field) but i'm not saying it can't be done either (in fact there's a girl in our year who has been w/ the biophysics department since our 1st year). i just feel that you should concentrate on having a solid academic footing in the 1st 2 years w/ little distractions and maybe by ending 2nd year or beginning 3rd year you can join the research team of your choice. and yes, you can go to the professor directly and ask him/her to join their research group. they'll be overwhelmed (and maybe shocked, but in a positive way)
good luck in your endeavours.

Originally Posted by bastibacak

Thanks Chapelier! I ll keep that suggestion in my mind! I assume you are there already there / or recently graduated. How was your experience overall?

yep I'm very near , in oradea , 1/3 of the city is hungarian actualy this is so cheap compared (especialy tuition) , I think this is a possibility for those whose $$ is a problem..

First of all, welcome to hell!

Originally Posted by bastibacak

Hi everyone!
1) What should I do about accomodation? I am on a tight budget, looking for approx. $100 - 200 for rent + not more than $60 for other costs (not food, I mean heating, internet, electricity etc..) I found couple of links on the university website, but I wanted to hear current students opinion about it

You can find pretty cheap places here, there are areas 20 minutes (Walking distance) away from the uni that are around 40.000 huf, but mostly you'll find prices around 60.000~120.000 huf + bills you should add 20.000~30.000 huf extra, atleast that's what I'm paying roughly on bills during wintertime.

I have a friend that's renting a flat with 2 bedrooms for 45.000 huf and she's sharing the flat, so that's like.. ~35.000 huf each with bills I think.

There are two websites where you can find appartments:

1) This is where most people find their appartments, they have low budget places and some really nice places:
Welcome to Net-Home.hu website! - Properties

2) This is where most scandinavian people get their flats from as they have mostly flats of our standard, prices are around 100.000 ~ 200.000 huf:
INEMA | INGATLAN | DEBRECEN
Also, I found the lady working here and her husband to be very helpful.

Also, for your research experience, just focus on studying, I came here with the idea of getting into research as well but everything here is made so much harder that you just won't have time for research, especially if you get into a group with classes that are all over the place, there are some groups here with classes from early in the morning until very late in the night, and with 1~2 hours in between classes.
I've been blessed enough to get into a class with a super compressed schedule and even with that there isn't enough time to study imo.

You also have to get a hold of student notes, past papers (Please befriend as many Jewish people as you can, it will help you A LOT), etc, because basically what they do here is give you the book list, a not so helpful topic list for the semester lectures and say "Ok, see you for you SCT's and exam period, oh and during the obligatory seminars, just to waste your time". So even if you're capable right now of doing research, here everything is so "unpedagogic" and so hard to follow that you will probably struggle.

Thanks guys, I checked the websites, I think I ll get a rommate (if I can find) to lower costs as much as I can. So anyone who is interested can just send me a private message by the way.

Wow everyone thinks Unideb is that horrible? I mean of course I did some background check on the uni, and I am not expecting it to be Hopkins, but seriously, there is no one who can say any tiny good things about the school? I wish I could have other options...