I see that you have corresponded with a number of people over the past few months re: AIM and the medical school in Lodz. My brother has recently graduated from another medical school in Poland and knows all about the various medical programs in Poland. His program was just okay, but the program in Lodz is so new that no one really knows about it. The city itself (and the person is correct about the pronouciation in an earlier message) is quite large--bigger than Katowice and Lublin. The program in Lodz is now combined from two programs--a medical program from Polish soldiers and from normal medical students. This medical program for soldiers use to be one of the best in Europe. As for the English-medium program, my brother knows nothing about it. The most popular English-medium programs in Poland are in Warsaw and Krakow. However, the Warsaw program uses a recruiting agency that has a terrible reputation--Hope Medical Institute. My brother and his colleagues have indicated that recruiting agencies can have many benefits, but it realy comes down to the commitment of the agency. Some are there only to price gauge the students...and HMI is clearly one of them. If you want to stay in Poland for medical school, you should definitely look into Krakow. It is the 3rd oldest university in the world and the English-medium program carries a terrific reputation. My brother wished he had gone there. And the city is one of the most beautiful in Poland--much better than Lodz!!!! And it's location for getting around Poland is very convenient.

If you're looking for an incredible European medical program (with similar tuition fees), you should look into the program in Croatia. The recruiting agency in St. Augustyn's Medical Academy. The medical school in Zagreb, Croatia in my brother's point of view is one of the finest in Europe. As a matter of fact, he thinks that within 5 years of so, it'll be one of the most popular of the European English-medium programs. As of now, it's only into its first inagural year of the English-medium studies. However, it is the ONLY English-medium program in the OLD WORLD (Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean) that has been accredited by Harvard Medical International--a subsidiary of Havard Medical School. This speaks in an of itself. There will be a medical school in Dubai, UAE in a few years (as it is still being constructed) that is also Harvard Medical Internation accredited, but as of now, only the medical program affiliated with St. Augustyn's Medical Academy (SAMA) is Harvard Medical International accredited. This essentially means that this school utilizes the same curriculum as in Harvard. Moreover, SAMA is apparently totally commited to the students for the entire length of their medical studies...all of the way into securing residencies (they have a team particularly efficient in helping their students out). Just to give you an idea of the quality of medicine there, the Croatian language program has over 84% passing rate for the USMLE Step 1 exam on THEIR FIRST ATTEMPT. And this was before the school was accredited through Harvard Medical International!!!

I was accepted to the medical programs in Warsaw (Poland) and in Hungary, but after learning about SAMA and it's program, I think I'll give it much more consideration before leaving to Poland or Hungary. My bro also said that the city in Zagreb, Croatia is sensational. The Centrum is much nicer than any Centrum he's visited in Poland--and he absolutely loves Krakow. As a sides note, in Poland there is always concern of hatred and racial violence (as a very young, popular and very well liked American student was violently murdered in a neighboring city in Poland this past year). I still think this is an anomaly, but if you ask anyone who has lived in Poland for any length of time, nearly all have flirted with racial acts at one time or another. And for those whom have visited Croatia, EVERYONE has said that it is one of the safest countries they have visited while in Europe...and all Westerners are very well liked. There is no gang or racial graffiti tags anywhere. It might behoove you to give SAMA and their university a good look before commiting. SAMA's web site answers every question you can seemingly want to know. Very organized company. Their web site is www.staugustyn.com. Let me know what you think too or if you have heard anything about SAMA. I have been trying to find out more about SAMA and their medical affiliate, but only a little here and there...which has all been good, but I want to find out much more if possible.

I hope to hear back from you or someone else soon.

Caliboy

How does this relate to http://www.valuemd.com/viewtopic.php?p=97360#97360 ?

Please dont start a new thread rather than replying to an established thread if indeed you are commenting in relation to something already posted.

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