Nicosia, Cyprus for medicine?

Hello, Current 5th year student in the MD6 Nicisoa program. I don't agree with anything GoKeys has stated. He has mentioned the north to be specific and i do not know about the north border situation, but i can speak about University of NIcosia. It is an established university, with the first cohort who graduated last year working as doctors in the UK mainly. The current 6th years are getting ready to apply for their jobs. In my opinion, it is like any other university. It has its flaws just like every other uni. I also studied 3 years in the UK, so i have a good basis to compare it to a 'well established British' university Don't hesitate to ask any specific questions

Hi! I just received an offer to the MD6 Nicosia programme, and I am getting really excited looking at all the Learning Objectives on the website under each subject. They suggest so many textbooks for each subject, and I was wondering if there are any alternative online resources (to replace the seemingly hundreds of textbooks) you have discovered or if you have suggestions for which textbooks are absolutely necessary and which I would never use?

I have so many questions, they might be too much haha - apologies and thanks from a very eager 'nearly' Nicosia med student!!

If I wanted to start preparing during the summer for year 1, how would you suggest I do so? How/did you prepare before beginning medical school? What was the verrrry first course you were introduced to?

What modalities are used for lectures, i.e. is there a collaborative feel where students can add thoughts or ask questions?

Are there any opportunities to conduct research?

Is there flexibility in the coursework (the number of electives) and the timing of the courses (accelerating, decelerating, and time off) during the pre-clinical and clinical years?

How are students evaluated academically? Which type of assessment would you say is the most challenging or has the greatest weight on the overall score?

Is there a formal mechanism in place for students to evaluate their professors and attending physicians? Have any changes have been made recently as a result of this feedback?

Are students required to have a laptop?

Does this school provide guidance to its students and to its graduates/alumni, on debt management?

What medical school committees (e.g., curriculum committee) have student representation?

How active is the student council/government? Are there other active student organizations?

What is the student medical insurance coverage and what is the cost to students?

Is there an established protocol for dealing with student exposure to infectious diseases?

Does this school provide, or does the student pay for, vaccinations against Hepatitis B or prophylactic AZT treatment in case of a needle-stick or accident?

No worries! I would've appreciated this help when i was starting off. I will answer as much as i can and ofcrouse just so you know these are all my personal opinion and not of the Uni's.

1. I honestly only used 2 to 3 books. The physiology book in year 2 i think is very important. Other than that, i didn't find any other books useful for me. From year 3 onwards, the USMLE book was really helpful but i wouldn't say its necessary. Every information you want is available online on websites such as passmedicine, geekymedics etc
2. There's not much to prepare on before year 1. The classes you have are biology, chemistry, physics etc... so if you want to brush up on some basics then you can do so, but you basically cover all of biology and stuff in year 1.. so i would suggest taking it easy, enjoying your holiday and not working too hard before the start of year 1. One thing i would suggest is figuring out how you like to study. Figure out what the best way for you to study is therefore you don't have to figure it out during uni. With that being said, i found out the best way to study in year 3.
3. Lectures are like regular lectures. You can ask questions during, at the end. ofcourse there are some professors who are fussy about interrupting them, but i think that's just 1 that comes to mind. Ofcourse you can add your thoughts, however, keep in mind its mostly a guideline based course (medicine).. so if a doctor says something like we diagnose heart attacks with a blood test .. you can definitely say "why not with xyz" and they will tell you why .. if that makes sense?
4. Yes, i know a lot of colleagues including myself who have published papers. Its difficult in pre-clinical years, but definitely do-able. You just have to seem eager and ask professors and work hard, but it is do-able. If you sit around and don't ask, nothing will happen in terms of research.
5. You only do ONE elective and that is in year 6. I think that's how it is in every other medical uni. In regards to decelarting etc, i really don't know unfortunately, i know you can take an interruption of studies if you have a good enough reason, but I'm sorry i don't have much more info on this.
6. There are midterms, final exams, lab reports, essays, presentations - they all weigh differently in each course. In 5th year i no longer have midterms, so i don't know if they carry any weight, i heard rumours that they don't and they are formative, but don't quote me on that. Another form of evaluation we go through are OSCEs (look them up if you don't know them), but its where you go into the clinical skills room and get assessed on your clinical skills and communication skills etc. The hardest for me are definitely the boring written exams for subjects i hated such as physics and psychology.
7. Yes, every semester you provide feedback and evaluate the professors. A few professors have been removed and replaced due to enough students complaining about their teaching methods etc. In terms of physicians feedback, I'm not sure if anything is relayed to the doctors in the hospitals - so i can't comment much on that.
8. You aren't required to have anything. However, it would be difficult without one in my opinion. The library has computers and the timings are great, but it would be difficult at home to study without a laptop, unless you can make do with an iPad. (when its time to work on projects, or you are studying and need 30 tabs open lol, a laptop would be nice)
9. Haven't heard of anything to do with debt management, sorry.
10. Not really sure i understand the committee question, could you rephrase it?
11. Each year has 2 year leads, who represent students and speak on their behalf and there is a committee with the president of the md6 programme. They handle all our concerns and relay them to the faculty.
12. Depends, are you EU or non-eu? I can only speak for non-eu, and they basically cover 90% of the cost. Ie. you pay the cost and they reimburse 90%. The price is included in our tuition fee ( for non eu citizens)
13. I am sure there is. However, i haven't heard of anything as of yet about any student being exposed to anything.
14. Again, not sure, have not heard about any incident as such. We do have to get TB tested before the start of clinical years though and we pay for those - unless you go to a public hospital, then its free.

