Medical School in Prague
Choosing Medical Schools
Medical Studies
Medicine & Surgery in Prague
Choosing Medical Schools
Choosing medical schools must be one of the most exiting yet frustrating moments of your life!
Medical school is not something insignificant and rather of extreme importance, especially considering the fact that it will shape your life, personally and professionally.
If you’re considering your own country as an option for your medical studies, then you must be aware of your own country’s requirements for admissions, however if you’re open minded and willing to consider other options, then choosing medical schools in Europe could be a good alternative.
Let us explain:
Unlike medical schools in the US, Canada or the UK, universities in Europe only demand very basic criteria to be admitted such as A-levels or complete high school diploma without any specification about grades and subjects.
This means that if you have completed your secondary school (high school or A levels) then you can already apply for a medical school in Europe.
To be clear, eligibility to apply does not mean acceptance*
In order to be accepted, or admitted to a medical degree, for most schools, one must pass successfully an admission exam based on scientific subjects.
The admission exams are usually composed by two parts, one written part and one oral part.
Different universities demand different criteria during both parts and some may be more demanding than others in each section individually.
In the case of Charles University, the first faculty of medicine in Prague, The Czech Republic for instance, they offer a written section and full oral exam called MMI (multiple mini interviews) in which students must answer to different appointed examiners during a total of about 20 to 35 minutes interviews.
These oral exams test for the ability to think rationally under extreme circumstances as well as logical thinking.
What are the advantages on choosing a medical school in Europe?
The first clear advantages are tuition fees and acceptance criteria.
These two are the most prominent as they reflect a real possibility to attend a renowned medical school at a fraction of the cost of an American or British school and the admission criteria is so straightforward and non-dependent on what you did until now that if you start studying now, in a few months, you can be ready to be admitted.
The other great advantages are the fact that the accreditation is recognized all over the EU and if you attend a medical school like Charles University, you’ll be also accredited in full in all US states (including California), The UK and many other countries throughout the world.
Given all these facts, it really sounds like a no brainer to consider these options.
Rotations in your home country Option from Charles University
Another small detail, yet not less important is the great program from Charles University about the posibility for rotations back in your home country.
The possibility for rotations in your home country is an initiative from Charles University and King Charles College to allow all medical students studying at the international program, to be able to do the last part of the medical degree (or part of it), The Clinical Rotations, back home or in a different country.
This was implemented years ago by the school and it proved to be very successful for students and the different teaching hospitals.
The idea is to give the student the opportunity to immerse within the same working atmosphere where he/she will be working as a medical doctor after studies.
Rotations are the first level of entry to the specialization fields, and all students must pass through these specialization departments during the medical degree to understand what they would like to specialize later on.
Some of the specialization courses are (but are not limited to):
Anaesthesiology and Emergency Medicine; Oncology; Neurosurgery; Psychiatry; Neurology; Cardiovascular Medicine [Nephrology, Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, Pneumology, Rheumatology, Geriatrics, Haematology]; Paediatrics; Clinical Biochemistry; Urology; Gynaecology and Obstetrics; Primary Care; Surgery; Public Health Services and Medical Law, etc.
To summarize, we would suggest considering Europe when choosing medical schools, and more specifically, we would like to invite you to join King Charles Medical College in Prague to train and prepare within the University of Charles and to apply together for the different medical degrees and their specializations.