Hi friends ,
I am an Indian student studying in St Petersburg State Medical Academy named after I I Mechnikov , 2nd yr, English medium .As I went through this forum I found some queries about Russian Medical schools ….here are some facts about Russiaan medical schools .

COURSE
all Medical schools provide 6 Years MD in general medicine .all the schools are WHO recognized ….so I think no problems with USMLE .

ENGLISH MEDIUM
Some schools have started English medium course but few of them offer quality English ,
however the following schools offer Good-quality English Medium faculty

Kursk State medical University (best for English)
St Petersburg State Medical Academy (named after I I Mechnikov)
St Petersburg State Medical University (Pavlov)
Russian People’s Friendship Univ, Moscow(PFU)

Fee
Russian Medium :
Fees range between 1800 $ to 2800$ depending upon universities
English medium :
Mechnikov: 3500$ per year
Pavlov :3500$
Kursk : around 3200$
PFU : 4300$
all the fees above are the fees that is to be paid if u contact directly with the school(unfortunately which is uncommon in Russia)
If you go via Agents the fees will differ by 100 –300$

Quality of Education
Very good if u have motivation for medical study …which is uncommon among foreign medical students in Russia…mainly because there is no filtration procedure for admitting students and a bulk of the “no brain” category of students permeate into the institutions here . Medical facilities are good ..those myths of lack of funds are to be reiterated time and again that they are just myths and not mere reality ..atleast in the case of Medical Education.

Cons :
1 Foreign private Agencies (Contractors)..none of whom can be considered as reliable.
2 Accommodation : hostel poor according to US standards however there are some good quality hostels recently built(500$ per yr) …its better to rent a personal flat (200$ per month)
3 Skin heads (Racists) :Although rare but always alarming.

Pros:
1 Quality Education and world class educationists
2 St Petersburg …the city whose beauty knows no boundaries .
3 All sorts of entertainments readily available and affordable.

Hope these information will be helpful to you .Feel free for your queries. :P





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do you have any info as far as USMLE pass rate for these russian schools?

__________________
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Carpe Diem
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St. Matthew's University School of Medicine
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LOL...

Sorry. I just could not hold back.

So far no central/eastern european med school has published USMLE pass rates. (If someone knows otherwise, please post!)

To expect the Russians to do so is pure fantasy.

N.B. None of these English language programs are approved in California. See list on Charles Univ./Great news post for approved schools.

I would evaluate this claim with great skepticism. I know a little about medical facilities in this part of the world. Everyone knows what kind of budget exists for Russian healthcare.

When you say "good" by which standard? Russian, Indian, Western European, North American?

""Everyone knows what kind of budget exists for Russian healthcare. ""
Health care and medical education are two different things ,moreover i would refer you latest news about Russia and Russian budget. Things are different now ..from what it was in 1998 . Russia has the 2nd largest gold and currency reserves in the world.

http://rusnet.nl/news/2003/12/30/pri...esseconomics02

I don’t know why u people are so much against Russia ?is it the effect of the decade old "Cold War"..?

””you say "good" by which standard? Russian, Indian, Western European, North American? ”

my position is similar to you....i have never been to North America....India is not a match for Russia .....i have friends studying here from Germany Sweden Finland Poland France and USA ....they said that the medical facilities are good this led me draw the conclusion that the facilities are good.
Actually the term "good" is very relative but due to the concept of global village we can form a fair idea about the basic facilities required for an under graduate medical course .All those basic facilities are available here .
here the teacher :student ratio is 1:5 to 1 :8 ....every student gets separate dead body for dissection . We have access to electron microscope ,MRI ,CT scan ,Ultrasound etc . from 2nd and a half year onwards we get practical training on patients.
our academy owns the best anatomy museum in Europe .
I think u wont disagree in calling these facilities as "good"
according to any standard Indian or North American ...what ever b the case....

one more thing i must point out Russia has its own contribution in medical science unlike any of the eastern europian medical schools that u boast of ....russia has not just simply borrowed US techniques as those eastern europian nations
russian somatology, opthalmology are the best in the world
even the US havent been able to develop a technique equivalet to Ellizaro

well keep in touch….. have Hosp duty now ….

None of these Russian english medium programmes are recognised by california.....
can any one please give me information what is this california recognision about ?is it indespensible for usmle?

One thing at a time.

Russia's economic data: 2004 forecast GDP is $449b. By comparison, Sweden's forecast GDP is $349b, Australia's forecast GDP is $526b. The difference by population, Russia has 144.4m inhabitants, Sweden 9m and Australia 19.9m. If you calculate the GDP per head you find Russia $3,110, Sweden $38,760, Australia $26,400.
(Source: Economist Intelligence Unit)

It is true that Russia has (and has always had, and will have if it can hold onto Siberia) immense natural reserves. The problem is two-fold. One, it is underground in one of the most remote areas of the planet. Two, even if it is exploited it benefits only a few. If it wasn't for nukes, Russia would not have a seat at the UN Security Council, as its economy is in shambles and roughly the size of Sweden's and smaller than Australia's.

