Thread: INFO about PFU for those that care!

HI to all of you out there!

I am a fresh graduate from the PFU medical faculty. I see that many of you are asking different questions about the PFU and therefore I felt that i could contribute by giving you my piece!
I entered the PFU after spending a HORRIBLE year at MMA(most commonly known as M1).
Dont get me wrong here.. i did not leave M1 cuz i was failing classes! actually the place was soo terribly managed.. with teachers that did not really teach. .and if they taught it was always half-assed teaching..
As a foreign student, I was treated as 3rd class unless I was willing to pay some money.. I suppose that it was the strategy at M1 to give foreign students a tough time so that they would eventually have to pay there way out of the troubles that was created upon them.
Anyway i will not dwell on M1 but if some of you would like me to elaborate more about M1 then mail me and i ll post a very detailed information. But for the time being, I ll tell you about PFU comparatively to M1. and before I start I do not work for PFU nor am i trying to make a buck here.. I am just posting my most honest view and personal experience..

Anyway!! coming to PFUR was like return back to a civilized world (comparatively speaking after M1).. the dean and vice dean were soo nice and actually TOOK THE TIME to sit and talk with me!!!! that would be UNHEARD OF at M1 (unless of course they wanted to reprimand you.. Mr renat alayutdin, the dean at M1, would not look at you!).
the vice-dean, Dr Demurov and the Dean Dr Frolov were readily available to take me to PFUR and took me to the secretarial office where i gave the proper documents and I was already set!!
Now .. at PFUR you have the choice between studying in either english or russian!
some say that the english medium is not as good as the russian medium.. well we could debate for years about it..and waste useless time.. i think that it depends on HOW HARD AND HOW MUCH YOU ARE WILLING TO READ EVERY DAY and that is it!. Nevertheless, I would like to say something about this.. I have noticed that the teacher in the english medium at PFU were either chief of departments or people involved in their fields of specialty .. so I was always happy to be taught by the chief of department rather than some resident that was told to teach(as often happens in russian medium).
the profs level of english? well it depended on the department.. i d say that for 80% english was fine and no problem... as for the remaining 20%, there were classes in my 5th and 6th year.. some menial classes that were not capital and by that time we all had a good command of the russian language!
you see, at PFU ..MOST of the doctors at PFU were students of PFU.. and a PFU all freshmen (russian people) have to spend 1 full year learning a foreign language.. many pick up english.. that is why MANY profs had superb english..
so if they tell you that it is 100% english medium.. well it s NOT true... however the MAIN core curriculum.. which are surgery, internal medicine, gynecology-obstetrics and the like were superbly taught in english..
one more thing, studying in the english medium will not make you immune from learning russian.. trust me on this! youll need to pick up russian ASAP!!! that s my advice.. cuz the profs talk to you in english.. but the patients DONT!! and you ll have to read the histories!!! so get this straight!

that is not the case at M1.. i was mostly laughing than listening to the lectures as the profs english was simply hilarious... oh by the way.. dont be impressed the marketing stunt from M1 with their nicely designed website.. all i can say is that they say that M1 is about 240 years ..and it looks like it! with the same people !

there are minimal problems with dormitories at PFU.. and all the bulk of students live on campus in one same spot! the good thing that i have noticed at PFU is that foreign students are easily accepted and treated nicely and fairly. Russian students DO mix with foreign students and many even live with russian roommates in the dorms.
At M1, well.. i dont want to sound partial in here.. but i have to be honest.. the foreign students.. especially the english medium ones... are living in PARALLEL at M1.. absolutely NO contact with russian students.. and the dorms are separate!
in my whole year at M1 i had spoken to 3 russian students.. one who wanted to get some info about the usmle.. and the 2 others was a quarrel as they wanted to pass me while i was waiting in line!
they tend to look down on foreign students and so did the faculty..

the other inconvenience at M1 was that there was no actual campus where all the dormitories were.. at M1 the dorms are spread all over moscow and trust me moscow is a big city.. some are lodged in the norhern part of moscow.. about 1.5 hour or so from classes.. so you have to think of 3 hours commute time already.. if your friend lives in another dorm in the south of moscow.. then trust me it is hard to meet and study together..