Hope these helped

Wow thank you so much!

I am planning on eventually practising in Canada, do you know how much help students get in terms of preparing for these specific exams? I know that there is focus on the USMLE, can students choose which pathway they want to follow (i.e. do I have to take this exam even if I dont want to practice in the US?)

I was also wondering how much the medical students typically interact with students taking other courses? Is the uni divided into friend groups by subject or do you tend to make friends with people regardless of their subject?

Hello, Current 5th year student in the MD6 Nicisoa program. I don't agree with anything GoKeys has stated. He has mentioned the north to be specific and i do not know about the north border situation, but i can speak about University of NIcosia. It is an established university, with the first cohort who graduated last year working as doctors in the UK mainly. The current 6th years are getting ready to apply for their jobs. In my opinion, it is like any other university. It has its flaws just like every other uni. I also studied 3 years in the UK, so i have a good basis to compare it to a 'well established British' university Don't hesitate to ask any specific questions

It wasn't competitive when i applied 5 years ago. Well, I say wasn't, but im not sure.

However, the current new cohorts are reaching max numbers of 140+ i think and i think that now there might be competition.

Hey there, no worries!

So the university does NOT require you to pass the language exam to graduate. However, if you want to remain and practice in Cyprus then you need to pass the language exam. To get registered to the Cyprus Medical Council, you need to be fluent in Greek.

For the UK, the GMC does not require you to pass the greek language exams.

However, if you are planning on registering to another country, make sure to check what the countries registration rules are. For example, country A may need you to be registered in your graduating country for them to register you. So you might need to pass the greek exam.

Learning Greek will be useful for the clinical rotations, it will help, but it is not a requirement.

Hope this helps

Hey there, no worries!

So the university does NOT require you to pass the language exam to graduate. However, if you want to remain and practice in Cyprus then you need to pass the language exam. To get registered to the Cyprus Medical Council, you need to be fluent in Greek.

For the UK, the GMC does not require you to pass the greek language exams.

However, if you are planning on registering to another country, make sure to check what the countries registration rules are. For example, country A may need you to be registered in your graduating country for them to register you. So you might need to pass the greek exam.

Learning Greek will be useful for the clinical rotations, it will help, but it is not a requirement.

Hope this helps

Work? like once you graduate as a doctor?
I mean you can if you have English speaking patients..
but to even qualify as a doctor in Cyprus you need to pass the greek language exam

No worries! I would've appreciated this help when i was starting off. I will answer as much as i can and ofcrouse just so you know these are all my personal opinion and not of the Uni's.

