ctkMD,

Thanks for the quick reply! I have applied to the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, but the cheaper tuition and living expenses in Poland are attractive. The USMLE and US Residencies are no problem then?

Happy Thanksgiving ......... Gerry

Gerry,

No problem, I am glad that I can help out in your decision making process. Sharing knowledge is a great thing. If you are serious, focused, and motivated, then you will have no problems with the USMLE and getting a residency. The students that fail are the ones that usually spend too much time on nightlife and not the books.

The University will NOT spoonfeed you USMLE prep material. Most of the work will be up to you, as an individual. But the bottom line is that they will teach you medicine.

I spoke with the Vice-Dean not too long ago and they have worked out a deal with Kaplan to hold a Step 1 review course in Poznan in the late spring/early summer. I think the course will be about 4 weeks and at a discounted price to UMS Poznañ students. It will be open to anyone who studies in Poland and abroad. They decided to go this route as many students take the Step 1 course in the US, but have problems with making the course start dates in early summer because of final exams.

Just thought that might be of interest to you or other readers of this thread. Let me know if you have any other questions. By the way, what part of the US are you from?? I'm from near Chicago.

Best of luck to you!
ctkMD

CTKMD,

Hey the Kaplan association sounds great. I live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. But, I'm originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, I've only been here about 7 years. In fact my ** is from Michigan State University. So the cold weather in Poland would not be anything new to me. Do you know of anyone that has entered an EM Residency from Poznan?

Thanks ....... Gerry

Gerry,

I know of one guy personally who went into EM. He graduated in 2000. Several of my friends/colleagues have gone into Ortho, Gen Surg, Med-Peds, Gen Med, Neuro, Ob-Gyn. The sky is the limit, as long as you want it bad enough.

Being from Michigan, you won't have a problem with the weather. From my experience, the weather has been more mild in Poznañ as compared to Chicago. But its nothing like what you have in Ft. Lauderdale!

ctkMD

Hey,

Thanks again! I'm going to apply. Roughly, when do they interview for Fall 2004? The timeline is not real clear on the website, it appears they start at the begining of Sept with an orientation in New York. Do they arrange the flight to Poland every year or only the first year? The amount they quote is much cheaper than the what I can find commercially. And is the visa any problem, it appears that Poland is picky about the student visas at least from the website.

Thanks ........ Gerry

Hey Gerry,

I've been swamped for the past few weeks, so sorry that I didn't get back to you sooner. As far the interview timeline goes, I'm not sure what dates that they have pre-arranged. There should have some interviews set up for January, but you're best bet would be to contact Irene at the New York office.

The flight is only arranged for 1st year orientation purposes. You would be best off to buy a one-way ticket or dump the return leg of a round trip ticket once you're there. Its much cheaper to have Poznań as your point of origin (i.e. buying tickets from a travel agency in Poland) unless you have a good Polish travel agency nearby. On average, I paid about $500-$650 for round trip tickets from Poznań to Chicago (offseason of course).

Also, one should be sure to get a frequent flyer card for one of the major that flies in and out of Poznań (LOT Polish Airlines, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Lufthansa, United which code shares flights with Lufthansa... all of which are apart of the Star Alliance). The miles rack up quickly.

As far as visas go, I only had one for my first year of studies. After having a Polish visa for 1yr. it is possible to apply for a temporary stay card which I belive is valid for 2years. Its not a problem to get any of these documents as long as you are studying at the University. In fact the Dean's Office in Poznañ will assist you in filling out the necessary forms. Also, with a valid US passport, one can stay in Poland for up to 3 months at a time. I used this as an excuse to go traveling for a day or so. Germany is nearby, only 3 hours by train to Berlin and you've got your stamp (or 2 hours and a few minutes at you're at Frankfurt Oder).

I actually just returned from a short trip to Poznań. The city seems to be getting better all the time. Recently opened was an incredible shopping mall in the center, Stary Browar (The Old Brewery), which was partly built from a historic old brewery in Poznań. It was very impressive as were the female clients shopping there.

