Student experience is a huge factor in everything Medical Poland does. Studying medicine is difficult enough. Medical Poland's team works with universities and medical schools in Poland and is making every effort to make the process as comfortable as possible. Read on to see what an Irish resident, 1st year student, Marek, feels about studying medicine through English in Szczecin.
My experience during the first semester in the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin.
When I arrived to Szczecin, Poland I wasn’t really sure what to expect. All I did know
was that I want to fulfil my dreams and study medicine to become a doctor. On the 16 th
of September the Pomeranian Medical University has started the orientation week
that I attended. On the first day we all met up at the main hall and were introduced
with the Dean’s office staff. We were given an hour long lecture about how to
correctly study medicine throughout the year and what mindset to have while
studying. We were showcased the books we are going to use and we talked to the older
students about how it’s like studying here, the usual first day stuff.
On the second day however, we have been taught how to use the virtual dean’s office
which is basically the college’s website in which every student can login to check their
grades, tuition fee status etc. Later in the evening we had our very first Polish lesson
and we were taught Polish words such as hello, how are you and other basic but useful
phrases that every student would need to know if they would want to live in Poland.
We were also able to attend a 3-hour recap Biology lesson to get us to remember
material we have learned in secondary school.
On the third and fourth day of the orientation week we have had another 3-hour
revision classes in subjects such as Physics and Chemistry which was also very
interesting for me. But the highlight of the week was definitely on Friday during the
integration trip where we went to the military boot camp.
We have met in front of PUM’s library at around 12 and we had an approximately one
and a half hour journey on our way to the boot camp. Once we were there, we were
divided into 5 different platoons and we had to do different military tasks as a team. It
was a very fun time and it was a great opportunity for everyone to meet new friends so
that once you start university, you will already know most people.
During the first semester I had Anatomy, Histology, Biophysics, Chemistry,
Sociology, Empathy in Medicine, History of Medicine, Physical Education and
Molecular Biology every week. Most of the students also had Polish lessons but I did
not have to take part since I am already fluent in Polish. Anatomy was the only subject
that we had more than once a week, since we had it on Tuesday and also on Friday.
Without a doubt there is a lot of work you need to put into studying every day. There
are things such as entry tests every single week that everyone had to do in Chemistry
and Histology in order to get the credit at the end of the semester. In Biophysics
whenever we had any experimental work we had to write out a scientific report within
one week. Additionally, there were cycle tests approximately every 6-7 weeks which
consisted of everything we have done so far and you were being tested on that.
Anatomy, Histology and Molecular Biology all had cycle tests every couple of weeks.
I live in the college dorms that are located really close to the main “Pomorzany”
Hospital where I have most of my lectures. It is about 5 minutes walking distance from
the hospital and it is directly next to our college library so it is a really good place to
live for a med student. I have a roommate and I pay about 460 zloty (115 euro) every
month.
In conclusion, I think there shouldn’t be any doubt about the fact that this is a
challenging course, but it also a very rewarding one. Once you have the motivation
that you need in order to push through, I am positive that every student that wants to
be a successful doctor should see for themselves what it’s like to be a medicine
student.
