Journey to Medical School- Dubai to Czech Republic
Good Day friends! Today, I would like to talk about how I managed to get into one of the most reputed medical universities in Europe. This includes my journey from being a high school student in an Indian Curriculum school, and my transition into a European University.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I am currently a 2nd year medical student, studying at Charles University, Faculty of Medicine, Hradec Kralove in the Czech Republic. I did my schooling at Gems Our Own English High School, Dubai which offers the Indian study curriculum called Central Board of Secondary Education, also abbreviated as CBSE, which is a Board of Education for Public and Private schools, under the Government of India. The schools affiliated with CBSE follow the NCERT curriculum.
|Charles University, Faculty of Medicine, Hradec Kralove|
I joined Gems Our Own in 2002 and graduated school in 2016. In 11th and 12th grade, we are distributed into 3 different streams with multiple subjects based on our performance in our 10th grade Pre-board exam. The 3 streams are Science, Commerce and Humanities, with an array of subjects under each for the student's preference. I was interested in science and hence I took the Science stream with the 4 core subjects- Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics, and English. In 11th and 12th, I achieved fairly good grades and in my 12th Grade Board Exams, I got a 93.7% total percentage, with 93% in Physics, 95% in Chemistry, 95% in Biology, 95% in Mathematics and 90% in English.
During my studies in the final year, I would check online for Medical colleges/universities in India, and abroad. While researching for the same, I came across this University and started reading their website. The site explains the criteria of intake for each year is either a written entrance exam held by the University by affiliated agencies across the globe, or by writing the SATII's for Molecular Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics/Physics. The passing requirement for the entrance exam is 75% and if you want to apply by your SATII scores, it has to be above 2100. I wrote the SAT's during December, 2015 for Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths, but submitted 3 of my best scores which was 2180. I also wrote the entrance exam in the following month of February (2016) which contains 2 parts- a written exam and an interview.
By March 1st I received my results and my admission letter and Lo Behold! I was a medical student xD. The University started in September and hence I had 6 months to prepare myself mentally for this huge milestone in my life. I never stayed away from my family, so moving to a new country, miles away, for the first time in my life took a huge amount of love, support and reassuring from my parents. Soon enough, classes started and I started to blend in with the schedule, which helped me with my homesickness. Also, Skype became my greatest blessing as I got to talk to my parents pretty much twice a week. I also made amazing friends here who I adore very much and who make my life here way more easier.
I know its a long post but I figured if my story can help anyone out there looking for information on the Medical Faculty of Charles University in Hradec Kralove or in general about the requirements for universities in Europe, why not! :)
If you liked what you read, Please do not forget to like, vote and share with your friends. Also, if you would like to get more information about the University and life in Hradec Kralove, CZ, let me know in the comments below.