Hi,

I started on this forum more than a year ago and found lots of useful information. I'm currently in year 1 of 4 at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. I can answer questions that you may have, but first let me tell you things that I don't know so we save some time:

I don't know the exact percentages of students that graduate
I don't know average USMLE scores
I don't know any concrete statistics about how well graduates are doing


But, I do know that the program (4-year) is 10 years old. I know that it's almost impossible to get into a competitive residency after graduation (dermatology) and that it's not hard to get into a non-competitive residency program if you have decent USMLE scores. I know this because I have personally met 4 students who have come back to visit Krakow who are in residencies. They all have said the same thing about the difficulty of getting a residency. They all told me that everyone who passed USLME got a residency postition somewhere. I don't know if these were their first choices or not. The graduates I talked to were family medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, and internal medicine.

I can give a lot of information on the specifics of the program and life in krakow.

I am fairly busy so it may take a few days or a week for me to respond.

Thanks to the older folks here who helped me make informed decisions about my education.

Neongoat

As a Poznan grad I might add that there are several of us in competitive specialties ie. Derm, Anesthesia, Rads, OB/GYN and Surgery...that I know of. I can attest to the fact that to get into these fields as a Polish (4 year english program) student takes incredible networking, solid USMLE's and whatever other resources are ou there to help get you in with the odds still being against you. Although most of us have no clue what to specialize in the first year of medical school, if you are that rare person whose aim is to become an orthopedic surgeon from day 1, choose a school that is most likely going to help you reach that goal because I am certain no Polish school will.

I just completed my four year undergrad degree at UofT. I'm set on going to one of the Polish med schools. How is the level of instruction at these - are the lecturers good? And . . . how difficult is it to get it? I have a 3.0 GPA in human bio specialist.

I am in 4 year programme at poland school. My advice is to wait and try to get into medical school in canada or states. Poland should be your last option. I suggest u to explore some other options. May be try some medical schools in India. If you want more information feel free to ask........

LOL i admit i dont know anything about indian schools . . . but there is no way in hell would i go to india over poland. i mean are you serious??? with all of poland's draw backs (lets not exaggerate, not THAT many) its still europe. going to india for a week or two of exotic vacation, sure. live there??? yeah riiiiiiigggggttt.

I side with syztem. Poland rocks! The worst thing about med school in Poland is leaving at the end. If I had to do it all over again, I would. If the healthcare system there wasn't in the sort of organizational and financial shambles that it is, I would have stayed to practice. Beats working these idiotic 18-hr days back home.

GPA is not admission factor. If you can afford to pay big bucks there should be no problem to get admission. Level of instructions are not very good, comparing with canadian standard. Basically it is self study programme. If you want to study you will have lot of free time.

I'm assuming you're somewhere in poland, and by the sounds of it, not happy with your choice. Not all schools are created equal. Not in n.america, not in europe. As always, buyer beware. But, how do you know of what standard is the canadian level of instruction? Besides, I don't find n.american grads to be any more knowledgeable. Yeah, so maybe they can whip up a soap note a little better, or even know what that is for that matter , or know how to fill out one of those urine-specimen lab requisition forms, as far as I'm concerned, they can spoon-feed those kids with bite-sized chunks of predigested knowledge that they need to know to pass their usmles or the mccqes till their blue in the face, I'll take the self-learning. I can't stand lectures anyways. Besides, it doesn't mean they're going to make, even, average doctors. Plenty of incompetence originates from n.american schools, too. Don't believe me? Think about all the malpractice law, insurance, lawsuits, etc. You think that's those dang-fer'ners scr*wing up? If that was the case, no IMG would get in anywhere near a patient around here.

As an aside, and I doubt the research has been done, just wondering were doctors fall on the IQ scale... I think perhaps, just like everybody else, 50% fall below the 100 point mark.

Prove me wrong.

yeah, and it would take you about 60 years to pay back the loans. but give it time . . . slowly the country is moving in the right direction. the real problem is the old generations still doing things 'old school' the way it was done in the communist days. the ironic thing is everyone in poland knows what the problem with the society is, but nobody does anythign about it, they just complain. its just too entrenched in the culture. however i believe as the younger generations and their kids grow up, mature, and take over things will be great there.

...and that's the alpha and the omega...

if only canada was more like norway...