University: Riga Stradins University

City: Riga

Country: Latvia

Continent: Europe

Field of study: medicine

Study type: Other courses

Studying medicine in Riga- the best decision I could have made!

When I graduated from high school in 2013 with an average grade of 1.8, I wanted to take my time to make sure that medicine is really the right thing for me, because as everyone knows, studying medicine requires a lot of diligence and the time invested must be quite to mention. Check mcat-test-centers.com to see vocational training in Poland.

After half a year of FSJ in the hospital, I knew that medicine and nothing else was an option for me, but I quickly realized that, despite the good average and half a year of FSJ, it was completely “impossible” in the near future to get a place at university.

But I couldn’t give up, fortunately I came across MicroEdu, because Heike Kützler really helped me a lot with my application. I received a lot of information and even the letter of application was checked first and the completeness of the documents checked before it was sent.

Riga sounded really tempting, plus I even knew some who even talked about it.

In my case, the application was a bit more complicated because I didn’t have an EU passport at the time and a few more documents were required from me, the application deadline for non-EU citizens ends earlier and you have to pay the tuition fees for the whole year transfer directly, normally you pay every semester.

I really put a lot of effort into my application letter because the university attaches great importance to it.

After a month I was informed that I was accepted. At that moment I was torn. I was extremely happy, but only then did I realize that it was a big step.

At that point I had a boyfriend, a job, a car and a dog – giving it all up to go to Latvia, a city I’ve never been to, to start a course that lasts 6 years and is also demanding ?

But anyone who dreams of studying medicine would do the same.

So I booked my flight a few days before the orientation week and off we went.

Unfortunately, I approached the search for an apartment a bit carelessly. I hoped to find something suitable within a week, but the shock was great, because at that point everyone was looking for apartments. I walked back and forth a lot, looked at what felt like 100 apartments, but they were all gone faster than I could say yes. As a result, I moved into a friend’s new flat in the living room. But later I also found a suitable apartment, but the first time was stressful.

I would advise everyone to fly there before studying and take care of it, because then the first time will be much nicer! In addition, the flights are now really cheap.

As for the university itself: it’s international, but more than half of my semester comes from Germany. Contrary to my fears, the first semester turned out to be easier than expected. At the beginning we did a lot, there were house parties every weekend, you get to know a lot of new people there, it’s really great!

Of course, you don’t have to forget to learn. You have to keep at it and plan your time well. Anatomy and biology are the most time-consuming, at first you think you can’t do that much material, but everything is doable! It is best to start learning right away and keep at it, so you save yourself a lot of stress in the end!

My much-dreaded chemistry subject was also stress-free and no one failed in this subject.

The course is really exciting and it’s really fun to learn about anatomy using real bones and muscles!

About the costs in general: many things are cheaper there, such as the cell phone network or the ticket. You usually don’t pay an entrance fee in the clubs and the prices for the drinks are also quite reasonable. But there is no cheap gym, the food and the rest hardly differs from the German prices.

The first semester is now over for me, it was a very emotional time, because on a few days you feel alone and homesick, but you share this feeling with the others. It’s like a roller coaster, sometimes you like Riga and some days you’re on the verge of despair and you’re just overwhelmed with everything. It is important to make new contacts and to keep busy outside of the university, for example with sports.

I’m already looking forward to the second semester, which will be more demanding, but I’m sure it will also be manageable.