ONE HUGE PROBLEMS with the dorms is that .. they are are OVERCROWDED.. 4 people, sometimes 5 in one room that can only accommodate 2 students max??!!! i guess (and i mean no harm)that if you are from srilanka or india that might be ok.. but not for me..!
they claimed it to be only temporary.. well my buddy from mauritius has been having that ' temporary' problem for 5 years now..

the M1 agent (mr SAMAN) told them to leave or take an appartment if they were not happy and that he would not refund them the dorm fee..
the dorms are run-down and the fat alcoholic old man that is supposedly there to act as a security guard will cuz you problems entering your own dorm.. One important event that i d like to tell as it is not negligible.. moscow is infamous for its skinheads that target foreigners..
many dorms at M1 have been attacked by skinheads at night.. how did this happen?? well take a guess...the staff at M1 will claim that they have secured doors and all the bla bla bla.. i am telling you what i saw!!!


at PFU there is no problem with skinhead as EVERY dorm has guards.. all were from special forces.. and the doors are locked at 11pm.. no joking around about that at PFU.. the security guards are friendly and you can soundly sleep at night at least!

ok.. one more point that i like at PFU.. the clinical exposure.. if you ask to do and want to stay and learn more and practice..and help.. they ll welcome you with open arms..
at M1.. i was told not to bother them..and that i was not allowed to ..
so it boils down to the fact that doctors from M1, just went to classes for some half-assed lectures.. walked a little to see some patients..and went home..
at pfu.. as a 4th year student.. i did my first appendicitis and inguinal hernia operation.. of course you go and do night duties.. i did lots of trauma and orthopedics care in the ER.. that was UNTHINKABLE at M1.
i am talking about undergrad med student here!

Now if you go to PFU.. there is a man .. actually a jerk.. called NIMALAN.. he is from sri-lanka, and will try to portray himself as YOUR mentor as he is the one in charge of the english medium.
Officially speaking.. he has ABSOLUTELY NO POWER at PFU.. but he manages the english medium program. HE ll promise you LOTS of things.. and will forget about you as soon as you pay him your 1000$ english medium extra fee..
my advice is .. be wary of this.. PAY ONLY AT THE END OF THE SEMESTER!! and do not pay the whole yearly amount .. pay semester by semester..
why?
well.. you are paying for english medium right?? what if 3 classes out the 7 that you had this semester were in russian?? should you pay for them???
i did not pay for many classes that were taught in russian.. it is YOUR absolute right not too.. i told the dean and he agreed..NIMALAN will try and connive various tricks to frighten you..well here i am and nothing happened.. and at the same time, that should provide NIMALAN some impetus to improve the english medium program and live by his words.

At M1, it is a little different.. there is another jerk there.. also from sri-lanka called.. or supposedly called DR. SAMAN... he is an agent.. you see in russia.. foreign students have to pay an agent to enter a med school.. that is a way for the agent to make money and pay some of that money to the dean .. i suppose that was created in the early 90s when the soviet union collapsed and ppl could not live with 20$ a month.. so they connived that system..
well anyway .. SAMAN at M1 is THE BOSS!!!! he rules everything.. as far as the foreign students are concerned.. you got to pay and that is all!! by the way.. NO REFUND there.. in that single year i was there .. i saw many ppl getting kicked out..literally overnight! and NO REFUND!
so beware..
one more trick from M1.. they tend to take more students than they can accommodate..with the plan to take the extra money and to kick many out by the end of the 1st semester.. that happens all the time there..

god .. i wrote a little too much ..but if anyone wants to get know more about PFU .. well feel free.. to let me know at: bpoichan@yahoo.com

take care and good luck

hi dear friend u seem to know a lot of issues there, im actaully confused between m1 and pfur is an agency a school or a small organization pls write me back let me know as soon as possible so that i will know the type of school to apply to, whether being st petersburgh or moscow or volgograd which is the best.u can contact me on<233247142384> pls i am ghanian an interested applicant who will be in russia in some months time.

Originally Posted by bpoichan

PS: calling me crazy american from a distance is nice and easy.. why did not you say to me when i was there?

bobby, i'd call you crazy in the face, but for some reason i cannot find it (the face) in House Officers booklet of Department of Surgery in UofMich. It looks like they don't have any FMGs from Russia ))
how come? why would they hide such a talented person? can it be because of your stories about russia?

btw i love your description about getting into the residency
please keep posting because it's so entertaining

Hi Doc,

i read your post and find it very helpfull, is it the same case for Surgical PG studies?

Dear, bpoichan, I am new at this forum, can you tell me interpretation of MMA and PFU

as far as i heared they have changed the rector for MMA but i think there is no difference.

I am new to the VMD forum, so, I cannot send any e-mails or private messages. Let me know how could I get in touch with you (other than posting my Qs publicly on VMD, like this one)? Cheers!