1. I honestly only used 2 to 3 books. The physiology book in year 2 i think is very important. Other than that, i didn't find any other books useful for me. From year 3 onwards, the USMLE book was really helpful but i wouldn't say its necessary. Every information you want is available online on websites such as passmedicine, geekymedics etc
2. There's not much to prepare on before year 1. The classes you have are biology, chemistry, physics etc... so if you want to brush up on some basics then you can do so, but you basically cover all of biology and stuff in year 1.. so i would suggest taking it easy, enjoying your holiday and not working too hard before the start of year 1. One thing i would suggest is figuring out how you like to study. Figure out what the best way for you to study is therefore you don't have to figure it out during uni. With that being said, i found out the best way to study in year 3.
3. Lectures are like regular lectures. You can ask questions during, at the end. ofcourse there are some professors who are fussy about interrupting them, but i think that's just 1 that comes to mind. Ofcourse you can add your thoughts, however, keep in mind its mostly a guideline based course (medicine).. so if a doctor says something like we diagnose heart attacks with a blood test .. you can definitely say "why not with xyz" and they will tell you why .. if that makes sense?
4. Yes, i know a lot of colleagues including myself who have published papers. Its difficult in pre-clinical years, but definitely do-able. You just have to seem eager and ask professors and work hard, but it is do-able. If you sit around and don't ask, nothing will happen in terms of research.
5. You only do ONE elective and that is in year 6. I think that's how it is in every other medical uni. In regards to decelarting etc, i really don't know unfortunately, i know you can take an interruption of studies if you have a good enough reason, but I'm sorry i don't have much more info on this.
6. There are midterms, final exams, lab reports, essays, presentations - they all weigh differently in each course. In 5th year i no longer have midterms, so i don't know if they carry any weight, i heard rumours that they don't and they are formative, but don't quote me on that. Another form of evaluation we go through are OSCEs (look them up if you don't know them), but its where you go into the clinical skills room and get assessed on your clinical skills and communication skills etc. The hardest for me are definitely the boring written exams for subjects i hated such as physics and psychology.
7. Yes, every semester you provide feedback and evaluate the professors. A few professors have been removed and replaced due to enough students complaining about their teaching methods etc. In terms of physicians feedback, I'm not sure if anything is relayed to the doctors in the hospitals - so i can't comment much on that.
8. You aren't required to have anything. However, it would be difficult without one in my opinion. The library has computers and the timings are great, but it would be difficult at home to study without a laptop, unless you can make do with an iPad. (when its time to work on projects, or you are studying and need 30 tabs open lol, a laptop would be nice)
9. Haven't heard of anything to do with debt management, sorry.
10. Not really sure i understand the committee question, could you rephrase it?
11. Each year has 2 year leads, who represent students and speak on their behalf and there is a committee with the president of the md6 programme. They handle all our concerns and relay them to the faculty.
12. Depends, are you EU or non-eu? I can only speak for non-eu, and they basically cover 90% of the cost. Ie. you pay the cost and they reimburse 90%. The price is included in our tuition fee ( for non eu citizens)
13. I am sure there is. However, i haven't heard of anything as of yet about any student being exposed to anything.
14. Again, not sure, have not heard about any incident as such. We do have to get TB tested before the start of clinical years though and we pay for those - unless you go to a public hospital, then its free.

Hope these helped

HI there. Q regard #14 How do they test for TB? Is it an X-ray or a needle stab? Thanks for all your great answers.

Hello,
Its a mantoux test (needle stab). You then go back in 2 days to check for any reaction. If you have a reaction, then you get sent for a chest x ray.

No worries at all, happy to help

Hey there
1. It is very safe and i have never felt in danger because of the separation between the north and south
2. Teaching is of good quality. Lectures, tutorials, labs, OSCEs etc
3. Timetable flexibility depend on the year and semester. Some semesters its calm, some its full. Either way you can always make time to get work done. Alternate days 1-2 hour each day, its very possible. It all depends on you and how much work you are willing to do each day. If you have a day from 9 - 4 pm. You can take a break until 7 pm and study from 7 till 9 or 10. If you decide to take the day off after 4, that's also your call. Hope that makes sense. Most days start at 9 and finish anywhere between 11-5 pm.
4. I cannot answer this since i have no idea what the numbers are. Sorry
5. Yes, English is largely spoken. The odd only greek speakers will cross your path, but its not often.
6. I think the degree is globally recognised. Its an MD degree at the end of the day and what matters is the country you want to go to and what they expect from you apart from the MD degree. There probably is a country out there that will have only specific unis they accept, but so far i have not seen any like that. If the UK accepts it then i don't think other countries won't.

Hope this helped and no worries, we all had questions when starting this career pathway.