Good is a very relative term. So, it beats India. Ok, what about the rest? You haven't been elsewhere and cannot compare. I am still skeptical. In addition, I highly doubt that they let casually let you anywhere near the electron microscope, as they probably guard it day and night. Re: corpses. Yes, those are probably cheap and easy to come by in Russia.

I will acknowledge Russian contributions to the field of medicine, especially in Opthalmology. But, please spare me the Russian nationalist non-sense. The reason the Eastern European countries adopted North American techniques was because they worked. Period. If a better Russian or anyother technique exists, I am certain that they will adopt it, barring problems implementing it. Such is the global marketplace. (BTW, I can list many, many Russian techniques outside the field of medicine that failed miserably, especially in Eastern Europe.)

PS The problem I have with Russia is that it occupied Hungary for more than 40 years and left the country in shambles from which it is only slowly recovering, not to mention that it killed countless thousands who wished to flee or change the system. It did this not only to Hungary, but the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and the Baltic states just to mention a very few. Russia and the Russians have never taken responsibility for their actions.

It means that a degree from any English language program in Russia(currently) will not be recognized for licensure in the state of California. You will not be able to practice medicine there. (There is no loop hole; see posts about California elsewhere on this and the Main Forum sticky note and the licensing forum)

It is not required for the USMLE, as all that is required for the USMLE is ECFMG certification. You will be able to take the USMLE if you can enter the ECFMG process. Regarding licensure, that depends on individual states. (The US does not have a system of national licensure. Doctors wishing to practice medicine must obtain licenses in individual states and each state can set its requirements.) However, at present California is out of the question.

if reading an interview in the time magazine is what u call passing time and quoting statistical data is what u call passing inferiority then i am sorry to state dear that the us has perpetually stopped producing brains ,actually it never had , other than borrowing brains(which is an american contribution to the world).....well i am replying to a living example....refuting to ur point on the gdp dear .....u tend to forget tht russia may not be having a high health care budget( well tht is not what i say ,of course ) but it definitely produces people who possess the grey matter.....u seem to forget tht when u state the economy u are to consider the vast area of the country (mostly nonproductive land)which is probably 7 times as that of the us( 2 b mentioned again that the land cud be considered a representation of the brain a country possesses)...i hope u got me .....its time for me to lol.....

again comin to ur point in not being allowed anywhere near the elec. microscope.....before answering to this i must first be confirmed tht u r truly from a medical backgroud cuz i cud hav never expected this quest from u.....i guess anywhere in the world a layman is not allowed in its vicinity....(exceptions are there, hungary)....so here u shall never be allowed in its radius but i guess tht is because the intelligent can recognise the intelligent....so they have reason to allow us and not people ..i mean most people like laymen...and i am sure u would agree to this....

and hey hey u must understand this .....clearly ....by that i mean damn clearly ....u are either very poor in economics or u tend to use the grey matter less than required ....u first say that russia is poor .....fine accepted .....russia having more corpses available......ha ha ha .....that makes you a more sound doc rather a surgeon ...u jes revealed why are there still good docs here...and countries who boast of the biggest medical facilities ( not 2 b mentioned time and again) cannot even manage corpses inspite of havin a huge finance....ridiculous dont u think....

our psychiatric classes say each person possesses a dual character and u provide a real life example ( thx i got another patient to consider from hungary)....when i speak of russian achievements in indigenous med. techniques it appears a "non sense" nationalism to you and when you justifyyour opposition against medical studies in russia JUST due to the fact tht russia screwed your country for more thn 40 yrs .....this nationalism of yours makes real sense ...am i right dear tht way ? i must mention stringently that most people wud oppose to you in this regard of course....if this is ur sombre way of judging a country as far as achievements are concerned then dear i m afraid hungary will have to develop its own medical techniques....us medical techniques are meant to extract maximum from the poor(hungary , russia, czech,romania etc)and boast of proud medical advancements from THE LIVING EXAMPLES...... u know whom i am talking about.

so, the reply to an informative post, backed with data is to personally atack the messenger?

in my reading, miklos gave sound reasons for all of his statements, backed by data. you "rebut" by calling him un-intellligent?

on an anecdotal note, i study with several russian students that purposely leave russia to study medicine here, because they claim that there are much better facilities, and a solid education. that alone leads me to suspect that the russian medical education leaves a lot to be desired. couple this with the fact that russian schools were basically selling MD degrees to chiropractors in the past, leading to a general disapproval of the degrees by US athorities, and you have the makings of a risky situation.

there are too many better options in eastern europe for most to seriously consider a russian education.