How to Choose the Right Medical University?

How to Choose the Right Medical University?

Once you have decided to make a career in Medicine, you will need to make a few more choices. On appearing in NEET – UG, if you are unable to score enough to get a Government seat for MBBS, you will have to choose between taking a drop and going for an MBBS in a private Indian Medical University or alternatives like Ayurveda, etc. Of course, you will have a 3rd option which outweighs both the previous choices. You may choose to do an MBBS from Abroad.

Whichever option you choose to take, you will need to select a Medical University in which you will lay the foundation of your career. Now comes a million dollar question – how to choose a Medical school? Among the various MBBS colleges abroad as well as in India, many are excellent centers of learning, doing an MBBS from which adds a different dimension to your Medical career. However, a few do exist that can prove to be very wrong choices.

Is studying MBBS abroad a good choice?

Investing in the best abroad university for MBBS is doubtlessly a good choice especially for Indian students if they wish to shape a successful medical career, provided, you are aware of all the options. Whenever any Indian student fails to get a govt. medical seat through NEET, they often consider an Indian private medical college for pursuing MBBS which is no less than a blunder especially in terms of the fees they charge.

Therefore, Moksh is here to enlighten you with all the feasible options for best medical universities for international students. There are many reasons for why you should choose to study MBBS abroad! Here are 3 prime reasons:

1.Firstly, the fee is super affordable as compared to Indian private medical colleges

Understanding the Types of Universities

This would be well known to most but is worth mentioning once. The Medical Universities may be classified into:

• Private/Deemed Universities:They are managed by private organizations for profit.
• Government Universities:They are managed by the State or the Central (Federal) government.
• Armed Forces Universities:As the name suggests, they are managed by the armed forces.

Most try to get Government Universities because of thelow-cost fee structure. In private Universities, the fee is very high. In India for instance, this amount may go as high as1.5 Cr INR. The Government as well as the Armed Forces Universities take students through a tough MBBS entrance test.

With that out of the way, let us look at some basic strategies anyone looking for an MBBS must adopt while making this life-changing selection!

Given below are some factors that should feature as criteria in your shortlisting efforts:

How old is the University?

A lot depends upon the age of the University. The more the age of the institution, the more established are its academic structure, reputation, policies, and consequently, better faculty members seek to work in these promising a better overall educational experience. Universities are like wine, the older the better!

Ranking

This is common knowledge that various Medical Universities, like other Universities, are ranked at a global level and this serves as a major index to judge the standard of any University. Students across the Globe choose a University based on its ranking, both world-ranking as well as country-ranking.

Approval

Here, things get slightly slippery. For an Indian, the most important Recognition that he/she sought for in any foreign or domestic University is its MCI recognition. Students and parents alike looked for only MCI approved Medical Colleges Abroad.

The Medical Council of India (MCI) is now the National Medical Commission (NMC) and things have been changed to simplify them. Now, the question of a University being MCI approved or more appropriately, NMC approved, does not exist as, irrespective of the University one goes to, the pursuing candidate will have to appear and clear theNational Exit Test (NEXT)that will be enough to judge if the student is capable enough (to practice as a Physician in India).

But other recognitions are important as well. You should look for WHO, UNESCO certification to be considered recognized at an international level. If you plan toappear in USMLE, you should check whether the Institution is ECFMG accredited.

Medium/Language of instructions

In many countries like Russia and China, there are Medical Universities that teach the entire MBBS course structure in their native language, some that have a bilingual program, and still others that teach in pure English. This is a very important criterion to notice as many Foreign Education agents hide the facts about the Medium of Instruction as generally the English medium Universities have higher fee structure and stricter eligibility criteria.

Duration of MBBS & Internship clause

The policy of Internship causes the MBBS course duration to vary in some countries. For example, in China, you will find the Universities where the MBBS is for 5 years and you may come back to India to do your Internship. On the other hand, there are those in which a Chinese Internship is compulsory. Similarly, MBBS from certain countries may take as many as 7 years including a 1-year Internship in India.

Availability of Indian mess

For many, the availability of Indian food could be a major issue. If you have any such reservations, make sure you choose those Universities that have an Indian mess or at least the ones which include Indian cuisine.

Academic fee and living cost

It is but obvious that most of us have a fixed budget and more often than not, financial restrictions play a pivotal role in the process of University selection. Beware of the fake Foreign Education Agents as they push students into the web of hidden costs to make a quick buck.

Number of Indian students

Make sure you get an idea of the proportion of Indian students that go to that University on an average every year. This will give you a clue to a lot of things. You will get an idea if you will find Indian seniors to help you with things like notes, social life, food, local awareness, and everything imaginable under the blue sky.

Admission criteria

You should be well acquainted with the University’s eligibility norms. Sometimes, you may be wasting precious time and energy in preparing to take admission into a University whose requirements you don’t fulfill. It could be your PCB %age, your NEET score, etc.

Comparing the previous year’s cut off

In Universities where the number of applicants is high, there is a fair chance that they would fix a minimum score criterion below which they won’t admit you. This is called the ‘cut-off’, and if you are not aware of the previous cut-offs, you may be running after fool’s gold in trying to get an admission.

It is advisable to keep these criteria in your mind while looking for a Medical University in India or abroad. However, you can save yourself a lot of trouble if you let MOKSH sort these things for you.

Over to you

• Never take this crucial decision on how to choose a medical school’in a hurry. When we hasten things we tend to miss out on important details which you can only ill-afford in this case.
• Make sure you discuss everything in detail with your parents and let them have some say in the matter. Firstly, they are mature and have seen the world. And, they want whatever is the best for you. Above all, they are paying for the entire process.
• You would do good by not following your friends blindly and taking admission in any University just because they have. You have different priorities and a different life.
• Finally, you are strongly recommended to take expert help so that you may avoid making the wrong decisions because such decisions can’t be reversed. Ever!