More importantly though, the University is nearing completion on a multi-million dollar building project. The new buildings will house new administration as well academic offices, reportedly a new library, classrooms, and new dental school also (not sure what they are going to do with the old one). I'm not sure of the completion date but I would assume that by summer/fall 2004. If you end up visiting Poznań, it's located near the Eskulap, Medyk, and Aspirynka dorms.

Well I hope that helps a bit. As always, if you have any ?'s I'll be more than happy to try and help you answer them. Best of luck in your decision making process.

Happy Holidays,

ctkMD

Hi ctkmd2003,

Thanks for the information! I'm completing an application for Poznañ and hope to apply within the next week. I think you have answered most of my questions at this point. I forgot to mention my girlfriend works for American Airlines so I can get a bit of a break on flights, I'll probably fly to Berlin and then take the train to Poznañ.

Bye ....... Gerry

Any update to the Cali approval processs?
I checked with Pat Park of State of California Med Board - she has not heard from KMU since they requested the application in the summer of 2003.
Is KMU applying for all English programs or just the 4 year?

I guess a driver for this would be the percentage of American students in the English program. Can anyone share what that % looks like in the 4yr & 6yr programs.

TIA

Hello, all,

I am considering KMU for certain reasons, and have contacted KMU via email with some questions but have yet to receive a reply, so I'm hoping someone on this site can answer them for me.

1 - How many graduates of KMU are currently in residency and in which states?

2 - How many graduates of KMU are currently licensed practitioners and in which states? (Also, areas of specialty would be nice...)

These are important questions that I would like answered because, obviously, I don't want to spend time and money on a program that could be quite limiting, particularly in regard to residency training and licensure.

I realize that only KMU can provide truly accurate figures, but if anyone currently in the program or a recent graduate would comment, it would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

__________________
Class of 2008, 4yr MD
Poznan University of Medical Sciences
Poznan, Poland

Student Website: www.poznanmedicine.org

University Website: www.ump.edu.pl

NY Admissions Office Website: www.mdprogram.com

"Dispel from your mind the thought that an understanding of the human body in every aspect of its structure can be given in words..."

- Leonardo da Vinci

OK...here is the current breakdown of the classes:

4 year program:
comprised of mostly American students and a number of Canadian Students (less than 25%)

6 year program:
initially the classes have been comprised of European Students from countries like Norway and Sweeden, though there have been students from Greece, Germany, and Spain. now however, there are more and more students from US/Canada coming in, mainly ones straight out of high school.

Residencies:
Students are doing residencie all over the US states like NY, NJ, Penn, IL, CT, NC, FL, and even CA. Which programs...GenSurgery, Int Med, Neuro, Pathology, Peds/Med, NeuroSurg, Peds, Radiology, Anestesiology, OB/GYN and probably many others. Unfortunately I am unable to give you the exact places as many students once they leave here, do not write letters to the deans office and tell what they are doing. I will tell you that last years graduating class, the people that i knew, two went into GenSurg, one into Neuro, two into Internal med, and another one into Ortho. They started in places like UIC, Cleveland Clinic, Temple U, and somewhere in NC.

I will say that everything is possible, no matter what school you go to. And if they tell you that the school sucks, ask them how they behaved in school. Many people after coming to Europe fall into the trend of party life. They forget how school works and they also expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter. Well guess what...it doesn't work like that. I know many people like that and those are the ones that seem the complain the most about how the school sucks. Now, that is not to say that this school does not come with its own share headaches, but there is no such school that does not have its problems.

I read a few post that say forget about Poland or other Eastern European Countries. Come to this on your won conclusion. Do your research. Weed through all the posts and write down all the postives and negatives that have been mentioned. Once you get that...approach the school with it. See what they tell you. I think this is the best way. And if you can, definitely visit the place and speak to the students.

I am not promiting UMS, but I am willing to answer questions about UMS.