What the agents don't tell you about Moscow.

Like a Russian once told me, Moscow is a place for WINNERS.

Moscow is a cold, unforgiving place. To the misinformed, living in Moscow would be like living in a nightmare. What with the language barrier, the seemingly cold and unfriendly Russians, the horrible post-communist mentality and the incredibly crazy skinheads to name a few...

The phrase "No Money, No Talk" rings true especially here in Moscow.

What most students who come to Russia fail to realize is the importance of learning Russian!! Just because one studies in the English medium doesn't mean it's ok to claim to know little Russian. I mean, it's like going to Japan or China and expecting everyone there to know English! The same policy works everywhere - Like the saying goes "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" or "Masuk kandang kambing mengembek, masuk kandang kerbau menguak". A very simple concept that most here don't seem to comprehend or are unwilling(a.k.a plain lazy) to put into practice.

Although (Soviet)Russia was a former superpower, one should not come to Russia expecting it to be like the United States or United Kingdom or any other European country. The reality is that the communist mentality is still very much present (albeit to a less severe extent) - smoldering at the very core of the Russian community. And the result? Incompetent administrative systems, rampant bribery and nonsensical bureaucratic red-tape.

Regardless of what the agents say, despite MMA offering a 6-year English medium medical course, there are quite a few subjects that'll be taught entirely in Russian. And recently the dean's office has come up with a notice that some of the lectures(which were originally given in English) will be delivered in Russian. (It's like Malaysia implementing the whole teaching Science and Maths in English except that this time, the students have a choice - and guess what does the majority do? Skip!! 'Ponteng' lectures simply because their understanding of the Russian language is almost non-existent.)

And also, REGARDLESS of what people have said and the bad image portrayed in the media, Russia offers quality education. (As I've constantly mentioned) There just seems to be a problem in managing the ever opportunistic students who're more interested in getting high marks without actually getting a good grasp of the syllabus.

Why POTS' blog might not be of concern to MMA graduates. YET.

Yes, in the past few posts I've been going on and on about the whole cheating culture in MMA.

Yes, what POTS wrote in the blog really did strike a cord.. Although, this is proof as to how immature some of the students in MMA can be. Pfft.

But.... (back to the point)

If one were to thoroughly think and take into account the number of graduates that have actually GRADUATED from Moscow Medical Academy, one would realize that there actually haven't been that many who have graduated.

As it is, the current graduating batch (2009) consists of only 50-70 students. Last year, roughly 70 students graduated. The earlier the batch, the less the number of graduates.

So... technically the MMA graduates probably consist of 10%(or less??) of the current Russian + Ukrainian graduates. (CSMU churns out few hundred students per year. Was it 400? 500? or even 600 students?). I know - I'm pointing the finger at poor ol' CSMU graduates. Of which I'm VERY sure some will turn out to be excellent doctors.