I followed the traditional route to try to get into med school.  College with a pre-med major, the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), lots of extra-curricular and community activities.  While my grades and scores were above average, they weren’t “superior.”  Lastly, I lacked the tacit factors that could swing an admission -- no family member who was a doctor, not rich, and I lacked political or other influence.

Not the best profile for med school admission.  With that kind of a given, the odds of getting into med school were near zero.

But does that mean I would make a bad doctor?

So I put the idea of going to med school“on the shelf.” Twenty years later I dusted it off! I discovered a medical university where the annual tuition is $3,500, where classes are taught in English where the MCAT isn’t required and where my age(41 at the time)wasn’t considered a liability, but an asset.

No, the University isn’t in the US.  It’s in Ukraine, which is in Eastern Europe at Lviv State Medical University.

I’d investigated overseas med schools before, but many of them required studying in a foreign language, which I just didn’t want to do.  And again, the cost, while less than in the States, was still way up there.

But this program was “just what the doctor ordered."

I am now happily ensconced in medical school, studying hard and learning an awful lot about healing people who are ill.  I look forward to graduating in another two years and practicing real medicine somewhere in the world where doctors are truly needed.

Since my arrival at Lviv State Medical University, I have been responsible for bringing over other students to study here.  Some are fresh out of high school and college, others have a Ph.D., and others came with their family!  Young and older, male and female, married and single, all came to study medicine.

Some have washed out, some realized medicine was not for them, others transferred, and the rest continue their studies to reach their goals of becoming doctors.  Like most everything else in life, you get out what you put into it!

Cost of living here is about $200 per month which includes either a dorm room or a studio apartment nearby, meals, and restaurant dining once or twice a week.  Most everything can be had here in Lviv, from clothes, electronics, and medicines to discos, ethnic restaurants, and gambling casinos.