I have been accepted into the fine Medical University of Leuven, Belgium

[Robert Jan]

lol. I've had very different experiences with Flamish females. I haven't spent enough time in Leuven yet to know.

But I have a thing for intelligent chicks, I'll get my fix in Uni.

I don't have to speak Vlaams lol. I guess eventually it will grow on me. That's scary.

 

[MR Pink]

I met this hot Belgium chick in Spain once...she had to explain everything 3 times before I knew what she was talking about...I really got tired of it and I guess she did to .. never saw her again after that night strange

 

[GoodDoer756]

Leuven uses the PBL teaching method, right? I got into a Northern-European med school as well (no specifics ). In this country everyone needs to take the entrance exam consisting of physics, chemistry and biology (a specific book) and only ~20% get in. Medicine is very competetive. People usually pass on the second or third try. The exams are every spring so if you fail you need to wait a year for the next one. Many people study something else in the mean time, like chemistry, physics, biochem etc. I got in on the second try. Basic training is 6 years then 2 years as a trainee and finally 6 years to specialize. So altogether 14 years.

I know in some countries it's relatively easy to get in but also easy to get kicked out in the first year if grades aren't good enough. I think an entrance exam is a much better way to choose students.

 

[Robert Jan]

I agree entrance exams are the best and most honest way to limit student numbers in a certain field.

I don't think Leuven is PBL.
Maastricht Uni in Holland is.

I thought PBL was a failure and is stopped?

 

[danielson]

PBL learning is probably the best idea to university education i can think of

learning in a lecture isnt actually learning and its boring. PBL's allow you to apply it somewhat



over here a starting salary is 30K as a junior doc, and as a GP you can expect 90K (average).....plus you can take an 'interest' in other fields, get job satisfaction and almost 100% employment compared to other fields (i think its 90%+ for medicine and 20% for law), ease of immigration, and rewarding work which helps people

downsides are hours i guess...that and the length of study and junior work positions, added to the fact that you don;t have to think so much for most of medicine, just remember

 

[MattTheSkywalker]

Congrats bro. This is a wonderful achievement.

 

[Robert Jan]

PBL learning is probably the best idea to university education i can think of

learning in a lecture isnt actually learning and its boring. PBL's allow you to apply it somewhat



over here a starting salary is 30K as a junior doc, and as a GP you can expect 90K (average).....plus you can take an 'interest' in other fields, get job satisfaction and almost 100% employment compared to other fields (i think its 90%+ for medicine and 20% for law), ease of immigration, and rewarding work which helps people

downsides are hours i guess...that and the length of study and junior work positions, added to the fact that you don;t have to think so much for most of medicine, just remember

It differs per person. Lectures work differently for different people (and with different professors!). Some Lecturers are brilliant and personally drag a class through the learning process (f.i. Richard Feynman).

PBL sucks. I hate the idea. It degrades the medical science to some kind of smart version of a car repairs man. I like the old fashioned shit. Books, lectures, study groups, diagrams, practise exams.

 

[Robert Jan]

The reason why there was ever a PBL program was that higher education was so badly cut down on, that professors made less than scientific experts working for private companies. This in turn causes the universities to get the leftovers, those with the papers, that the business world didn't want.

Back when my father was a student it was an honour to be a prof. You got to meet anyone in the country and people listened to you and respected you and you made a thick salary. Now many are kind of bummed to be having to teach.

This effect works double. If a prof is a real genius the students will want to listen to him. You see the same effect in high school. When we got a guest lecture on chemistry and criminology by a professor instead of a HS teacher we were all quiet, interested, taking notes and asked questions at the end instead of fucking around like when our own teacher talks.

A good professor, in a respectable position, makes classical learning work.

Since Leuven is a proud, traditional, hard to get into school existing since like fucking 1425, I expect to see the better kind of classical learning.

Maastricht Uni which is generally seen as the best medical school in the Netherlands(although they are very close together) has had a lot of trouble with PBL in that the students learned the insight and the skills but were severely lacking in factual knowledge.

I like old school

 

[GoldenDelicious]

congrats re, i thought you were older from your pic

here in australia its a 6 year course then 1 year internship, and then you can work in a hospital as a registrar, or work under another doctor. if you want to become a specialist its another 4 years after you are accepted by a college (and being a GP is a specialty)

so really you start getting paid after 6 years.

 

[Robert Jan]

To those unfamiliar PBL
=
Problem Based Learning.

They basically tell you to do something you are entirely unprepared for, this way you find out exactly what you don't know yet, and then you learn that specific thing.

The most extreme version would have a freshman walk up to an operating table, told to perform an appendix removal, and he wouldn't even know where to cut, and then THAT would be the point where it is decided this guy needs to learn anatomy.

I think it's rather silly. The field has been around for a while. We know what people need to know. And there is nothing wrong with learning some things you may never apply.